A gangster movie thats really a life long love story.

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 1999)

A true classic. Recently I had the ocassion to see the entire movie for the third time. The first time I loved it. It told a story of how a young gangster, jailed, beaten, betrayed, and inevitably grown old, could simple accept the fate that befalls him and find an inner peace from it all. I quickly realized this film was not really about criminals in America at all. It was about love lost, friendships betrayed, the hard reality of business and the even harder reality of "making it" in America. The second time I saw the film my wife fell asleep. You see the movie is not about murder, or gangsterism, or explosions. She could not allow the movie to evolve. She(like too many moviegoers) needed instant gratification. She needed a certain number of murders, deaths, and explosions in the first half hour to keep her attention. Leone does not give us that here. He gives a storyline that jumps back and forth in time over a period of about 30 years. This style needs time to unfold. By the time I finished watching the film for the third time I realized just what a complex, rich film Leone had made. I saw things I had not noticed before, and was left with the same questions as before. Life does not resolve all issues. Leone does not resolve them here. The characters are still left confused, at a loss, and unfullfilled even after 30 years and a four hour movie. Such is life, and not just for gangsters. The character played by DeNiro is the one who at the end seemingly has obtained the most peace, although he is also the one who has suffered the most. He's betrayed, banished, and lost his life's love. He appears to be impoverished. But he enacts no revenge. He does not come home and mow down everyone who has betrayed him. In fact he seems to not even acknowledge that his old loves are still alive. Or does he? His demeanor at the end....is that one of indifference or is he just following the old wisdom......"Revenge is a dish best served cold". We never find out. Although revenge is unquestionable handed out. Right? Or was that just another disappearing act by the Woods character? We never find out. And what has Noodles been doing for thirty years? And what happened to the million dollars? And did Max trick Noodles into the first betrayal, or was that simple something Max could do on his own? And most important of all...did the McGovern character really love Max all these years, as he loved her, or did she just play him, and then betray him..... In the end it does not matter..... Not all lifes questions are answered. No one here rides off into the sunset. The characters, with all their shortcomings just accept the fates, and attempt to derive some peace out of it all. DeNiro, Woods, McGovern, all play their parts perfectly. They age appropriately. The only negative I could find about this movie is the final 10 minutes. What happened? Did they write themselves into corner and had no way out? And why have DeNiro back in the opium den...........30 years younger again? It lent nothing to the movie. All in all however a wonderfull movie, which I will see a fourth time. With a slightly less convoluted script, and a better ending, this movie would have been a nine. As it is its an EIGHT AND ONE HALF.