Once Upon a Time in America

BFI Film Classics

by Adrian Martin

Sergio Leone, maestro of the spaghetti Western, spent sixteen years developing what was to be his final work--the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1983). This "testament film" has a special place in Leone's oeuvre because it marries the directors typically flamboyant, expressionistic style to a story full of profound melancholy and regret. Tracing the lives of a gang of Jewish hoods from their childhood in the New York streets of the 1920s, through Prohibition and union racketeering, to the 1960s, Once Upon a Time in America centers on the relationship between Noodles (Robert De Niro) and Max (James Woods)--an intense friendship destroyed by time, the shifting tides of political history, and mutual betrayal.
As well as detailing the film's genesis, its production history, and its different versions, this study considers Once Upon a Time in America in the context of Leone's evolution as a grand cinema stylist. It illuminates his themes, his method, and his aesthetic, and judges his enormous impact upon subsequent generations of filmmakers the world over.

Genres: Media Tie In, Nonfiction, Film

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 1998

Reviews

[Moshtagh hosein · Rating 5 out of 5]

اگر لاطائلات و ارجاعات و برچسب های بیهوده و مضحک فمنیستی و همجنسگرایانه مولف رو در نظر نگیریم،واقعا کتاب خوبی برای دوست‌داران سرجیو لئونه و این حماسه واپسینش هست.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check my reviews, I'm a big fan of these books, and here's another reason why.

I recently re-watched this film and it left me with some issues...I approached it as a bona fide classic that I hadn't seen for ages, and left wondering - was it that good? Or are there just a number of iconic scenes that stick in the mind? There were certainly scenes that I had completely forgotten about, and others that were very difficult to watch.

In this book, Martin presents his love for the film and demonstrates a real understanding of cinema and criticism, making references and connections that I had not considered and were bang on ('The Magnificent Ambersons' being a fascinating one). He also presents two fascinating chapters on how the film actually got made, and the differing versions that exist (the US TV version being completely recut, slashed to bits and presented in a linear narrative line with a completely different ending (!!!)...and is still being screened today). Analysing the scenes that have never made a theatrical cut I am saddened that this version doesn't exist, as I think it would address some of my issues with the film.

Towards the end of the book he explains an 'alternative' reading of the ending, which was quite fascinating, and even intrigued Leone himself apparently. I shall consider this the next time I watch the film...as this book has done enough to make me want to go back...

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent study of this underrated film (Leone's best, imo).

[Ranette · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hated this book

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin is a critic whose taste and instincts are typically impeccable, but sometimes can significantly outpaces the quality of his critical output here. No such problem here, even if he seems unsure of how to land his book, ultimately letting it taper off unsatisfactorily. So much of Martin's recent work has been of the video essay form, allowing moving pictures to stay in motion, and there's much to be said for that approach, but the success of his more traditional approach here suggests that he may actually be better suited to this sort of criticism, a rigorously researched defense of a deeply personal argument. He very effectively synthesizes previous work into something new, beginning by quickly aligning himself with me against my usual concerns regarding the shortcomings of film criticism (or "criticism") that happens to run rampant in this BFI series and then promptly launches into a piece of true criticism, opinionated and founded. Especially strong are his discussion of the male friendships portrayed and how the strength of those relationships undergirds everything, and of the balance (that makes Once Upon a Time in America the perfect gangster film) between the outsize and innate crassness of its characters butting up against an implicitly desired elegance, or at least stateliness and refinement. Sergio Leone is quoted as having seen the novel's appeal as stemming from being a "gangster story without glory," which I find mostly accurate, though I do think Noodles, in the totality of the film, is let off the hook a bit too much, with Max mad too monstrous of a counterpoint, resulting in the two ending up a bit too neatly on opposite ends of a schematic spectrum, especially given the relative nobility of Noodles's final act of refusal (though it can be read alternately as well). Martin captures the way all these contradictions mesh, as well as the contradiction between the classicism and modernism (and even postmodernism) of Leone's style of direction here, making a wonderfully sprawling case for a gloriously messy film, a case overflowing with evident passion that makes me want to go out and read every book in the bibliography and screen every yet-unseen film referenced.

makes youw ant tor ead every book in bilbiography.

[Witold Banasik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sergio Leone, champion of the Western movie drama, made his opus dei-the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America (1983). The book is not so fantastic as the film. It is just a good reader's review of what Mr Leone did around the movie. Anyway, the story of Gergio Leone brought to cinema goers in 1983 is the best ever made and seen by me on the silver screen. Touching and heartbraking, instructive and passionate.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recently released edition of Leone's film (though still missing a few minutes of footage) reveals a powerful and complex masterpiece, a profound tragedy about time and loss that almost incidentally works its way through some of the tropes of the gangster genre. It also provoked me to re-read Martin's brief text, written long before the most recent restoration. For better or worse, it's the only substantial study of the film available in English and therefore a crucial starting point.