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Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 4

Sergio Leone's epic crime drama is visually stunning, stylistically bold, and emotionally haunting, and filled with great performances from the likes of Robert De Niro and James Woods.

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2

Sergio Leone's epic crime drama is visually stunning, stylistically bold, and emotionally haunting, and filled with great performances from the likes of Robert De Niro and James Woods.

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Movie Info

Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles' 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the

R, 2 hr. 24 min.

Drama

Directed By: Sergio Leone

Written By: Harry Grey, Leonardo Benvenuti

In Theaters: Jun 1, 1984 Wide

On DVD: Jun 10, 2003

Warner Home Video

Once Upon a Time in America Trailer & Photos

Cast

Robert De Niro
David "Noodles" Aaronso...
James Woods
Max
Elizabeth McGovern
Deborah
Treat Williams
Jimmy O'Donnell
Tuesday Weld
Carol
Burt Young
Joe
Joe Pesci
Frankie Monaldi
Danny Aiello
Police Chief Aiello
William Forsythe
Cockeye
James P. Hayden
Patsy
Darlanne Fluegel
Eve
Larry Rapp
Fat Moe
Amy Ryder
Peggy
Scott Tiler
Young Noodles
Rusty Jacobs
David Max's son, Young ...
Jennifer Connelly
Young Deborah
Adrian Curran
Young Cockeye
Brian Bloom
Young Patsy
Julie Cohen
Young Peggy
Noah Moazezi
Dominic
James Russo
Bugsy
Karen Shallo
Mrs. Aiello
Mario Brega
Mandy
Richard Bright
Chicken Joe
Clem Caserta
Al Capuano
Scott Coffey
Joey Faye
Adorable Old Man
Richard Foronjy
Whitey
Frank Gio
Beefy
Baxter Harris
Reporter
Estelle Harris
Peggy's Mother
Paul Herman
Monkey
Olga Karlatos
Woman in the Puppet The...
Marcia Jean Kurtz
Max's Mother
Dutch Miller
Van Linden
Gerard Murphy
Crowning
Jerry Strivelli
Johnny Capuano
Richard Zobel
Reporter
Cis Corman
Cliff Cudney
Mounted Policeman
Sergio Leone
Ticket Agent
Arnon Milchan
Chauffeur
Angelo Florio
Willie the Ape
Bruno Iannone
Thug
Marvin Scott
Interviewer
Ray Dittrich
Trigger
Paul Farentino
2nd Mounted Policeman
Mort Freeman
Linda Ipanema
Nurse Thompson
Robert Harper
Sharkey
James Hayden
Elizabeth Mc Govern

Critic Reviews for Once Upon a Time in America

All Critics (35) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (4) | DVD (29)

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.

April 12, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Every gesture is immediate, and every gesture seems eternal.

April 12, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

A disappointment of considerable proportions.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

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.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment (1)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

As one would expect from Leone, the film is a brilliant stylistic accomplishment.

July 16, 2003 Comment

Douglas Pratt

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

A lazily haullucinatory epic that means to encapsulate approximately 50 years of American social history into a single film.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comments (19)

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

Handsomely mounted beyond a shadow of a doubt, but as the final statement in Leone's career, it mostly makes me think of how fantastic his Westerns were.

September 13, 2011 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy

| Comment

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

While The Godfather delivers certainty and a comforting dramatic resolution, Once Upon A Time In America delivers a profound kind of mystery.

February 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Adam Smith

Empire Magazine

In a post The Godfather world, for Leone to even consider taking on an epically scoped New York gangster film took tremendous courage if not foolishness, Coppola had set the bar at an impossible height.

September 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Bangitout.com

| Comment

Jordan Hiller

Bangitout.com

Sergio Leone's cut is wonderful! Avoid the butchered theatrical version unleashed in the U.S.--I actually walked out on that indecipherable mess.

January 27, 2007 Comment

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews Source: Old School Reviews

Hugely complex, achingly sad and splendidly gorgeous.

July 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Pure cinematic bliss.

June 4, 2006 Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

While Leone's vision still has a magnificent sweep, the film finally subsides to an emotional core that is sombre, even elegiac, and which centres on a man who is bent and broken by time, and finally left with nothing but an impotent sadness.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment (1)

Time Out

Sergio Leone's swan song is an undisputed masterpeice, a self-reflexive crime-gangster epic with towering performances from De Niro and Tuesday Weld.

June 14, 2005 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Haunting, thematically complex.

May 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness

| Comment

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

There are so many wonderful, memorable moments in the movie that it conveys a lifetime of experience as it unfolds.

November 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Movie City News

| Comment

Douglas Pratt

Movie City News

A obviedade da meia hora final compromete o impacto do filme - que, ainda assim, impressiona por sua escala �pica, por suas elegantes transi��es de tempo e �timas atua��es.

March 14, 2004 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Once Upon a Time in America

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"Once Upon a Time in America" is a stunning, lengthy, and novel-esque narration of three pivotal years (1922, 1933, and 1967) in the lives of two Jewish New York Gang members, Noodles and Max. The non-linear depiction of events, the brilliant imagery, the soundtrack, and amazing acting on behalf of Robert De Niro and

October 25, 2011

Colin Montgomery

Super Reviewer

A haunting, powerful, compelling, superbly-acted, visually beautiful and bold film from Sergio Leone. One of Robert De Niro's greatest performances as well. This crime epic is not only one of my favourites of the 1980s, it is in my top 5 favourite films of all-time.

February 24, 2011

Liam Gadd

Super Reviewer

Once Upon a Time in America Quotes

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1. Young Noodles: It's true I have killed people, Mr. Bailey. Sometimes to defend myself, sometimes for money. And many people used to come to us. Business partners, rivals, lovers. Some of the jobs we took, and some we didn't. Yours is one we would never touch, Mr Bailey.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
1. Police Chief Aiello: I'm the chief of police, not the chief of the people.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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