Review of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) by Graham P — 31 Jan 2010

Dull, pretentious and with a rather unpleasant streak of misogyny running through it, Sergio Leone's final film does not compare in any way favourably with his 1960s spaghetti westerns. Robert De Niro plays a charmless and completely unsympathetic Jewish gangster whose life in prohibition-era New York is essentially a miserable one of alienation and brutal violence.

At nearly four hours in length (and this is after heavy editing down from Leone's original theatrical cut of nearly twice that), Once Upon a Time in America demands a great deal from the viewer, but gives little in return. Depressing and disturbing in equal measure, it seems that the film's one message is that gangsters are thoroughly unpleasant and disturbed individuals and that their lifestyle is anything but something to aspire too. Now that's a surprise.

De Niro is, of course, excellent in this movie. His performance is full of the intensity and brooding inner conflict that he portrays so well. James Woods is also very strong as his associate; a self-obsessed sociopath. There is nothing at all uplifting about the movie, and after seeing it I actually felt quite drained and depressed by the dour view of humanity it presents and with a nagging feeling that I had just wasted three and a half hours of my life.

On a positive note; the cinematography in this movie is excellent, as is Enrico Morricone's haunting and atmospheric score. As a piece of entertainment though, Once Upon a Time in America is, to me at least, a complete failure.