Rough around the Edges, but Nonetheless...

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2014)

Sergio Leone is a brilliant director, first and foremost. He has a way with each camera shot. He finds tension and wonderful moments in the most simplistic of moments. He's a genius. Once Upon a Time in America has some of the same delineation as Once Upon a Time in the West, yet it's missing a lot of the magic that makes Once Upon a Time in the West the great film it is.
Once Upon a Time in America is a very good film, but not a great one. The ending is splendid, it makes one think Noodles was dreaming the whole thing, however if that were true then the ending would be when Noodles woke up at the Chinese opium den. However, Noodles dreaming would mean that he didn't find the money and that he got it 35 years later, and that doesn't make sense as he woke up, went to Fat Moe's, got the key, found out no money, so on and so forth.
No I think him smiling at the end of the film is his way of saying in two ways that now he gets all the mula to himself and also that he's now rid of this burden of loyalty to friends that he feels like he lost a connection with long ago. From the beginning of the film, Deborah(wonderfully played by Jennifer Connelly and Elizabeth McGovern)states that she loves him but she can never be with him because he's a two bit punk(something to the likes of that).
How very true. Noodles puts his hand in the pact they make to share the money even though his lack of enthusiasm shows he wants it all. He had a connections with his friends when he was younger, but after prison you feel the connection is long gone and only there out of loyalty from the history they've had with each other. In the end, Noodles is a loner, is a selfish two bit thug, and he hates himself, the only thing that might make him happy is being with his one true love and when she shatter's that dream, he seems to become numb for good. He then ends up raping the only girl he ever loved because he's certain he'll never see her again and that kills him, but also he just has a self loathing that is calm and well executed through DeNiro's performance. It's almost as if Noodles as a kid was Larry Darrell before the war(Larry Darrell is a character from the Razor's Edge), but after Noodles gets out of prison he is a different man, disconnected, just like Larry Darrell is a different man when he comes back from the war.
After 35 years Max has believed he has made Noodles suffer by taking all the money, taking his woman and taking it all. Max believes he has made Noodles suffer after all these years. But again, Noodles comes back, calm, disconnected. He's not mad because he was relieved of that burden, he was relieved of being rid of that old life, to where he got to have a new life for 35 years. Noodles was still miserable, of course he still missed them as us humans do with any loved ones, but that had become innate, his numbness and misery within himself. Max is heart broken that it has no effect on Noodles because Max truly loved Noodles. And Noodles had a love and caring for all his friends, but not the way Max did for Noodles. It was a love story among friends, and how that friendship changed after prison(But how it was still always different even from childhood, just changed more after prison). In the end it hurt Max, and he ultimately did himself in regardless.
Some terrific acting, a beautiful music score, music, sound, with some great action and brutal fight scenes, the works. If these elements were missing this film would be a 5 at best, but because of the actors and Leone's unique genius as a director this is a very good film and worth the watch. Brilliant scenes all around too, from the phone ringing segueing into another scene to where Noodles watches Max go to the garbage truck as it then segues into young kids riding in cars. Lot of brilliant stuff, but again, lacks the magic of it's more fine predecessor Once Upon a Time in the West.