Once Upon A Time In America [2 CDs] (1984)

Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld, Burt Young, Joe Pesci, Danny Aiello, Bill Forsythe, Jennifer Connelly, Scott Tyler, Rusty Jacobs.
Written by Franco Arcalli, Leo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Franco Ferrini, Enrico Medioli, Stuart Kaminski & Sergio Leone.
Directed by Sergio Leone.

Once Upon a Time in America is an outstanding film on several levels. Its length and its impeccable attention to period detail give it the feel of an epic. But at its heart, it is the story of one man's journey through life, and the price he's paid for the choices he made along the way. Though his age is never specified, Noodles (Robert De Niro) must have been born just after the turn of the century, making him about 30 when we first meet him in the opium den beneath the Chinese theatre. We know he is a hunted man, and by the looks of things, he is also a haunted man… still young, but devoid of vibrance. He isn't merely hiding out from thugs, Noodles is hiding out from life itself… lost in a druggy haze of nothingness. But he can't really hide from the past, as we see when a ringing telephone cues his memory and we are provided a glimpse of the events that led him to seek this refuge.

This is the sort of complex, graceful moviemaking that transports me more deeply and more reliably than any dozen effects extravaganzas put together. It's no coincidence that many of my favorite films employ this approach. The Godfather, Part II, The English Patient, and Titanic spring immediately to mind. And–to a lesser degree–films like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. By doling out bits and pieces of the narrative with jumps between past and present, the filmmakers invite the audience to make connections between those moments… to let go of a narrow, linear sense of story in order to embrace the links between the elements… and to remind us that in human experience, the past is never dead and gone. Memory and reflection bring it into our present and will drag it into our future as well. That we are–every day of our lives–who we have been in days that have passed. Each crossroads we face will involve choices that define us forever, because to take one path is to leave another behind. And what we leave behind is not merely another life we may have lived, but another self we may have been. This is the essential underpinning of Once Upon a Time in America, because in that respect, the story of Noodles is the story of us all.

As for the particulars of this tale and the craft behind its telling… where to begin?? I suppose I should simply get the raves and huzzahs out of the way before I dive into the story and themes. Leone's direction is spectacular! His shots and aural cues evoke time and place in ways that a Hollywood hack would have missed. His early 20th century "childhood" sequences are particularly amazing for the art direction, which is as scruffy and sooty as it is quaint and beautiful. Too many films recreate this era as pristine in its details. But they were messy, dirty times. I loved the way the streets were teeming with people and carts and interactions before automobiles took them over in the later sequences. It allows us to feel the insignificance of a small immigrant boy at the center of this world. The sequences set in the 1930s have the glossy darkness we associate with classic gangster films, and because Noodles and his compatriots are now wealthy, the locations and costumes are full of style and beauty, which underlines the allure of the gangster lifestyle that they have chosen. The look of the future (1968) is shabby and rundown, reflecting both the aging Noodles and what's left of his childhood haunts. There's a blandness to it all, but also a touching hint at the endurance of memory. Would those kids messing around on the sidewalk ever guess what history lives inside of the seemingly unremarkable old guy who shuffles across the street, or what history lives inside of the street itself or the buildings that line it? Certainly not. But Noodles knows. And we know too (or will soon enough, anyway).

Dana Knowles - AboutFilms.com

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