Once Upon a Time in America

Directed by Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America charts the rise and fall of several Jewish gangsters, including Robert De Niro’s Noodles and James Woods’ Max, as they come of age in the early 1900s and, eventually, become notorious (and successful) booze-runners during Prohibition. It’s sprawling subject matter that’s employed to admittedly erratic yet often striking effect by Leone, as the filmmaker, working from a script penned with five cowriters, does a superb job of establishing and developing the picture’s assortment of core characters – with De Niro and Woods’ above-average work here matched by an eclectic roster of periphery players that includes Joe Pesci, Treat Williams, and William Forsythe. (It’s worth noting, ultimately, that the actors cast as the protagonists’ younger selves aren’t quite up to the level of their adult counterparts, which ensures that the long stretch detailing Noodles and company’s childhood years isn’t quite as effective or affecting as Leone has intended.) Leone’s non-linear approach to the material contributes heavily to Once Upon a Time in America‘s unexpectedly mournful, elegiac atmosphere, as the movie is, by and large, filtered through De Niro’s character and his regrets over certain happenings within his past – although it’s equally clear that Leone’s inability to transform Noodles into a wholeheartedly sympathetic figure (ie the guy rapes two women over the course of the picture) prevents the final hour from possessing the emotional, impactful feel the director has obvious intended. It’s nevertheless impossible to downplay the often breathtakingly cinematic bent of the movie’s myriad of attributes, including Ennio Morricone’s lush score and Tonino Delli Colli’s painterly visuals, and although the 229 minute running time occasionally feels excessive, Once Upon a Time in America does, for the most part, come off as an undeniably impressive achievement that fares as well, if not better, than the similarly-themed The Godfather.

*** out of ****