An epic film consisting of love, greed and betrayal

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2013)

This is one of those films that is probably hard to sum up in one viewing as there is so much to take in throughout the film. This is not a criticism as I thoroughly enjoyed Once Upon a Time in America and thought that it was an emotional and beautiful film.
The film begins 35 years in the past with the mob searching for Noodles (another great De Niro performance - his younger self was portrayed by Scott Schutzman Tiler). Noodles ends up going on the run from the mob and returns 35 years later and goes to see his childhood friend Moe (Larry Rapp) about a letter he has received. It is a warning telling him (from an anonymous source) that they know where he has been hiding and to get ready, but Noodles doesn't know who it is from and must look back into his past and try and find out who is out to get him.
The film begins with Noodles as a young boy and shows his early friendship with 'Cockeye' 'Patsy' 'Max' and 'Dominic'. The story is told in a similar way to Goodfellas (also starring Robert De Niro) in which we see the rise of a criminal organisation in their early years. The boys start off by merely trying to steal from drunk people until they set their sights on bigger and better projects. Things start coming good for the gang when they set a police officer up and blackmail him by telling him that if he turns a blind eye to the crimes they commit that they won't rat on him. This gives the gang a free reign to do what they want and enrages mobster Bugsy (James Russo) and his crew as they now have a rival crew who are also 'above the law' and a feud develops between the 2 gangs. Their true rise to power comes when they sell their idea of using bags of salt to initially weigh down illegal shipments to conceal from the coastguard and once the salt dissolves the shipments rise to the surface (with the aid of a ball). This earns Noodles and the gang a substantial amount of money from corrupt business men.
Noodles also has a love interest in the form of Moe's sister Deborah (played by a very young Jennifer Connelly). The relationship is always awkward between Noodles and Deborah, but I think this is partly to do with Noodles insecurities - he is not very good at forming relationships with women and this is highlighted by a couple of other scenes in the film. He tends to just view women as 'tools for his pleasure' and as such never really forms a 'proper relationship' with any of the women he comes across in life.
One thing that is fantastic in this film is 'the score'. The music in this film was fantastic and truth be told I could have sat there and just listened to the music and that would have made me pleased, but coupled with an excellent film it's just wonderful.
Joe Pesci and Burt Young also star as Frankie Manoldi (a mob boss who gets Noodles and his crew to pull off a job for him in Detroit) and Joe (his assistant). Although they are credited as being near the top of the cast list they are both only featured in very small roles which is a shame as they are both excellent actors - Pesci in particular.
The film covers so many other aspects such as 'Greed' and 'Betrayal' but I don't want to say anymore as I don't want to spoil the film, but one thing I will say to viewers is not to be put off by the length of the film. Although it is nearly 4 hours long, the film never drags and every single scene was relevant. This film also benefits from a few comedic moments to help provide a bit of light relief in between dramatic scenes which I always feel helps to raise a film's score in my mind. OUATIA is definitely a film I would recommend and I will definitely watch it again as I think it is one of those films that you will get more from it following a second viewing.