Once Upon a Time in America 1984 123movies

Watch: Once Upon a Time in America 1984 123movies, Full Movie Online – With the vivid memory of his long-gone childhood friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye etched in his mind, his ferociously loyal partners-in-crime during their rise to prominence in New York’s Prohibition-era Lower East Side, the defeated, penniless, and guilt-ridden former gangster David “Noodles” Aaronson returns to Manhattan. Not knowing what to expect on his mission to shed light on his opaque past, grizzled Noodles reunites with his only living friend Fat Moe after 35 haunted years of self-exile. However, the relentless, piercing sound of culpability stands in the way of finding closure, as the inscrutable content of a well-worn leather suitcase further complicates matters. And now, against the backdrop of a torn conscience, the sad, bittersweet recollections of more than 50 years of love, death, and everything in-between become inextricably intertwined, leading to even more puzzling questions. But what are a man’s options when he is left with nothing?.
Plot: A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
Smart Tags: #gangster #prohibition #1920s #rape #flashback #new_york_city #organized_crime #mob_hit #based_on_novel #double_cross #new_york #mafia #1930s #ambiguous_ending #criminal_syndicate #police_corruption #crime_boss #epic #date_rape #rival_gang #prostitute

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Ratings:

	8.3/10 Votes: 351,036
	87% | RottenTomatoes
	75/100 | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 4436 Popularity: 26.867 | TMDB

Reviews:

Stereotypical Sergio Leone film with endless waitings and sight crossings.

One of the performances that made Robert de Niro de actor he is and an interesting way of telling a story and the evolution of America during the years of the alcohol prohibition.

**It’s an excellent film, which proves the importance of good post-production, and how bad editing can ruin the whole thing.**

There are certain films that impress us so much when we see them that we are really surprised when we discover how ignored they were by the great awards. This film is one of them: I was really shocked to find that it wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe… and I had to read a bit to understand why that happened.

The film is perhaps one of the best in Sérgio Leone’s extensive filmography, and is often compared to other great gangster films such as “Godfather”. I, personally, wouldn’t dare to do that, but I could still put this film in the “top ten” of the great mobster films. Amazingly, it was a huge box office failure in the US because they insisted on releasing there an extremely cut version, with about two and a half hours. A version so forgettable and badly edited that no one understood the story and that the film had no chance of running for the highest awards in the industry! It was a shot in the foot and proves the importance of a good edition for the quality of the product. Sometimes a longer film is preferable to a sterile, abridged version.

The script is wonderful and follows the criminal path of a small group of youngsters from a Jewish community in New York, stretching from the 20s to the 60s. The story revolves around Noodles, but the main character ends up being Max, who becomes the gang’s boss. The relationship between them is very well explored. However, not everything went well: there is a love sub-plot between Noodles and Deborah that is never taken further, there are several characters that seem too sketchy and underdeveloped and there are situations that the film doesn’t know how to explore as it should (the most glaring being the violent death of the youngest gang member). I just can’t say how many of these problems started in the editing room, with radical cuts in the story told.

Robert DeNiro was one of the first names to be hired for the cast, and had a say in the choice of several other actors. DeNiro is impeccable, and he provides us with excellent quality work. Moreover, I think that this helped to glue the actor’s image a little to the criminal films in the popular imagination, along with “Taxi Driver” and “Goodfellas”. James Woods is also amazing in the role he has been given and leaves with this film his greatest film work. Elizabeth McGovern also does very well here, although I feel that the actress was not able to make her career take off afterward (I only saw her really successful now, with “Downton Abbey”). I also liked the brief, but remarkable, participation of Jennifer Connelly, still very young. And I feel sorry for Joe Pesci, because the actor is wasted by appearing only in a couple of scenes (perhaps another victim of the radical cuts in the editing room).

Leone uses everything he knows in this film and provides us with incredible, beautiful cinematography, which knows how to take advantage of slow camera movements, close-ups in the most striking scenes and intense colors. The flashbacks are quite well-marked, and anyone familiar with the cinematic resource will have no difficulty in following the temporal advances and retreats that take place. The special effects do their job well, the costumes are excellent, and the characterization has its moments (DeNiro has been masterfully aged, and very much resembles what he is today). As a film where crime and violence are things we expect to find, we have an array of violent scenes and graphic situations that include not only brutal murders, beatings and shootings but also teen sex, voyeurism and, most notably, a long and particularly graphic rape scene. It’s not a movie for the faint-hearted. A final word for the soundtrack, by Ennio Morricone. It is highly regarded by connoisseurs and I admit it works, but I’m not a fan of the pan pipe. I feel it gives the film an oriental touch, it would be something I would expect more from a martial arts film soundtrack.

Make sure you get the director’s cut!
Many people compare “Once Upon a Time in America” with “The Godfather”. In my opinion these two movies can’t be compared. Both are masterpieces in their own way, but each of them has a different style. You don’t compare a Picasso to Michelangelo’s Sixteen Chapel either, do you?

What is it that makes this movie a masterpiece? Well, first of all there is the director. Sergio Leone is a real master when it comes to creating a special atmosphere, full of mystery, surprises and drama… He’s one of the few directors who understands the art of cutting a movie in such a way that you stay focused until the end.

The way the movie was cut is also the reason why a lot of Americans don’t think this movie is very special. There are three versions, but only the European version is how the director imagined it to be. He didn’t want his movie to be shown in chronological order (1910’s – 1930’s – 1960’s), but wanted to mix these three periods of time. The studio cut the movie in chronological order, loosing a lot of its originality and therefor getting a lot of bad critics. If you want to see this film the way Sergio Leone saw it, you have to make sure you get the director’s cut.

The second reason why this movie is so great is the music. Ennio Morricone, who is seen as the greatest writer of film music ever, did an excellent job. Together with the images, the music speaks for itself in this movie. From time to time there isn’t said a word, but the music and the images on their own tell the story. He understood perfectly what Sergio Leone wanted and composed most of the music even before the movie was shot.

Last but not least there is also the acting and the script. The actors all did an excellent job. But what else can you expect from actors like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci… They helped making this movie as great as it is by putting there best effort in it. The script helped them with it. It took twelve years to complete, but it hasn’t left any detail untouched. The writers really thought of everything when creating it.

I can really recommend this movie to everyone, but especially to people who like the gangster genre. When you want to see the movie, you better be sure that you will have the time for it. This isn’t a movie that is finished after 90 minutes. You’ll have to be able to stay focused during 3 hours and 47 minutes, which will certainly not be easy during the first 20 to 30 minutes. Some scenes at the beginning only make sense when you have seen the end of the movie. But when you are able to stay focused, you’ll find this one of the best movies you’ve ever seen. I certainly did and I rewarded it with a well deserved 10/10.

Dark Leone
Sergio Leone made epic cinema – he understood events resonate only when you set them up properly.

In the 4 hours extended edition of Once Upon a Time in America, it’s forty minutes before the first flashback to the initial storyline kicks in, with the protagonists as members of a teenage gang roaming the streets of early 20th century New York; it’s a whole hour before Noodles (played as a child by Scott Tiler, as an adult by Robert De Niro in one of his iconic performances) meets Max (Rusty Jacobs / James Woods, never better), his criminal partner.

Leone’s darkest movie – where his trademark male friendships are betrayed and broken – Once Upon a Time in America has a complex structure jumping back and forth in time, following Noodles’ meteoric rise and fall during the Prohibition era as he poisons the relationships with his best friend Max and the only woman he loves, Deborah (Jennifer Connelly in a great cinematic debut / Elizabeth McGovern).

As an aside, while I loathe sexual violence in movies, the rape scene in this film, although highly disturbing, is among the rare ones not included for cheap sleazy drama but necessary character-wise: Noodles has become so accustomed to violence, he cannot cope with Deborah’s refusal and hurts one of the few people he genuinely cares about. The criminal life brings the wealth with which he attempts to win her over, but eventually ruins her life and turns Noodles himself into a miserable, lonely man full of regrets.

Classic Leone themes – like the inherent violence of civilized society in general and of business in particular – are given a darker spin. Max morphs into a businessman / politician involved in the higher spheres of crime, someone who doesn’t get his hands dirty (like Morton in Once Upon a Time in the West), severing his ties with Noodles until he chooses his own karmic comeuppance.

Or is the whole story an opium-induced hallucination by Noodles as a young man? It’s possible, but besides the point: the ending is a way to show Noodles trapped into his own self-inflicted nightmare of violence and betrayal.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 3 hr 49 min (229 min), 2 hr 19 min (139 min) (re-cut) (USA), 4 hr 10 min (250 min) (extended cut), 4 hr 29 min (269 min) (uncut)
Budget 30000000
Revenue 5472914
Status Released
Rated R
Genre Crime, Drama
Director Sergio Leone
Writer Harry Grey, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi
Actors Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Country Italy, United States
Awards Won 2 BAFTA 12 wins & 12 nominations total
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio 1.85 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory Technicolor S.p.a., Roma, Italy (color)
Film Length 6,279 m (Sweden), 6,305 m (Finland)
Negative Format 35 mm (Eastman)
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format D-Cinema (2012 re-release), 35 mm