NB: As is Amazon's Wont, they've very unhelpfully bundled all the reviews for various editions and formats together. This review refers to the Italian Blu-ray release of the new extended edition that premiered at Cannes in 2012 and WHV's Blu-ray and DVD of the 229-minute version released in Europe.

Once Upon a Time in America is one of those films that seems to gain in stature with each viewing - indeed, it's one of the few films to match a great novel for complexity, and can be interpreted in a number of ways. In many ways it's a film where you have to choose for yourself which interpretation is the right one, as it can support several: a memory, a fable about resurrection (certainly the first thing he sees on his return to New York is the dead being raised from a cemetery by trucks), a tableaux of American social history, even just a simple gangster saga that's surprisingly light on violence for its running time (though what there is is vicious). I've always regarded the film as being about the way we reinterpret our memories depending on our present circumstances (thus the lowest point of Noodles' life becomes, in the final shot, the happiest once he knows the truth), but on subsequent viewing noticed far more evidence to support the opium dream interpretation that Leone floated without ever committing himself to. Certainly everything in the final scene outside Senator Bailey's house points to it: the garbage truck with 35 (the number of years Noodles has been `going to bed early'), the Chinese pagoda in the background, the drunken revellers celebrating the end of prohibition (in 1968!) are all pulling him back to the Chinese opium den as if he were coming down from a trip. I doubt there is a right or a wrong interpretation - it's all in the eye of the beholder. And the filmmaking is still incredibly ambitious and effective - huge chunks of the film are dialog-free, carried by performance, camera and Morricone's yearning score, while there's been nothing to match the sheer audacity of the phone call sequence in the three decades since it was made.

And now, after decades of rumours and false starts, not to mention the multiple cut American versions that existed over the years, the almost-complete extended version of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America finally reaches Blu-ray and DVD, albeit only in Italy at the moment. Thankfully the disc is English-friendly, with English soundtrack and subtitle options as well as Italian. Not so thankfully the now 250-minute film has been put on one extras-free single disc with very disappointing picture quality considering the restored version was originally mastered in 4k. While you expect to make allowances for the 22 minutes or so of restored footage - though perhaps not quite as many as are needed here - the same shouldn't be said of the rest of the film, but sadly the inconsistent picture quality is at times a bit substandard for Blu-ray, lacking detail, not coping well with shadows in some scenes and with very different colour grading to the 229-minute theatrical version that gives it a kind of metallic sepia tone that will be recognisable to any of the film's fans who saw the lavish large promotional brochure for the film that has become a collector's item. But for now, Warner's uncharacteristically substandard disc is the only game in town if you want to see the longest version of the film.

Strictly speaking this isn't quite a director's cut, and not just because it's been restored by Leone's children from his own cutting notes. The 229-minute version was his preferred version, but he planned to incorporate the deleted scenes into a longer version for European TV that got abandoned in the wake of the film's disastrous initial reception. There's nothing here that's essential to the story or which adds much to the film: this is more a version for people who love the film and want more. Louise Fletcher's restored scene at the cemetery is fairly redundant and not particularly well played (it also boasts quite atrocious picture quality), Elizabeth McGovern's Katherine Hepburnesque death scene from Antony and Cleopatra tends to slow the picture down and much of the rest is filling in gaps: in this version, Noodles is a witness to the car bomb that kills a senate hearing witness, while his relationship with Darlanne Fluegel is much more fleshed out (albeit awkwardly placed after the rape scene), underlining his sexual immaturity. There's a brief exchange with his chauffeur about the Nazis and Jews ("Jews don't have to be like Italians and look up to criminals") but it's clear that producer Arnon Milchan's performance led to that being cut from the film. The longest addition is a final scene with Treat Williams' Jimmy Hoffa-like union boss and James Woods that shows how the balance of power between the two has shifted, but while it's interesting it spells out too much of what's coming in the finale and is a bit redundant.

The greatest strengths remain those of the 229-minute version: the elegiac mood, the unhurried visual storytelling that makes such an impression in the opening of the film in particular, the ambitious structure shifting between three different time periods as it follows the workings of its anti-hero's memory, the details whose importance don't become apparent until a second viewing such as the bricked up door in the bar, Ennio Morricone's melancholy and yearning score, and the excellent performances from De Niro when he still cared about his work, James Woods and the underpraised child actors who do such an impressive job of embodying the actors who will play the gang in the main body of the film. It's what we've already seen that makes the film such a spellbinding and surprisingly rich and complex experience for those who are on its wavelength. Yet while there are no great revelations and no great transformations in this extended version, it's still a must for lovers of the film. It's just a shame that this version hasn't been mastered on home video with the kind of care and attention it deserves.

By comparison, Warner's release of the 229-minute director's cut comes with an audio commentary, 19-minute extract from documentary Once Upon a Time - Sergio Leone, stills gallery and theatrical trailer - though be warned that that for no good reason the DVD version has a terrible side-break (unlike the BD, the DVD is spread over two discs), especially for a film with an intermission that would have been so much more appropriate.

EDIT: It has to be said that there has been some very, very slight improvement over the original Italian Blu-ray release, but nothing dramatic enough for people not to be disappointed by the quality of the restored scenes. It's more or less the same restoration - the only difference in content is the restoration credits, which are in English - but with slight differences in grading. Louise Fletcher's scene has more of a slight green tinge to it rather than the slight sepia in the Italian pressing, though the other additional scenes such as the Cleopatra death scene are very similar. For the rest of the film I'd give the US/UK issue the edge: there's not much difference in definition, but the grading, while still different from the original release, seems very slightly less noticeable on a side-by-side comparison.

Unlike the Italian Blu-ray, it also has extras - the film's US trailer, which includes some shots from the extended version, and the longer international trailer as well as the same documentary extract from the earlier release, but no audio commentary from the previous European theatrical release version since it will no longer fit with the restored footage. While the UK has a single disc release, the region-free US collector's edition offers both cuts of the film (the new extended version on one disc, the previous Blu-ray version of the European theatrical cut on the other) with a Blu-ray-sized hardback book inside the slipcase.

Excellent 80s Robert De Niro film

Ok, when reviewing an auteur like Sergio Leone, you can only compare his films with other movies he has made, and not with other films of the era. Sergio Leone has to be my favorite director, with Jean Pierre Melville second, and both men were Americaphiles, but Melville's films never left France while Leone rewrote the American Western.

I first saw this movie in 1984 in New York, where I saw the American edit, which shows the story in chronological order, ie: the gang's childhood first, and then as adult criminals. I was also living in the Lower East Side, where a lot of the story is set. There was still enough of the old neighbour left at that time and a fading Jewish community to compare the movie with the real locations, and this film captures life in a Jewish Shtetl (ghetto), as if it were yesterday. The sets and locations are amazing, and most of this could not be filmed today, even with the best CGI. But is this a good film?

Before this, Sergio Leone had made five westerns, all of which are masterpieces. This movie was the last of his Once upon a time trilogy, the first, Once Upon A time in the West, and then A Fist full of Dynomite, a rather bad title for a film that should have been called, Once Upon a Time in a Revolution. This Once Upon a Time, is based on a book called The Hoods by Harry Grey, a fictionalised version of real people and real events in the Prohibition era. It is more or less the story of Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and other Jewish mobsters of the time. Leone spent years trying to develop this book into a film, and the screenplay has six writers! And this is of this film's problems, there is too much story here.

Although we need to know the rise and fall of a criminal gang, there is way too much time spent on their childhood, however there isn't too many films that spends as much time as this on a childhood life in a ghetto, only City of God comes close, so just for that, it is a true original. This really is a film of two parts, childhood and adulthood.

The adulthood part of this movie is pretty much a rise and fall story, with a "who done it?" plot, and that is how the movie starts, or at least, this edit starts. On first seeing, the first 30 mins is a mystery. The whys? and whats? of the plot very slowly unfold, until we are get to the childhood part, and only then does the story start. The story covers a lot real events in New York crime history, but with a lot of changes to names and times to protect the guilty, as the original book was published in 1952 when many of these people were still alive, and like the Godfather, the guilty know who they are, so I look at this movie as a piece of ficalinsed American criminal history.

This film doesn't also look beautiful, it sounds beautiful too. I have seen Ennio Morricone in concert 3 times, and the music from this film has to be his most popular, and to hear it live is something I can't explain, but only to say, it is an amazing experience. The music was composed 8 years before production, and the actors would hear the music while on set, and I believed this helps the acting a lot, as acting is all about rhythm. Robert De Niro is at his method acting best here, as well as all the rest of the actors, many of whom turn up again in other gangster classics.

Sadly, this movie was a financial flop. Although critics liked it, it didn't make any money and was Sergio Leone last film as he died 5 years later in 1989. He was planning on making a film about the siege of Leningrad that had a budget of 100 million dollars, but had no script! You can see how much he loved this movie, and it is a masterpiece, but it does have its flaws.

Before directing this movie, Sergio Leone hadn't really directed a film since 1971. He did produce a few films in this time, but he had made so much money with his Dollars films, which in today's money made billions, he never had to make another film again in his life, and here is the problem. By the time of this release, cinema audiences had changed,
and since Star Wars, demanded quicker stories and plots, also, there is a rape scene in it that doesn't need to be there. It is uncomfortable viewing, and doesn't drive the plot or story, but still it is great film, and you can only judge it for the times it was set in.

I love all of Sergio Leone's films, and this movie is as good as his others, although my favorite is Once Upon a Time in the West, I can watch all again and again, and still find something new in them. This movie is a lesson in excellence, and should be viewed as such.

Sergio Leone’s epic crime drama and first departure from a long run of Westerns. Once Upon a Time in America sees a former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster (Robert De Niro) return to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

The word ‘epic’ is a term used too lightly very frequently when discussing film and other media, however in terms of narrative scope, focus and presentation there is no better word to describe this film. At a monumental near 4 hour runtime the film explores Noodles (De Niro) as a teenager starting out in crime in 1918 all the way through to him returning to the city in the late 60’s. Presented in a non-linear fashion, the film is masterfully structured and flows seamlessly between each section as the story plays out.

Due to the substantial runtime the film is truly able to explore and go in depth in all three sections of Noodles’ life and is one of the most thoroughly immersive and engaging Manhattan’s ever put to screen. Seeing how the city lives, breathes and changes over time as its characters grow older is fascinating and completely captivating. From the large section spent on Noodles’ youth, as he and his group of friends are loose causing trouble and making smart deals on the streets, the film captures a sense of freedom and adventure perfectly and contrasts this with some truly gut punching moments when the realities of the streets hit. At the top of their game there is a glamour yet vicious feel to the proceedings and when Noodles returns 30 years later the city is a shell of what it once was with those he knew either having moved on from the city or from life in general.

The visual style and set design of the film is masterful. The sheer amount of detail, props and extras that are on display is jaw dropping and completely transports you to the era that the film is set. The cavernous wide roads of the city feel gargantuan when the young gang run through them and the location cinematography is masterful. The gunfights and hits are savagely bloody and visceral with sharp camerawork and the lighting and shadow usage as an older Noodles walks the streets and visits his old haunts is excellent at crafting a somber atmosphere. The score from the late Ennio Morricone is perfect, integrating his famous Western tones with a jazzier of the era style and the diegetic usage of the panpipes is very effective as well.

This is certainly one of De Niro’s mister understated performances and though his career is filled with iconic roles this I feel deserves more of a mention in discussion. Clearly inspiring his performance in The Irishman, De Niro brings many layers to Noodles and we are completely invested in his character despite some of the despicable acts he commits. Nailing the intimidating gangster archetype he is known for and also the quieter more subdued older sections where he still manages to be imposing. James Wood is brilliant as Max, Noodles’ best friend, cocky, cunning and with a vicious temper, their chemistry is very believable and the tension in the dramatic moments between them is well crafted. Joe Pesci has a smaller role here but leaves a significant impression on the story. All the main supporting cast are excellent overall and as are the young actors playing them as teens who do a great job for a substantial amount of the film.

Once Upon a Time in America is a masterpiece, not just within its own genre but in film as a whole. Feeling like a true life’s journey and showing us all the most personal and intimate details bad or good of the world of crime, through the lens of a legendary director. The world building and visual presentation is outstanding and the performances deliver all around. Essential viewing.

My oh my.There is a distinct polarisation of opinion of this film on the Amazon website.As you can see from the five stars i believe this is a truly great film, a classic ,a masterpiece.Yes it,s long, yes it,s slow, yes the lead characters are amoral thugs but none of this matters.This labyrinthine tale of Jewish gangsters subsides to an emotional core that is sombre and elgaic and ultimately moving.Those who don,t get it....well i suggest they consult a doctor because they may well have a lump of sandblasted tar instead of a heart.
Sergio Leone,s interpretation of Harry Grey,s "The Hoods" takes an average pulp thriller and transforms it into a complex epic that slips easily between three time periods and gradually reveals a monumental betrayal.The genesis and evolution of the characters story is beleivable and though the fact that the screenplay was produced by Italians means the dialouge is occasionally clunky it,s never unrealistic or unintentionally humourous.
Robert De Niro plays the adult "David "Noodles" Aaronson" who in one of the films lighter scenes(played by the child actors who potray the characters in their younger years , obviously) meets Max played by James Woods who quickly becomes fellow leader of the gang Noodles ran.Noodles has the hots for the daughter of the local bar owner, Deborah played by Jennifer Connelly, and it,s the dichotomy between Noodles deep friendship with Max and his love for Deborah that provide much of the films narrative momentum.The gang gradually progress to become criminals of some repute,most of which occurs while Noodles is in prison for kniving a rival gang leader, but they are still employed by a mob boss played by Joe Pesci to intervene in industrial disputes or murder fellow mobsters.
Max has a fixation with robbing the federal reserve which Noodles knows is a scuicide mission,so in order to save his friend he turns them in to the police but the arrest goes horribly wrong and they all perish.Noodles is now alone and pursued by henchman of a vengeful mob boss. Wisely he decides to escape taking all the gangs ill gotten gains only to discover it,s all gone.He has no alternative but to leave town on the first bus out which goes to some back of beyond town where he spends the next thirty years.....until a letter arrives offering him money for one last job.Knowing they,ve found him he returns only to discover things are not what they seem.
This is a sumptuous film,beautifully shot which looks great on DVD compared to my old grainy video copy.Leone,s trademark technique of lingering on characters faces is used extensively but all the actors are superb and carry it off easily,particually De Niro playing the old stooped Noodles.Some of the scenes as he visits old haunts and comes across old acquaintances are astonishingly poignant.Ennio Morricone,s extraordinary evocative score plays a major part in this.Apparantly it was played on set to help the actors find the right mood.It worked beautifully.
Noodles is not a particually sympathetis character but his violent past clearly haunts him.His betrayal, his rape of Deborah when he realises she intends to leave him behind in her life,the men he killed all weigh heavily on his mind and its testimony to Leone that he manages to make the audience care about these misanthropic people.
The complaints about the point at which the film cuts to the scond disc are fully justified.Whoever made this crass decision should be ashamed.The commentary by film critic Richard Shickel is a tad dull and at times a bit patronising but theres a doccumentary to add a bit more depth.But i buy DVD,s for the film and they don,t come better than "Once Upon a Time in America".Ignore the grumpys, this a terrific film and anyone who complains because the ending is ambiguous should really stick to Michael Bay movies."Once Upon a Time in America " is magnificent cinema.Peerless.

This epic film rightly belongs at the top of the Gangster genre as does 'Once Upon A Time In The West' in the Western genre. Call Sergio Leone's final work boring, long, overrated, confusing, etc... then you've probably watched too many box office blockbusters; 'The Godfather' (the one with Brando) being one of them!

Leone was offered the chance to direct 'The Godfather' and turned it down cos he didn't like the script and wanted to concentrate on this project.

Upon release of OUATIA, Sergio went to war with the studio over his envisioned non-linear (229 minutes or more) version, and THEIR pointless, alternative 144 minute, short-linear-version (American audiences only). All this after many years in development. It was in Leone's mind before plans for 'Once Upon A Time In The West'(1969). Only after the release of the DVD in 2003, could american audiences see the full/better version. THEY also "forgot to enter Ennio Morricone's score" (for Academy Award); as producer Arnon Milchan says on the included DVD segment of 'Once Upon A Time: Sergio Leone'. What a crime!
We Brits gave Ennio's score a BAFTA award in 1985 instead. TOO GOOD for an Oscar in my opinion!

De Niro is excellent in his role as the gangster without glory. My favourite De Niro character is 'David "Noodles" Aaronson'. His definitive gangster role, along with young Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather Part 2'. Nevermind roles like Jimmy Conway in 'Goodfellas' or Johnny Boy in 'Mean Streets', this De Niro character is sly, thoughtful, and mysterious. Also some great career defining roles from James Woods, Tuesday Weld, Elizabeth McGovern (of Downton Abbey fame), Danny Aiello (excellent as police chief), and the younger actors playing the leads (great as little thugs). I thought a young Jennifer Connelly was excellent as the young Deborah (her first big screen role).

I found this different from other gangster films. The authentic detail and photography gives you a feel of the period, especially in the 20's and 30's sections. You can almost smell the grime in various street locations, and admire the beauty in scenes like the restaurant where Noodles dines with Deborah and the breathtaking panoramic shot of the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn with the young gang strolling in the foreground. The music also connects you to the period too. Another excellent, eclectic score from Mr Morricone.

Violence is vulgar/obscene in this film and sometimes uncomfortable to watch, adding to the ugliness and meaning of the genre. The 'diamond robbery scene' and the 'raping of Deborah' an example. Not suitable for the squeamish types. Leone and De Niro were targeted by female members of the audience at the screening of the film at the 1984 'Cannes Film Festival' who said that the rape scenes were "blatant, gratuitous violence". Elizabeth McGovern's (Deborah) take on the situation was: "my scene didn't glamourise violent sex: it is extremely uncomfortable to watch and is meant to be.....he is making a GANGSTER FILM, and to a certain extent you can't make that kind of film unless you profile an extremely violent lifestyle".

The DVD version has the inconvenient stop right after the wasting ("Kids Stuff"!) of Joe (Burt Young) and his gang, and not at the 'Intermission'. Did it spoil YOUR viewing?

Either love it or loathe it, this film is without a doubt an excellent finale for one of the greatest, much missed film directors of all time!

I was MOVED by this film and it is one of my all time faves!

WELL DONE SERGIO!

THIS FILM IS UGLY AND SMELLY AND THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT MEANT TO BE LIKEABLE! THE WAY A 'GANGSTER FILM' SHOULD BE!!

"I didn't remake The Godfather. The stories and the anecdotes I tell aren't horses' heads bleeding on satin sheets! They are something much more complex and profound!!" Sergio Leone

Once Upon a Time in America has great cinematography, it looks amazing, with incredible attention paid to the period setting. The sets, wardrobe and music are spot on. The acting is good too, with fine performances from its cast, so what's the problem then? The movie is extremely misogynistic, women are abused, cast aside, raped, ogled and stared at through a peep hole (as Noodles, a young man, watches a 12 year old girl undress.) If these men can't have adult women, they'll rape them. There's a disgraceful scene where a woman is asked to identify the man who raped her, from a line-up of men, identifying them by their genitals. The police aren't asking her to do this, it's the gangsters. The whole thing is played as a joke, that women are on earth to be used and abused by men. Toxic Masculinity in full force. The film glamourizes the gangster lifestyle, with toxic males doing reprehensible things. I know that's the point, but it actually asks us to root for De Niro's Noodles. Whether he's a child or an adult in this film, the character is scum. Some easily led, easily influenced, males, watching this will no doubt idolize these horrible people.

One of the worst scenes sees the criminal gang swapping newborns' nametags in a hospital. This means none of the parents will have their correct baby going forward.

When the film came out, early reviews of the 229 minute version weren't kind in previews, the audience called it mediocre, so the film was re-edited in chronological order to less than two hours. Critics hated this American version and love the full length - out of sequence - European 229 minute version. Those early audience reactions were right, in my opinion, this film still feels disjointed (Leone originally shot 10 hours and took it down to six, before the studio asked him to further edit it) and as such it's a film I would never watch again. None of these characters are good people, we wait for their downfall, or at least I did. Their views on women are abhorrent and their destructive lifestyles are not to be admired. It's hard to get on board with a film when none of the characters are likeable.

Not a bad film 👌