Taglines: Crime, passion and lust for power.
Once Upon a Time in America movie storyline. Three thugs enter a Chinese wayang theater, looking for a marked man. The proprietors slip into a hidden opium den and warn a man named “Noodles”, but he pays no attention. In a flashback, Noodles observes police removing three disfigured corpses from a street. Although he kills one of the thugs pursuing him, Noodles learns they have murdered Eve, his girlfriend, and that his money has been stolen, so he leaves the city.
David “Noodles” Aaronson struggles as a street kid in a neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1920s. He and his friends Patrick “Patsy” Goldberg, Philip “Cockeye” Stein and Dominic commit petty crimes under the supervision of local boss, Bugsy. Planning to rob a drunk as a truck hides them from a police officer, they’re foiled by Maximillian “Max” Bercovicz, who jumps off the truck to rob the man himself.
Noodles confronts Max, but a crooked police officer steals the watch that they are fighting over. Later, Max blackmails the police officer, who is having sex with Peggy, a teenage girl and Noodles’ neighbor. Max, Noodles, Patsy, Dominic and Cockeye start their own gang, independent of Bugsy, who had previously enjoyed the police officer’s protection.
The boys stash half their money in a suitcase, which they hide in a locker at the railway station, giving the key to “Fat” Moe Gelly, a reliable friend who is not part of the operation. Noodles is in love with Fat Moe’s sister, Deborah, an aspiring dancer and actress. After the gang has some success, Bugsy ambushes the boys and shoots Dominic, who dies in Noodles’ arms. In a rage, Noodles stabs Bugsy and severely injures a police officer. He is arrested and sentenced to prison.
Noodles is released from jail in 1930 and is reunited with his old gang, who are now major bootleggers during Prohibition. Noodles also reunites with Deborah, seeking to rekindle their relationship. During a robbery, the gang meet Carol, who later on becomes Max’s girlfriend. The gang prospers from bootlegging, while also providing muscle for union boss Jimmy Conway O’Donnell.
Once Upon a Time in America (Italian: C’era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime drama film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American[3] venture produced by The Ladd Company, Embassy International Pictures, PSO Enterprises, and Rafran Cinematografica, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Based on Harry Grey’s novel The Hoods, it chronicles the lives of best friends David “Noodles” Aaronson and Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz as they lead a group of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence as Jewish gangsters in New York City’s world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, together with the rise of mobsters in American society.
It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. It is also the third film of Leone’s Once Upon a Time Trilogy, which includes Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker! (1971). The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the film score by Ennio Morricone. Leone originally envisaged two three-hour films, then a single 269-minute (4 hours and 29 minutes) version, but was convinced by distributors to shorten it to 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes).
The American distributors, The Ladd Company, further shortened it to 139 minutes, and rearranged the scenes into chronological order, without Leone’s involvement. The shortened version was a critical and commercial flop in the United States, and critics who had seen both versions harshly condemned the changes that were made. The original “European cut” has remained a critical favorite and frequently appears in lists of the greatest gangster films of all time.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams, Darlanne Fluegel, William Forsythe, Richard Bright, Robert Harper
Screenplay by: Sergio Leone, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini
Production Design by: Giovanni Natalucci
Cinematography by: Tonino Delli Colli
Film Editing by: Nino Baragli
Costume Design by: Gabriella Pescucci
Set Decoration by: Bruno Cesari, Osvaldo Desideri, Gretchen Rau
Art Direction by: Carlo Simi, James T. Singelis
Music by: Ennio Morricone
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, sexual content, language and some drug use.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 1, 1984 (United States), September 28, 1984 (Italy)
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