Review of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) by Chris P — 22 Sep 2013

I am shocked at such high ratings for this film, as well as comparisons to The Godfather.

I found this movie to be painfully slow at times. Although there is some great cinematography and some beautifully done scenes (the dance scene with Deniro is one that comes to mind), I found parts of it uncomfortably bad. The early scenes with the youth actors are horrible. The acting in these scenes is a notch below community theater. The dialog is very poor, the jokes flat, the characters are all one dimensional and not at all likeable.

You could drive that Mack truck through some of the holes in the plot. Nobody ever connected Mr. Bailey with Max? Absurd.

Deniro's character was a zombie in the end, plodding forward with no emotion...

I think there were some interesting and original effects by Leone, like the phone ringing. I did not mind a non-linear plot, but in almost 4 hours, I didn't know much more about the characters and their motivations than I did when I pressed play.

Deniro's shows up after 30 years and he and Fat Moe go to bed after a few minutes without asking some obvious questions....totally unrealistic.

I don't buy this as Leone's crowning achievement...I had much higher expectations. Deniro's should be haunted by his habitual raping of strangers and friends, not by his alleged betrayal.