World Famous Comics: Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams Directed By: Sergio Leone Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: June 10, 2003 Running Time: 229 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 01, 1984
Product Description: Ten years in planning Sergio Leone's epic Once upon a Time in America portrays 50 years of riveting underworld history and offers rich roles to a remarkable cast. Robert De Niro and James Woods play lifelong Lower East Side pals whose wary partnership unravels in death and mystery. Strong support comes from Tuesday Weld Joe Pesci Jennifer Connelly Elizabeth McGovern and the young actors playing the central characters as ghetto kids. To see this film (offered for the first time in the full version 1984 Cannes Film Festival audiences cheered) is "to be swept away by the assurance and vitality of a great director making his final statement in a medium he adored" (Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times).Running Time: 229 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085393190927 Manufacturer No: 31909
Amazon.com essential video: This movie has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. --Marshall Fine
Once Upon A Time In America I enjoyed this film when I viewed it on a non cable channel and enjoyed it. But when I bought it I was shocked at how disgusting and perverted it is. There are all kinds of sex acts going on between minors, and teenage prostitutes, it is just terribly disgusting. There are numerous scenes of full frontal nudity many scenes of rape with nudity and unusual positions (if you know what I mean) during the scenes, it is disgusting. I am a huge fan of Robert De Niro I own The Godfather Part II, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, The Deer Hunter, GoodFellas, Casino, Analyze This, Analyze hat and Midnight Run. But this crossed the line between tasteful and disgusting, see it on television but do not dignify this perverse behavior. The only interesting part is the acting of Robert De Niro, Burt Young, and Joe Pesci.
Stunning portrayal of wasted human lives Director Sergio Leone has produced an ambitious, complex, and moving portrayal of Jewish gangsters in the early 20th century. When the aged former mobster Noodles Aaronson (Robert DeNiro) is summoned back to New York, memories of his childhood gang and subsequent rise in organized crime resurface, as does the mystery of what happened to the money the gang had been pooling since their first days together. The answer to that question--and the payoff to this fine film--renders one of the most moving portraits of betrayal and wasted lives that I have ever seen committed to film. James Woods delivers an explosive performance, as always.
Too many flashbacks The movie action was great(I've watched it several times) but I can never figure out the ending. I'll watch it again in a month or two.
Not a "Mafia" movie There have already been nearly 300 reviews of this film posted and I will not add to the large amount of commentary except to say that it is a grievous mistake to call this a "Mafia" movie. The gangsters are Jewish and there was a very real subculture of gangster activity among the immigrant Jews in New York. They may have crossed paths with Italian gangsters from time to time, but retained their own structure and organization. Secondly, this is surely not a great DeNiro performance. It takes nothing away from DeNiro's greatness to say that he virtually sleepwalks through this movie. That's fine, really, not everything this master does is great, as people who have seen some of his real clinkers know.
A Must Have Film If you are into mafia movies, or just like GOOD movies, this film is for you. De Niro is fantastic, as normal. Buy It, you will not regret it.
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