224 minutes of pure pleasure, passion, drama, violence & humanity!

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2000)

What a great shame for the film industry to see one of the great directors of our time pass away so prematurely -Leone gave us so much pleasure with his films that only now can we really appreciate his true cinematic style & characterisation skills and realise that not many other directors alive can emulate his good work.
But at least he gave us yet another classic before he passed away. Once Upon a Time in America is yet another typical Leone operatic masterpiece. 224 minutes of Italian artistry that has to be marveled at, unlike some distributors who didn't have the patience to sit through 4 hours of art, but instead excised about 120 minutes out of it and then foisted it upon a rather confused audience - is it any wonder it didn't do well at the box office so brutely edited!
Critics & perhaps some audiences just don't seem to have the time, the patience, or dare I say it the depth of intelligence to really unravel the mind of a master like Leone. He didn't compromise his craft just for the sake of box office takings, awards & plaudits; he didn't comprise his own view of a complex story like this one just to make it easy on a contemporary audience whose attention span these days is less than 5 minutes before surfing other channels.
"America" isn't a film to be seen & understood in one sitting; there is simply too much going on; the flashback are set out to confuse first time round, characters appear old, then young, then old again without any real explanation but thats the way Leone unravels a story of friendship & betrayal over a painful 35 year period.
This flashback sequence had its origins from his earlier film, Once Upon a Time in the West (my personal favourite), and now he exploited it to a much greater extent in this film, which only adds to the drama and the weightiness of his story.
It takes good actors to make Leone's imaginative mind become physical, so it was superb casting getting De Niro & Woods to play the main pivotal parts. De Niro, as well all know, shines in intelligent movies like this; his character is given so much to do & carries so much responsibility, guilt and hurt that De Niro seems to positively enjoy playing the part.
And there's the very under rated James Woods. One of my favourite actors (see Salvador to understand why). If you want an actor to play a character with great intensity then I don't think there's anyone (including De Niro) except Woods who could carry it off successfully.
Coupled with some fine supporting acting from Pechi & Weld, along with the usual excellent cinematography & Morricone's usual stunning score, we have a truly crafted & intelligent movie that has to be seen again and again...just like a jigsaw puzzle, each viewing adding to the complete picture.
I personally don't rate it as high as "West" but it comes pretty close. Another interesting trademark to note from both films is the way he uses the camera above a bed looking down through netting at Cardineli (West) and also at De Niro (America). Both of them seemingly at peace. Nice touch!
****/******