Epic, episodic, tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish gangsters spanning over 40 years. Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards, the movie centers on small-time hood David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson and his lifelong partners in crime; Max, Cockeye and Patsy and their friends from growing up in the rough Jewish neighborhood of New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s, to the last years of Prohibition in the early 1930s, and then to the late 1960s where an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the past.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
  • Rating: (102,975 votes)
  • Taglines:Crime, passion and lust for power - Sergio Leone's explosive saga of gangland America. [Australia Theatrical] » As boys, they made a pact to share their fortunes, their loves, their lives. As men, they shared a dream to rise from poverty to power. Their story is now a "once upon a time" motion picture experience. [Australia Theatrical] »
  • Runtime:229 minutes
  • Director: Sergio Leone
  • Countries:Italy, USA
  • Actors:
    David 'Noodles' Aaronson
    Robert De Niro
    Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz
    James Woods
    Deborah Gelly
    Elizabeth McGovern
    Frankie Manoldi
    Joe Pesci
    Joe
    Burt Young
    Carol
    Tuesday Weld
    James Conway O'Donnell
    Treat Williams
    Police Chief Vincent Aiello
    Danny Aiello
    Chicken Joe
    Richard Bright
    Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg
    James Hayden
  • Genres:Crime, Drama, History
  • Producers:
    Claudio Mancini
    executive producer  
    Arnon Milchan
    producer  
  • Plots: Epic tale of a group of Jewish gangsters in New York, from childhood, through their glory years during prohibition, and their meeting again 35 years later. Written by Andrew Welsh <andreww@bnr.ca>
Once Upon a Time in America
  • User's comment:A masterpiece and an atrocity! by oldguybc

    This movie was a masterpiece. It ranks as one of the very best in film history, if not the best. At Cannes people yelled and screamed, couldn't believe just how good it was. The profound atrocity was a combination of two completely brainless acts, the first being Zack Stienberg's hatchet job for US release, supposedly requested by either Warner Bros or The Ladd Company (one blames the other now) and the second was the lack of anyone (and everyone)to post anything in this great film for Academy Award consideration, of which probably as many as 14 nominations and 4 sure- fire Oscars went down the toilet.

    These atrocities were perpretrated, I believe, with two reasons in mind, the first to preserve the dim hope of "The Killing Fields" (Daly & Semel's baby) of garnering any awards... and second, to try to boost up the non- foreign chances. Warner Bros knew just how good it was, that goes without saying. The problem was... they already had their share of cash cows and they wanted a real star- studded showpiece to point at. The small minds already had their showpiece but, alas, it was an "eye- tallyan" flick with a producer/director who didn't communicate well. The hatchet job was carefully planned, I believe... the so- called "sneak preview" was done in Canada and not well received, probably due to the fact that the sound system was over- amped and the film 'broke' 3 or 4 times during the showing, what a farce! The awards snub started with the GGs and carried right thru. What a myriad of stupid and utterly pointless decisions! Must have literally tore Leone's heart out when he learned what they had done.

    Morricone's score was a sure- thing Oscar, no question about it. DeNiro and maybe even Woods would have fought it out for best actor, Tuesday Weld as supporting actress, any one of 4 or 5 other supporting actors & actresses, most notably William Forsythe, cinematography, film editing, the list goes on & on... (best picture...Amadeus???? give me a break!!) Just what in the hell were they thinking?

    Saw it in a theater 20 years ago and then again on TV about 1998 and finally in its correct format(on DVD) about two years ago and again last week at a friend's house. Stirred up all those angry thoughts all over again... sorry about that, getting' old & crotchety.


  • Quotes: Max: Can I take that for you, sir? Your limousine is waiting. Noodles: Maxie... Max: You're looking good.
  • Also known as: Érase una vez en América (Argentina), Érase una vez en América (Chile), Érase una vez en América (Colombia), Érase una vez en América (Mexico), Érase una vez en América (Peru), Érase una vez en América (Spain), Era Uma Vez na América (Brazil), Era Uma Vez na América (Portugal), Es war einmal in Amerika (Austria), Es war einmal in Amerika (West Germany), Il était une fois en Amérique (Canada - French title), Il était une fois en Amérique (France), Κάποτε στην Αμερική (Greece), Однажды в Америке (Russia), A fost odata in America (Romania - imdb display title), Bilo jednom u Americi (Serbia - imdb display title), Bilo jednom u americi (Yugoslavia - Serbian title), Bir Zamanlar Amerika'da (Turkey - imdb display title, Turkish title), C'era una volta in America (Italy), Dawno temu w Ameryce (Poland), Der var engang i Amerika (Denmark), Det stora gangsterkriget (Finland - imdb display title, Swedish title), Het gebeurde in Amerika (Netherlands - informal literal title), Kapote stin Ameriki (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Once Upon a Time in America (Japan - English title), Once Upon a Time in America - suuri gangsterisota (Finland - imdb display title), Once upon a time in America - det stora gangsterkriget (Finland - imdb display title, Swedish title), Ondt blod i Amerika (Norway), Volt egyszer egy Amerika (Hungary),

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