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Once Upon a Time in America
Directed by
Sergio Leone
R
1984
3h 49m
Drama
,
Crime
8.3
86%
93%
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A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan 35 years later, where he must once again confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
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Where to Watch Once Upon a Time in America
Fubo
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Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel
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Paramount+
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Cast of Once Upon a Time in America
Robert De Niro
David 'Noodles' Aaronson
James Woods
Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz
Elizabeth McGovern
Deborah Gelly
Treat Williams
James Conway O'Donnell
Tuesday Weld
Carol
Joe Pesci
Frankie Monaldi
Burt Young
Joe
James Hayden
Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg
William Forsythe
Philip 'Cockeye' Stein
Larry Rapp
'Fat' Moe Gelly
Amy Ryder
Peggy
Scott Schutzman Tiler
Young Noodles
Rusty Jacobs
Young Max / David Bailey
Jennifer Connelly
Young Deborah
Brian Bloom
Young Patsy
Adrian Curran
Young Cockeye
Mike Monetti
Young 'Fat' Moe Gelly
Noah Moazezi
Dominic
James Russo
Bugsy
Darlanne Fluegel
Eve
Danny Aiello
Police Chief Vincent Aiello
Richard Bright
Chicken Joe
Frank Gio
Beefy
Ray Dittrich
Trigger
Mario Brega
Mandy
Julie Cohen
Young Peggy
Richard Foronjy
Officer Whitey
Olga Karlatos
Woman in the Puppet Theatre
Clem Caserta
Al Capuano
Frank Sisto
Fred Capuano
Jerry Strivelli
Johnny Capuano
Mike Gendel
Irving Gold
Sandra Solberg
Friend of Young Deborah
Margherita Pace
Young Deborah (Double)
Paul Herman
Monkey
Bruno Iannone
Thug
Bruno Bilotta
Chinese Theater Spectator (uncredited)
Angelo Florio
Willie the Ape
Marcia Jean Kurtz
Max's Mother
Gerard Murphy
Crowning
Dutch Miller
Van Linden
Robert Harper
Sharkey
Karen Shallo
Mrs. Aiello
Frankie Caserta
Bugsy's Gang
Joey Marzella
Bugsy's Gang
Marvin Scott
Interviewer
Ann Neville
Girl in Coffin
Joey Faye
Adorable Old Man
Linda Ipanema
Nurse Thompson
Tandy Cronyn
Reporter 1
Richard Zobel
Reporter 2
Baxter Harris
Reporter 3
Arnon Milchan
Chauffeur
Marty Licata
Cemetery Caretaker
Estelle Harris
Peggy's Mother
Gerritt Debeer
Drunk
Alexander Godfrey
Newstand Man
Cliff Cudney
Mounted Policeman
Paul Farentino
2nd Mounted Policeman
Bruce Bahrenburg
Sgt. P. Halloran
Mort Freeman
Street Singer
Massimo Liti
Young Macrò
Jay Zeely
Foreman
Salvatore Billa
One of Beefy's Thugs (uncredited)
Scott Coffey
Bugsy's Gang (uncredited)
Margo Stefanelli
Bugsy's Gang (uncredited)
Matteo Cafiso
Boy in Park (uncredited)
Nunzio Giuliani
Speakeasy Drum Player (uncredited)
Nelson Camp
Newspaper Salesman (uncredited)
Dario Iori
Speakeasy Banjo Player (uncredited)
Ole Jorgensen
Speakeasy Percussionist (uncredited)
Francesca Leone
David Bailey's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Chuck Low
Deborah Gelly's Father (uncredited)
Ron Nummi
Waiter (uncredited)
Ryan Paris
Speakeasy Patron (uncredited)
Nicola Roberto
Speakeasy Trumpet Player (uncredited)
Gianni Sanjust
Speakeasy Clarinet Player (uncredited)
Alex Serra
Speakeasy Vocalist (uncredited)
Susan Spafford
Nurse (uncredited)
Mark Frazer
Pimp (uncredited)
Maria Pia Monicelli
Prostitute (uncredited)
Claudio Mancini
Syndacalist (uncredited)
Rossana Canghiari
Speakeasy Patron (uncredited)
Once Upon a Time in America Ratings & Reviews
Mike
October 11, 2024
Once Upon A Time In America is a beautifully crafted film with a captivating story that is the pinnacle of escapism "Many years ago, I had a friend, a dear friend. I turned him in to save his life, but he was killed. But he wanted it that way. It was a great friendship." This film didn't only glue my eyes to the screen, it also managed to transport me into a whole different world and time period... a different story. The story and plot are one of the most captivating I've ever seen in a film, especially the first act where the main characters were still little boys. These boys were played by some great child actors that did a great job at giving these characters their own personalities and actually made me care for them. This act consists of the nostalgic memories of the childhood of the main character, Noodles. Sergio Leone crafted this film so incredibly well, that the childhood memories felt nostalgic for me too. Around the second act we see how the boys grew up into young men. Although I prefered the first act, I still really liked the refreshment it brought into the film. It did this by not only having new actors play the characters we came to know, but also by changing the pacing of the action. The boys matured and so did the violence. Throughout the film we also see an even older version of Noodles and certain other characters. This is where the plot becomes interesting. Some viewers think that the scenes with the older people are real and some people, including me, think that these scenes are part of Noodles' opium dreams. The film begins and ends with Noodles in an opium den. At the beginning of the film, right after Noodles reads that his friends got killed in the bank robbery, we see him lying down and smoking the opium. This is followed by the camera slowly zooming closer to his face. This indicates that we as the viewer enter his mind and everything after that is all happening in his head. In the final scene we see the opium den again, where we also see Noodles lying down again and smoking opium, with the final shot of the film being a focus shot of a smiling Noodles. So if the whole film is played in Noodles' opium dream, that means that everything we see up untill the point where Max, Patsy and Cockeye get killed in the bank robbery is a memory, everything after that are just flashforwards and never happened. The older version of Noodles is just a way for him to deal with the events of his life, to reflect on his deeds and to forgive himself. The last scene in the opium den is possibly right before the first scene in the opium den, this is supported by the fact that Noodles wears the exact same clothing. In the last scene we see Noodles entering the opium den, while in the first scene we see him already lying down. This means that this whole film is a closed loop and goes full circle. Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
There are times when we don't understand exactly what is happening, but never a time when we don't feel confidence in the film's narrative.
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Adding 22 minutes only enhances Leone's brilliant saga of guilt and betrayal
Lessons of Darkness
Nick Schager
Haunting, thematically complex.
Slant Magazine
Steve Macfarlane
Here was a filmmaker who specialized in pure, blistering images, and this operatic earthiness just doesn't play as well as the horrifying, salacious stuff.
Washington Post
Paul Attanasio
The movie's four hours long, but no one had the time to write a single real character.
Washington Post
Gary Arnold
This would-be epic schlep, dragging almost 50 years of chronology over a sluggish 140 minutes, is far too slight of text and ponderous of presentation to sustain more than nodding-off dramatic interest.
TIME Magazine
Richard Corliss
Leone is less interested in arousing an audience's easier emotions than in presenting, at a dispassionate distance, the horror of two men warily walking toward each other on a tightrope suspended above the snake pit of their , deepest compulsions.
Chicago Reader
Dave Kehr
Every gesture is immediate, and every gesture seems eternal.
Variety
Variety Staff
A disappointment of considerable proportions.
New York Times
Vincent Canby
A lazily haullucinatory epic that means to encapsulate approximately 50 years of American social history into a single film.
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
The film slips easily back and forth in time, dancing between the decades, often making the connection from one era to another solely by means of brilliant cuts that work like magic.
Film.com
John Hartl
Seeing what Leone always intended is like getting your dirty glasses washed.
The New Yorker
Pauline Kael
It isn't just the echoing moments that keep you absorbed. It's those reverberant dreamland settings and Leone's majestic, billowing sense of film movement; the images seem to come at you in waves of feeling.
Polygon
Toussaint Egan
Once Upon a Time in America is a tremendous work that captures the animating ambition and sorrow at the heart of the American Dream.
Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
...sprawling subject matter that's employed to admittedly erratic yet often striking effect by Leone...
LarsenOnFilm
Josh Larsen
...an epic of blinkered nostalgia.
Gone With The Twins
Mike Massie
The cinematographic style has evolved, but it's still unmistakably reminiscent of his earlier projects.
Esquire Magazine
Dom Nero
A stratosphere-scraping citadel of cinema, nearly everything about Leone's last film - and greatest masterwork - speaks to the grand illusion of the American Dream.
Common Sense Media
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Complex gangster epic has strong violence, sex.
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