De Niro and Woods deliver the best performances in a remarkable cast

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2009)

Leone's most ambitious epic moves across three separate time periods: the twenties, the thirties and the late sixties
It starts in 1933, with the murder of a woman after merciless gangsters have briefly interrogate her (while Noodles hides out in an opium den), then returns to the disastrous night of the bloody betrayal, then jumps to Noodles' return to New York in 1968, then shifts back to the early 1920s to their adolescence This display in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards is used throughout the film, until the climax where all the dissociated parts of the story fall into place
"Once Upon a Time in America" tells the story of five precocious teenagers born in Brooklyn and the Bronx, Noodles (Robert DeNiro), Max (James Woods), Patsy (James Hayden), Cockeye (William Forsythe), and Dominic (Noah Moazezi), the youngest
As kids in 1921 Prohibition New York, they take only superficial interest in minor street crime, spoiling things or stealing from drunks, until they start running their own rackets
Noodles is sexually attracted to Deborah (Jennifer Connelly/Elizabeth McGovern), the mesmerizing ballet dancer, sister of their loyal friend Fat Moe (Larry Rapp), the son of a saloon-keeper But the gang's rivalry with Bugsy (James Russo), another street hoodlum, leads to Dominic being fatally wounded and Noodles going to jail for years for taking a bloody revenge in a blind rage
When Noodles is released from prison a decade later, Max was there with a car and a hooker Noodles joins his three pals, who have become prosperous by continuing in the crime world including entwining with unions and the strikers, led by their leader Jimmy Conway (Treat Williams).
The four best friends accept to assault a jeweler in Detroit, for a major mafioso Frankie Minoldi (Joe Pesci), and his sidekick Joe (Burt Young) And at the end of Prohibition in 1933, the top mob criminals find themselves having gathered $1 million
In their vacation in Miami, Noodles was highly worried that Max's next plan is a step too dangerous to take and too risky
The most tragic and moving part of the film is probably the romantic obsessions of Noodles Noodles and Deborah have deep and strong affinity for one another Noodles feels he has the right to Deborah's feelings, but she closed herself to him years ago when he responded Max's call over her own Noodles seem unaware of her decision... Their meeting in 1968 only communicates what could have been
In one memorable scene, young Patsy (Brian Bloom) is awaiting for a young hooker Her price is a fancy frosted cake While awaiting, Patsy attentively observes the cake and recognizes he can scoop some of the white cream without damaging it Tempted by the good taste of the cream, he devours entirely the cake on the staircase and forgets the girl Here we felt the kid's innocence and hesitancy between pastry over sex
Friendship, innocence, trust, passion, honor, betrayal, and guilt are the most important basis on which Leone's encircles his masterpiece