Never really feels like the epic they were maybe going for, but still a pretty convincing movie

Rating: 6/10 (12 August 2019)

"Once Upon a Time in America" is of course as the title suggests an American (and Italian) movie from 1984. A bit of a coincidence I watched this now that Quentin Tarantino has a film with a similar title hitting cinemas, but we shall talk about that one later. This one here was the last really big project for director Sergio Leone as the man in charge behind the camera. He also worked on it as a writer when it came to adapting Harry Grey's novel, but this is no surprise because there were really many writers busy here. Again no surprise because the film comes pretty close to the 4-hour mark. Yes it is really long. Again (I kid you not) no surprise because most of Leone's films are very long and it's not the only one to make it past three hours. Still the man today is probably mostly known for his western movies and not really for this one, even if this is probably the film that garnered him the most awards recognition. It did not get in anywhere at the Oscars, but Leone scored his only Golden Globe nomination and Ennio Morricone also got in there for his soundtrack. At the BAFTAs it was even more successful with a win for Morricone and the costume design too. Leone himself scored another director nomination and also a bit surprising to me Tuesday Weld was nominated for her supporting performance. Oh well, away from awards now let us take a look at the film itself. It plays during three different times with many many years between them. Mostly these sequences are one at a piece for a long time and there aren't too many jumps in-between. Still it is not a chronological film at all. The best example is that the childhood segment may be the one that is first dealt with extensively, but we also have scenes from the protagonist's years as an adult and finally as an old man too. Said protagonist is called Noodles and played by Robert De Niro and his character is really in pretty much every scene of this long movie that certainly would also work as a miniseries. Still, the childhood part, obviously it is not De Niro himself who plays the character there. This film is from the year when I was born and De Niro was around the age of 40 when this was made. It is kinda interesting, maybe a bit funny too to see him with aging makeup now 35 years later when he is really as old, probably even older, as his character is in here. But it shows that they did a really good job here. Make-up, costumes, sets are all very convincing and same is true about the acting all around. Leone knew what he was doing that much is safe, even if people do not really think of this film nowadays when talking about him, but that is really probably only because of how defining he was for the italo western genre with his Eastwood collaborations. A film like this one here is one that still would be a worthy additon to anybody's body of work. I must say it felt a bit Scorsese to me at times. There aren't many scenes during which it felt Leone. One maybe was during the childhood parts when the two boys run into the other guy who criminally runs the neighborhood. There is one slow motion scene also accompanied by Morricone's soundtrack intensely that felt really very much like Leone during his western days. As for Morricone, he did a pretty good job here overall for sure. His soundtrack is not as much in your face as it is on other occasions, but he is always there when it counts and otherwise convincingly subtle as he should be considering how much of a master of his craft he is. I'm happy he eventually won an Oscar (fittingly for a Tarantino movie as I mentioned him earlier) and is also still alive, hopefully will be for a few more years.
Okay, now let us take a look at the plot and action. I already said De Niro and his character are always in it, but the supporting characters are all doing a fine job too. James Woods' portrayal here made me really curious about other works from him for sure, especially the final scene between the two was mesmerizing, probably the best the film had to offer and that sure means something as there were many good ones. It's so interesting to see how he tries to break through to Noodles emotionally, even if the hit part did not really make a whole lot of sense to me. But you can make an argument for that too. He constantly increased his impact. Criminally you could even say with the idea of robbing the federal reserve before he could become a tolerated criminal making a career as a politician and now he was about to lose it all with his investigation, so he wants somebody to take care of him taking the easy way out and somewhat dying a martyr. Really egoistic. I liked Noodles' response that they would not have done stuff like that back in the day, never accepted this kind of offer, and also the name how he addresses him. This film really gets considerably better towards the end. The scene with McGovern's character after the stage performance was very very good too. This Deborah character is heartbreaking anyway. She is Noodles' one and only true love, but he can never really get through to her. Her words early on because she will never love him because he is a poor street kid follow him his entire life resulting in this spectacular dinner scene where he clearly wanted to prove to her that she is the one for him, the only one, but again things go well, but not great despite all the efforts he takes. The result then is a really heartbreaking scene that is perhaps the only moment in this movie when you can really see Noodles as an antagonist and despise him, but what he does does not only break her, but also destroy all his chances to ever be with the one he loves if there were any at all (maybe there weren't and he realizes). Definitely the saddest moment of the film, or I should say sequence because of how long it is. You need to be strong to sit through it. Still, even if he commits a horrible crime, in that scene Noodles is also a bit of a victim. His connection with love, romance, sexuality call it whatever you want has been messed up from the start. The promiscuous chubby girl is still somewhat tolerable, but of course the bank employee (and later on Woods' character's wife) is really messed up how she enjoys having sex during this bank robbery, which may have planted a seed in Noodles' mind including the messed-up idea that rape is nothing entirely despicable. It all backfires for him. Love is not meant in this life for him it seems. There is a girl he likes and who also likes him apparently, but it's never a key part of the story and there is no deep elaboration on what happens after she is shot. But I think she liked him, probably even loved him as she asked her killers what they want to do to him and did not wonder what they had in mind doing to her. Still when he leaves New York for good right afterwards heading to Buffalo, it shows that she was somewhat the only reason for him to be there, so it's certainly sad things developed the way they did. There is still a nice framework somehow between the very early scene that has Noodles flee from the barber shop from the guys who want to kill him and the final scene when we see him again there having a much better time actually with a big smile on his lips, but these two scene are also the best example of how the film is not chronological at all. Anyway, I think it was a really good movie. Another scene that really broke my heart was when we see Noodles at the train station with Deborah closing the window on him while everybody is waving to their loved ones. The Deborah character was truly interesting anyway, also looking at the actresses who portrayed her during different stages. Who would have guessed the child actress is going to win an Oscar one day and even be more successful than the grown-up Deborah actress who was already an Oscar nominee at that point. The rest of the cast are interesting too. Joe Pesci sadly only has very little screen time, but still it is always nice to see him next to De Niro like in Goodfellas or Raging Bull, two films in which his parts are much bigger of course and created much more awards recognition too. I talked about some of my favorite moments and scenes and I think I will leave it at that for now. At times this is even a great movie, but among the best (let alone number 1) of the year 1984 it is not I would say. Still certainly a film that felt much shorter than it actually was, which is alays a compliment for this running time and also that I conclude my review by saying there is a good chance I may watch it again at some point. So should you. Thumbs up and positively recommended. Also for the wonderful version of Kate Smith's "God Bless America", which goes right on my MP3 player.