A fable for adults

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2007)

This is an unforgettable roller-coaster ride, a mammoth 217 minutes (UK TV runtime) of love, hate, friendship and memories (Leone's words). And routine bestiality. Leone brought to the American gangster movie all he had given to the American Western movie in the preceding two decades, leaving this stuck out somewhere between The Good Bad And The Ugly and The Godfathers. I've only ever seen the full European cut (still well edited down from Leone's original), I assume the original cut US cut is the one that draws the bad reviews.
Disjointed story set in 1968, 1923 and 1933 has handsome chap Noodles played by DeNiro being called back from self-imposed exile to his old stomping ground by someone after decades of hiding, he wants to find out by who and why. Although he turns out to have been a vicious murdering rapist gangster when young we have to root for him as he's really the best of a bad lot. We're treated to lengthy arty flashbacks and many heavy poignant moments, softly tender scenes giving way to scenes of brutal sadism  all in the name of so-called Realism. This, remember, is via persistence of vision viewed on a two-dimensional screen, with a fictional plot contrived to fit logically into a timeslot complemented by a stirring orchestral soundtrack you'd never get in Real Life. Leone himself said he never tried to make realist films, so why pile on the violence and smut? And to crown it all, within is a woman who apparently "age cannot wither". Morricone excelled himself with his score for this  like Cinema Paradiso, the film could simply not stand on its own without it, the repetitive and relentlessly moving and melancholic main themes, especially Deborah's Theme can leave you in tears and yet sometimes you don't know why. And they "forgot" to enter it into the Oscars nominations  Doh! Also the lush orchestral version of Amapola in the dinner for 2 sequence can give you a lump in your throat, though make the most of it because the dreamlike spell is ruthlessly broken in the back of the car come the dawn. DeNiro was perfect for the role of Noodles, his highly visible semi-intelligent thought processes struggling along but almost creating a few longueurs at times. The climax seemed a bit fast with all that had gone before  you might even call it a rubbish ending (hem)  but it still fitted in well. Even the static 6 minute end credits with Morricone's music is worth watching!
A helluva lot happens in these 4 hours, good and bad and happy and sad  overall brooding melancholia spurred by memories of mistakes made. I love it with all its faults, and even though at times it makes me wince it's definitely a masterpiece.