Once Upon a Time in America
National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
What critics thought
The film's reputation is inseparable from its strange dual history: the butchered 139-minute American cut was a critical and commercial disaster in 1984, while the full-length version shown at Cannes drew rapturous praise. Restored after Leone's death, it has since been canonized as one of the greatest gangster films ever made, though a minority of critics still take issue with its graphic violence and treatment of women.
“an incomprehensible mess without texture, timing, mood, or sense”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Leone's film is arguably the better of the two – if the less popular – eschewing, as it does, the soapy melodramatics of Coppola's family saga in favour of less audience-friendly, but more intriguing, ambiguity and symbolism.”
Adam Smith·Empire
Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorSergio Leone
StarringRobert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young
ComposerEnnio Morricone
Once Upon a Time in America
National Film Registry
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
What critics thought
The film's reputation is inseparable from its strange dual history: the butchered 139-minute American cut was a critical and commercial disaster in 1984, while the full-length version shown at Cannes drew rapturous praise. Restored after Leone's death, it has since been canonized as one of the greatest gangster films ever made, though a minority of critics still take issue with its graphic violence and treatment of women.
“an incomprehensible mess without texture, timing, mood, or sense”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Leone's film is arguably the better of the two – if the less popular – eschewing, as it does, the soapy melodramatics of Coppola's family saga in favour of less audience-friendly, but more intriguing, ambiguity and symbolism.”
Adam Smith·Empire
Genres
Crime, Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorSergio Leone
StarringRobert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young
ComposerEnnio Morricone
Rent/Purchase