Duck, You Sucker!
During the mid-1960s, Sergio Leone read the novel "The Hoods" by Harry Grey, a pseudonym for the former gangster-turned-informant whose real name was Harry Goldberg. In 1968, after shooting "Once Upon a Time in the West", Leone made many efforts to talk to Grey. Having enjoyed Leone's "Dollars Trilogy", Grey finally responded and agreed to meet with Leone at a Manhattan bar. Following that initial meeting, Leone met with Grey several times throughout the remainder of the 1960s and 1970s to understand America through Grey's point of view. Intent on making another trilogy about America consisting of "Once Upon a Time in the West", "Duck, You Sucker!" and "Once Upon a Time in America", Leone turned down an offer from Paramount Pictures to direct "The Godfather" in order to pursue his pet project.