Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
★★★★½ — Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Sergio Leone's final film was, by almost any measure, the most troubled and costly chapter of his career. After the Dollars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, Leone spent over a decade developing this adaptation of Harry Grey's semi-autobiographical novel Hoods, reportedly turning down The Godfather to pursue it. Shot across New York, Paris, Rome, and Montreal with a $30 million budget, the production stretched across several years and culminated in a 229-minute cut that distributor The Ladd Company promptly butchered into a 139-minute version for American release, stripping the non-linear structure entirely and rearranging scenes into chronological order. That re-edit was a critical and commercial disaster, earning back barely $5.5 million theatrically. Leone's original version, screened at Cannes in 1984, is the one that survived into posterity.
Sergio Leone didn’t just direct films, he painted epics with light, shadow, and time. And Once Upon a Time in America might be his most haunting, beautiful canvas yet. Robert De Niro has never been better. Quiet, calculating, haunted. He carries the decades-spanning story of Noodles with such restraint and depth that even in silence, you feel every regret, every loss. The supporting cast (James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern) are all pitch-perfect. This isn’t just acting; it’s lived-in memory. And then there’s Ennio Morricone. His score here might be his finest work, tender, mournful, and absolutely unforgettable. That violin solo gives me chills. Every frame feels like it's soaked in nostalgia, like watching someone try to piece together a dream they can't quite remember. That said, this film is not without its issues. It’s long (almost indulgently so) and while much of that runtime is used to build atmosphere and character, there are moments where it drags, especially in the first act. More troubling are the extended r*pe scenes, which feel gratuitous, unnecessary, and deeply uncomfortable. They undercut some of the emotional power and make parts of the film hard to stomach, even knowing it's a product of its time and director's style. Still, despite those flaws, this is a towering achievement in cinema. A meditation on time, memory, love, and loss, wrapped in a gangster epic that feels more like poetry than pulp. Not perfect. But undeniably profound.
Rating: ★★★★½ | Year: 1984 | Watched: 2025-05-14
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Sergio Leone: Duck, You Sucker (1971) · A Fistful of Dollars (1964) · For a Few Dollars More (1965) · Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
More with Robert De Niro: The Untouchables (1987) · The King of Comedy (1982) · Shark Tale (2004) · Little Fockers (2010)
More from Italy: Nightmare City (1980) · Cemetery Man (1994) · One Way or Another (1975) · Chicken for Linda! (2023)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
