A true masterpiece and an excellent swansong for sergio

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2006)

It is very rare that I see a film that me and my parants both have the same opinion on but once upon a time in America is one of those rare times. The story is a true study of betrayal, greed, corruption and violence in all its ugly forms yet its message is simple NEVER BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS AS YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN THEY'LL COME AND GET YOU! The acting is magnificent with the central character noodles played by both Robert De Niro and Scott Tiler (playing him during childhood) being every inch the despicable little swine but yet still creating a character that rather strangely you can warm too. The film features a stellar cast including Eliabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, James woods and tuesday weld in a tale that twists and turns but all the way though makes perfect sense. The people in this film are nasty pieces of work and you can understand why noodles does what he does but you can also understand why people dislike him (largely because he is after them all). There are not one but 2 scenes of rape in the film (1 on Weld and the other McGovern) and these just go to show the utter vileness of the characters (there's also a memorable scene in a garage).
What Sergio Leone managed to do in this his final film is to create a society where the gangster rules (as in deed was very much the case in America during that time period) but he also puts you there in the thick of it with them and makes you hope for the happy ending which you inevitably don't get. A true masterpiece.