It which ounce in America

August 8, 2010Once Upon a Time in America (1984) ***1/2Directed by Sergio LeoneMy tweet:Once Upon a Time in America (1984)- Taut gangster epic leads into final act full of dull melodrama & overblown self-importance. ***1/2 of 5Other thoughts:Sergio Leone must have been quite a guy to know in real life. After finally finishing all six of the significant films he directed, it's clear that he's not afraid to give into his indulgences on screen. This very audacity produced a masterpiece and a near-masterpiece in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West respectively. On the other hand, sometimes he can dig himself into a shallow grave with such overblown pomposity like h! e did with Fistful of Dynamite and the final ninety minutes of Once Upon a Time in America.At almost four hours in length, Once Upon a Time in America is a rich and textured tale of New York Jews growing up during and after prohibition as they navigate their way from petty to organized crime. The film begins with a murder and brutal torture of two secondary, loyal characters we meet later on. Thugs are looking for Noodles, played as an adult by Robert DeNiro, who we first meet in the middle of a heroine binge at a Chinese theater. He's startled awake by the sound of a phone which rings and rings for maybe nine or ten minutes as Leone presents scene after scene with phones that are answered but don't stop the ringing. Ultimately, he witnesses the corpses of what look like his three best friends brutally murdered on the streets of New York. After disposing of a henchman waiting for him to show up, Noodles returns to his tortured ally Fat Moe, says goodbye, takes a key from wi! thin a clock and purchases a one-way ticket out of the city no! t to be heard again for decades.As an old man, Noodles revisits Fat Moe after receiving some strange correspondence. His visit reminds him of his childhood days with three younger friends and a new found compatriot in Max whose ambition and guts allow the group to carry out more dangerous crimes while starting to rake in the bucks. The five young crooks make a lifelong pledge that they will donate 50% of all their earnings to a suitcase which can only be opened if everyone is present. The suitcase is stored at a bus terminal locker and the key is kept by Fat Moe. One of the boys dies young while Noodles goes to prison for, among other things, murdering a cop.The rest of the film alternates between Noodles as an old man and a young man fresh out of prison when he reunites with Max, played by James Woods as an adult, and Patsy and Cockeye, the remaining of the original five. Here the four get involved in union politics, diamond theft and brutal assassinations. Ultimately, Noodles and ! Max begin to grow apart as Max questions Noodles' loyalty and deals with issues of his own power in the group, as things come full circle to the deaths of the men in the streets. The conclusion of the film has Noodles as an old man learning about the meaning of the correspondence he receives, which of course brings back old memories, opens new wounds and has Noodles encountering people he never thought he'd ever see again. After answering so many belabored questions, the final moments of Once Upon a Time in America require the viewer to ask new ones, possibly even questioning the validity of everything that precedes.There are some absolutely wonderful sequences in this epic, which is almost a logical certainty considering the film is nearly four hours long. The opening sequence, like many of Leone's opening sequences in other films, successfully presents a dangerous atmosphere while merciless teasing the audience with provocative images and actions without giving any immedi! ate context for them. The entire time spent in flashback to No! odles' c hildhood is maybe the best part of the movie, beautifully presenting themes of friendship, love, sex and identity in often heartbreaking ways. These scenes give us the soul of the characters since we see them at their most innocent before they become unapologetic killers in adulthood.Interestingly enough, Once Upon a Time in America was a box-office and critical flop when it was first released in the United States since it was edited significantly with the childhood sequences almost cut out completely. Without this establishing anchor, true character development would prove impossible. Though the movie felt long, I'm glad this hour was reestablished once the film was released on home video and subsequently on DVD.Noodles as a boy is played by Scott Tiler, an actor whose career fizzled out completely in the late 1980s. I bring up his name because I was more impressed with his performance than that of DeNiro who plays Noodles as an adult. Granted, as an adult, Noodles has surv! ived eight years in jail which could break down a person's spirit, but DeNiro barely registers as having any character at all. He plays Noodles in a sort of daze as opposed to Tiler who has this spark in his eyes from the very beginning which allows us to connect completely with the character of Noodles who is going to be in just about every minute of the movie. DeNiro then forces the viewer to take a step back and almost disconnect completely. When he's in a scene with James Woods as adult Max, Woods lights up the screen with so much charisma that I wish Woods had the more significant role.The final ninety minutes after intermission completely left me cold beginning with Noodles almost inexplicably raping his childhood crush after a ridiculously over-stylized romantic dinner. The twist at the end over the supposed death of one of the characters could be seen coming from a mile away, and the encounter between the two feels rushed and perfunctory. This all occurs after a str! ange reunion between an aged Noodles and an ageless Deborah, t! he girl he fell in love with as a child and raped as a young adult.Once Upon a Time in America is so very great in so many ways but it's also so very disappointing in many other ways. Though I ultimately think his great moments trump his failures, I'd use this description to describe the directorial career of Leone as well. Both his successes and failures were epic. This was his last film before dying in 1989, and he certainly left it all out on the table. Despite its flaws, Once Upon a Time in America really does prove essential viewing, much like the all-too-similar Godfather films, though this movie isn't in the same league. Too bad, though, since it really could have been just as good--instead, it's just as epic.
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