Film Once Upon a Time in America

[Sally Cinnamon]

What meaning did you take from it?

What actually happened with Max?

What was ‘real’?

Was it just Noodles off his tits?

Wonderful film.

 

[Man of Leisure]

All I remember was I liked it and it was long. And there was an opium den somewhere. Jewish gangsters, who knew?

 

[VorZakone]

One of my favorite movies. They don't make movies like that anymore.

I've read different explanations, I think the most common one was that Noodles imagined most of it? But I'm not sure.

 

[El General 1994]

Watched first when I was 11. What a load of junk.

Watched it again when I was 30.

Sergio Leone

 

[swooshboy]

Love this movie - absolutely incredible.

And the score is fantastic.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

"Comin' Noodles?"

"Comin'!"

It has some really brutal bits but because of its length it's able to get into the characters, particularly Noodles, in a rich amount of detail rarely seen in films. The kids' scenes lost a lot of people I've spoken to about it but I loved them, and the film generally. The 269 minuter is heavy going at times but there's no compromising to be had with the shorter versions.

 

[KingCantona87]

The word "Epic" is overused but certainly not in this case. An absolute masterpiece of cinema and the extended cut is utterly brutal at times.

 

[Ian Reus]

Good movie but seriously flawed.
And the ending was intentionally left ambiguous so we're left talking about it.

 

[strongwalker]

Good movie but seriously flawed.
And the ending was intentionally left ambiguous so we're left talking about it.

i love Leone movies but i never liked this one much, for some reason.

 

[Ian Reus]

i love Leone movies but i never liked this one much, for some reason.

Let me guess. The completely unnecessary extended rape scene(s)?
The close-up shots of de niros mug?
The art is beautiful in it though.

 

[Loublaze]

All I remember was I liked it and it was long. And there was an opium den somewhere. Jewish gangsters, who knew?

Ever heard of Arnold Rothstein, Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen?

 

[Man of Leisure]

Ever heard of Arnold Rothstein, Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky and Mickey Cohen?

Yes, yes, yes, and no. Rothstein and Lansky solely from Boardwalk Empire. Thought of them as being more token Jewish guys affiliated with the ubiquitous Italian mafia. Similar to Hyman Roth in The Godfather 2 and De Niro’s character in Goodfellas.

 

[Loublaze]

Yes, yes, yes, and no. Rothstein and Lansky solely from Boardwalk Empire. Thought of them as being more token Jewish guys affiliated with the ubiquitous Italian mafia. Similar to Hyman Roth in The Godfather 2 and De Niro’s character in Goodfellas.

A plethora of Jewish mob crews rose into prominence during prohibition. Rothstien alongside another notorious Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz were at the forefront and they took the reigns from Monk Eastman who run a powerful crew in New York with mostly men of Jewish ethnicity called the Eastman gang. These guys did a lot of business with the Italian mob and some of them like Lansky and Frank Rosenthal (renamed Sam Rothstein for the movie 'Casino' and played by De Niro) operated independently as associates of the Mafia. I recommend watching 1997's 'Hoodlum' starring Laurence Fishbourne. It delves into Dutch Schultz's operations in prohibition America and his business relations with the mob and the Harlem gang run by Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson who took Frank Lucas (the gangster played by Denzel Washington in American gangster) under his wing.

 

[Hoof the ball]

A plethora of Jewish mob crews rose into prominence during prohibition. Rothstien alongside another notorious Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz were at the forefront and they took the reigns from Monk Eastman who run a powerful crew in New York with mostly men of Jewish ethnicity called the Eastman gang. These guys did a lot of business with the Italian mob and some of them like Lansky and Frank Rosenthal (renamed Sam Rothstein for the movie 'Casino' and played by De Niro) operated independently as associates of the Mafia. I recommend watching 1997's 'Hoodlum' starring Laurence Fishbourne. It delves into Dutch Schultz's operations in prohibition America and his business relations with the mob and the Harlem gang run by Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson who took Frank Lucas (the gangster played by Denzel Washington in American gangster) under his wing.

Schultz had zero tact. Lol. Vicious dude, wild, emotional, reckless even. The Italians put him out of his misery because he was drawing to much heat from the feds.

 

[SteveJ]

Dutch Trump then.

 

[VorZakone]

Good movie but seriously flawed.
And the ending was intentionally left ambiguous so we're left talking about it.

What is flawed about this movie?

 

[strongwalker]

Let me guess. The completely unnecessary extended rape scene(s)?
The close-up shots of de niros mug?
The art is beautiful in it though.

couldn't put a finger on it really. In every other Leone movie, there was a character odd, but liekeable, someone to connect. In "America", i couldn't find one. Also, i thought although ticking all the Leone markers, it lacked that bit of extra magic his best work has. As if a talented directing student was trying to do something Leone-style. I'd need to watch it again today, don't think i've seen it full length since watching it in the cinema when it premiered.


If someone is interested in that NY/US gangs/1900-1930 era, there are some bits and pieces both in Ben Hecht's autobiographical works (playwright/screenwriter/novelist Hecht (Scarface, Underworld) started a newspaper writer in Chicago in that time and knew many of the mob) as well as in some of the books about the Marx Brothers who grew up as part of the jewish NY community, especially Harpo's autobiography. What can be found in there is of course no detailed info, but both catch very nicely the atmosphere of that era where the Gangsters were not in the shadows, but actually parts of the society, openly socialising with show stars, sports celebrities, politicians and other honorable citizens.

 

[Ian Reus]

What is flawed about this movie?

I don't even know where to start.
The screenplay is a mess. The editing all over the place. Too many set pieces woven together with a weak story and characters you couldn't get behind.
Rather than capture the time of prohibition, it protrays a bunch of Jewish immigrant gangsters who are nothing but thugs who would think nothing of double crossing each other.
And the many slap stick moment like swapping the babies don't belong in this type of movie. However funny they may seem at the time.
It's a good movie with a great score and it looks beautiful at times but it doesn't stack up against the godfather. Just think how that portrayed the immigrant coming to America.