84 From ’84: Once Upon A Time in America

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.

Cast:

• Robert De Niro as David “Noodles” Aaronson
• James Woods as Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz
• Elizabeth McGovern as Deborah Gelly
• Jennifer Connelly as young Deborah
• Joe Pesci as Francis “Frankie” Monaldi
• Burt Young as Joe Monaldi
• Tuesday Weld as Carol
• Treat Williams as Jimmy Conway O’Donnell
• Danny Aiello as Police Chief Vincent Aiello
• Richard Bright as “Chicken” Joe
• James Hayden as Patrick “Patsy” Goldberg
• William Forsythe as Philip “Cockeye” Stein

1984 memories

I saw bits an pieces of this back in the 80s but never the entire movie. It wasn’t quite the movie I was looking for and the parts I did see didn’t hold my attention.

Let’s see if this star studded gangster movie is any better forty years later…

40th Anniversary Re-watch

I’ll start by saying Once Upon A Time in America is directed by the great Sergio Leone. And it has a cast of who’s-who of gangster/mafia movies. Yet, with all that star power I was mostly bored with this movie and didn’t enjoy it.

Once Upon a Time In America is the story of Noodles (De Niro), his friend Max and their rise as gangsters in Prohibition Era New York City.

There are so many movies with the same plot that are so much better. The cast is amazing; De Niro, James Woods, Burt Young, Danny Aiello, Elizabeth McGovern and a young Jennifer Connelly in her film debut. Even all that star power can’t save this movie. Ironically, most of the cast will go on to star in some of the best mob movies of the 80s and 90s, but this one isn’t one of them.

Clocking in at 2 hours and 39 minutes the movie feels much longer. It’s a slog from start to finish. The acting is stilted, the characters are boring and the dialog is a mess. The action was good, there wasn’t enough of it though.

There are two camps for this film, one says it’s a masterpiece of the 20th century and the other says it’s long and not worth watching. I’m in the latter. I’d rather have my 3 hours back. I guess there is another group as well. The group saying to avoid the 139 minute American release and watch the 229 minute international release.

Yeah, never gonna happen. No way am I giving another 4 hours of my time to see if this movie ‘might’ be better. It might be though. Leone original cut of the movie was 12 hours and he envisioned releasing it as two 6 hour movies! Twelve hours would make a better mini-series than a movie.

For my time and money I’d rather watch Leone’s spaghetti westerns or Goodfellas or Casino or The Untouchables.

Favorite Line:

The End… 🤣

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I should watch the longer version. What camp do you fall in? Masterpiece or Masterful mess?

Once Upon A Time in America was released on 01 June 1984. The American version was a box office bombing stealing $5.5 million on a $30 million budget.

Did you watch Once Upon A Time in America? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on X(Twitter). The main Geekster channel is @GeeksterMedia and I’m @MileHighSamurai You can also find me on Bluesky @MileHighSamurai

6/10 stars

Check out the entire 84 From ’84 movie series