| | Once Upon a Time in America |  | Director: Sergio Leone
Actors: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth Mcgovern, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams
Category: Video
List Price: £12.99
Buy Used: £0.75
You Save: £12.24 (94%)
New (2) from £6.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 14268
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Italian (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: VHS Tape
Discs: 1
EAN: 5014783814520
ASIN: B00004RQ1Z
Theatrical Release Date: June 1, 1984
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Once Upon a Time in America has a chequered history, having been chopped from its original 229-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its theatrical release. The longer edition presented here benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an ageing Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. --Marshall Fine
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 The best film of all time July 12, 2008
THIS IS THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE!!! BOLD STATEMENT I KNOW, BUT IT REALLY IS !!! MY FAVOURITE DIRECTORS ARE: STANLEY KUBRICK, INGMAR BERGMAN, SERGIO LEONE, QUENTIN TARANTINO, ROMAN POLANSKI, STEVEN SPEILBERG (ONLY "SCHINDLERS LIST", "JAWS" AND "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" AND THE BRILLIANT DAVID LYNCH. IF YOU LIKE THESE DIRECTORS FILMS, YOU WOULD BE AN IDIOT NOT TO WATCH AND LOVE THIS. THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD THROUGH CINEMA DIRECTED IN THE CLEVEREST WAY, AND A SOUNDTRACK TO MATCH.
Leone's final epic March 24, 2008
OUATIA is an epic film in every sense. It follows the life of 'Noodles' (Robert De Niro) from early adolesense to adult and then as an older man discovering the truth about his past that he thought was dead and buried.
The cast are superb with DeNiro and James Woods as Max (at his most charismatic) playing the two leading roles roles. In the fact if anything the sections with the younger actors playing the adolesent Noodles and Max were probably even better.
Leone's view of the American gangster era is a little more poetic than say Goodfellas and The Godfather. The pace of this film is more measured. Its beautifully shot and a wonderful looking film. When the violence happens though, it is as viseral as anything you will find in those other two great gangster films. In particular there are two rape scenes, which whilst not that explicit tell you a lot about 'Noodles' attitude to women.
One of the characters in the film is called James Conway O'Donnell (as displayed in the cast list), but he is referred to as Jimmy Conway in the film. Interestingly Jimmy Conway was DeNiro's character in Goodfellas.
For me its just short of 5 stars. The reason is the length. At three hours and 40 minutes its just too long. I felt that it could have been trimmed a little (say 20 mins) and the film would have a little sharper. But this is a very minor critcism of what is otherwise a superb film.
 Just a bit naff really March 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Difficult to follow, a bit boring in places, and very irritating directorial moves; what's with all the pan pipe music?!
 what a directionless piece of crap February 5, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This film starts strong but quickly loses its way, especially in the last hour. The plot completely unravels, the annoying music track repeats constantly, and much of the acting is weak. Don't waste more than three hours of you life on this, it is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. Don't be fooled by the cast!
 Over long, uninvolving, confusing - but visually fabulous! January 9, 2008
Firstly, this is a long movie, around 3 and a half hours. Jeeez! My rule for 3 hours plus, is that you better have a lot of story. This one just about pulls it off, but there were times when my mind wandered.
Performances are all pretty excellent. Even the child actors are of abnormally high-quality. It's all pretty entertaining, but each scene tended to fizzle out and become over indulgent, and for me, made it less potent. In terms of narrative drive and purpose, I couldn't really see the point, and it got needlessly confusing in places. In my opinion, it sort of collapsed under its own ambition as an epic mafia saga.
Although, what makes this movie pretty damn good as opposed to just reasonable is the scale and visual attention to detail. Each shot is so well photographed, and the frequency of detail is pretty awe-inspiring. Someone researched this movie very well, and the cinematography is Oscar worphy, with some brilliant dark, moody and nostalgic images.
I think this movie is flawed. I don't think it's a masterpiece. But one can only feel admiration for the ambition of the storytelling.
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