Once Upon A Time In America
Movies that take on the guise of having an almost hallucinatory, dreamlike state probably wouldnât catch on too well with todayâs ADHD audiences who can only take in so much and usually only if itâs all spoonfed to them a little bit at a time, but way back when it wasnât all that uncommon to see more than one director engage in a surreal style where things didnât always add up onscreen storywise, but regardless the overall achieved effect was definitely one of true artistic merit. However, it WAS rare to see such a movie go on for over 4 hours in length, and not only that, but a gangster movie as well. But that is just what we got here when the legendary Sergio Leone (forever iconic for his masterful Western epics), who was reportedly despondent at having turned down the directing gig for The Godfather, obtained the rights and set to work adapting a MUCH less well known true crime novel by Harry Grey (real name Herschel Goldberg) which depicted the fortunes of a Jewish crime gang struggling to make a name for themselves in New York City and in doing so allowed Leone to explore the so called âlegendsâ of American life, greed, and capitalism which supposedly had enamoured many of his European counterparts. Part of his approach here when it came to the more dreamlike aspects of such a lengthy epic was to tell the story in a non linear, completely out of sequence style and even jump back and forth between different time periods, a technique that was revolutionary in its time but had obviously later on inspired Quentin Tarantino to utilize the same methods with both his Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but whereas Tarantino did so in order to bring his stories around so that he could be able to lay out his central themes, here Leone does it as a way to show the frazzled point of view and possibly broken spirit of his main character, a man who has witnessed great tragedy and has now retreated into the shards of his shattered psyche to try and make sense of it all even as we witness almost everything from his fractured point of view. Even more fascinating is that aside from that aspect and besides the fact that the film features what can easily be considered a powerhouse cast, there really arenât all that many memorable characters here, albeit there are ones whom we see with certain ambitions, frailties, strengths, and weaknesses amongst them. What we do get here is a suitably languid pacing that helps to sustain the almost free floating form of storytelling thatâs on display, an evocative music score composed by the one and only Ennio Morricone, and incredibly beautiful cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli that just relishes in an almost countless series of long angle wide shots (in contrast to Leoneâs Westerns where his close ups were so renowned) that manage to come across time and time again as being these seemingly ornate paintings come to life, displaying such amazing beauty on so many occasions that it comes to define the whole film. The lead character here is Robert DeNiro as âNoodlesâ Aaronson, a Jewish criminal with a penchant for raping strong, defiant women but whose love and loyalty for his childhood friends that make up his gang is unquestionable, including James Woods as both the brains and balls of the operation, character acting legend William Forsythe (who is very young here), and one shot wonder James Hayden (who died at age 29 from a heroin overdose just mere hours after playing a junkie in a stage performance even before this film was ever released). Together, they work as a sort of freelance gang for hire, willingly performing mob hits, robberies, and other various crimes for the ârealâ mob bosses who actually run the city while also owning and operating their own Prohibition era speakeasy along with their unofficial fifth member (Larry Rapp), a rather fat, creepy type who nonetheless has a beautiful sister (played by Jennifer Connelly as a child and by Elizabeth McGovern as an adult) who has teased and tormented DeNiro his whole life to the point that he is completely, obsessively in love with her (and indeed Connellyâs poised, winsome performance is among the best and most memorable in the whole film). Eventually, Woods decides that itâs time for the gang to shoot for greener pastures by literally getting into bed with the local crime syndicates (and a Union boss who is slowly seeing his own soul rotting away played by Treat Williams) on the premise that with the many more millions of dollars that they could make in doing so that they would also be able to gain some real POWER as well, but DeNiro comes to disagree with that idea, thinking that since theyâve already made enough money to be able to take it easy from here on out in their lives that they should just cut their losses and do just that, fading away quietly into the sunset without realizing that Woods has already signed all of them up to be partners with the big bosses. The filmâs casting design is certainly unusual, as you have some big name (and highly billed) stars like Joe Pesci and Burt Young mostly being used for glorified cameos (along with Louise Fletcher in a ârestoredâ scene as a funeral director), but you also have 60s sex symbol Tuesday Weld in a key role as a ragged yet still sexy moll who becomes Woodsâ girlfriend for the later part of the film and Danny Aiello going WAY over the top (and nonetheless still being hilariously authentic) as the asshole braggart police chief who talks a line of shit to his four daughters about them respecting his newborn son only to get handed another baby girl instead (part of a clever switcheroo squeeze play by DeNiro and Woods). It can be said that the filmâs jumpy story structure is as a result of Leone cutting to different points in the charactersâ lives (mostly DeNiro), starting out with an opium den where DeNiro has holed up to hide out from hired killers who are looking for him, to a very extensive sequence showing the gang growing up as young kids in early 1900s New York, a bold move considering that these scenes with the child actors (with all their roles well played by those who are matching up with their adult counterparts) take up nearly 1/3 of the filmâs running time, climaxing with them taking out a local neighborhood enforcer played by James Russo who has no qualms about shooting down a young child in cold blood. Then there are the flashforwards to 1968 New York, where an obviously aged DeNiro has come out of hiding to find out not only where the gangâs money has gone, but who is actually taking care of their business in his absence. The two primary factors on display here throughout are not only in DeNiroâs increasing nervousness as Woodsâ plans become more grandiose and riskier, but also in the touching fact that one of the few things that he does take comfort in is just simply knowing that those whom he still cares about are alive and well, even if he doesnât wish to associate with them any longer. But of course the filmâs major stroke of genius (or conceit as some would say) is in the filmâs final moments where the storyâs dream like structure is revealed to actually have POSSIBLY been a dream after all, as one is unable to ascertain whether the brokenhearted DeNiro has actually lived through and experienced the events that we have all seen or if he is just merely on the opium binge of a lifetime in order to retreat into his own mind (and soul) and thus devise an entirely fictional scenario and outcome for this story that he himself might be truly able to live with. And thus comes Leoneâs smashing success with this particular effort, which while not up there with his all time greatest work (the slow pace at a 4 hour plus running time prevents that) is still essential viewing for any fans of groundbreaking, provocative cinema for this era or any other timeâŚ
9/10