riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (04/27/84)
I just saw an ad in today's paper for a movie I've never heard of before.
It's called "Once Upon a Time in America", is directed by Sergio Leone,
stars Robert DeNiro, and is scheduled to open "everywhere" on June 1st.
Anybody know anything about it?
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddlecitrin@ucbvax.UUCP (Wayne Citrin) (04/28/84)
"Once Upon a Time in America" is Sergio Leone's long-awaited gangster epic. I don't know all of the details, but it was supposedly a very long time in the making. Wayne Citrin (ucbvax!citrin)
phaedrus@eneevax.UUCP (04/28/84)
I saw the trailer for this movie yesterday. It seems to be a gangster film
set in the 1930's. There was lots of gunfire (machine-gun of course) and
naked females lying on the floor. I was not very impressed by the trailer,
but then again what can you tell from a trailer.
I really like DeNiro, a hope it's not a bomb.
--
Without hallucinogens, life itself would be impossible.
ARPA: phaedrus%eneevax%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay
BITNET: phaedrus@UMDC
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!eneevax!phaedrusmoriarty@uw-june.UUCP (04/30/84)
Not much more information can be gleamed here, other than it is opening at the Seattle International Film Festival (I have tickets! HAHAHAHAHA!), has an incredible cast, Leone (famed for "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", "A Fistfull of Dollars", and "Duck, You Sucker!") has been working on it for ten years, and deals with "The Jewish Mafia". Some fun, hey, kids? Trivia Is My Business | Currently residing in | UUCP: -jwm- | {ihnp4,decvax,tektronix}!uw-beaver!uw-june!moriarty | ARPANET: AKA MORIARTY | moriarty@washington
hofbauer@utcsrgv.UUCP (John Hofbauer) (05/02/84)
Once upon a time in America may turn out to be a monumental flop. The Ladd Co. previewed the film recently and according to newspaper reports the audience reaction was so violently negative that another preview was promptly cancelled. They are now feverishly recutting the film so that it makes more sense and tones down the violence. Apparently the flashbacks within flashbacks left people very confused so they are now linearizing the story as well as cutting down the running time. Leone nodoubt feels that they are mutilating his masterpiece. Ah well. One bright note: EVERYBODY feels DeNiro is terrific, so all may not be lost.
chris@ISM780.UUCP (11/30/84)
Once Upon A Time In America
Sergio Leone has produced an interesting, infuriating, and ultimately
disapointing work this time around. It is the flip side of his 1968
film "Once Upon A Time In The West". Where "Once Upon A Time In The
West" is his celebration of all the american westerns he saw as a kid,
"Once Upon A Time In America" is his celebration of all the gangster
movies he absorbed. They are very similar in many ways: They are both
long (West 2:45, America 3:45), They are both american icons seen
through an italian sensibility, They both have good bad guys and bad
bad guys, They both try to by mythic. The problem is that one works
and the other doesn't.
"Once Upon A Time In The West" is a masterpiece. It is one of the two
movies that i wanted to see again as soon as it was over ("Seven
Samurai" is the other). Images from it stayed with me for weeks
after i saw it. (I still duck under the table when someone plays
the harmonica. If you saw the film, you know why) It was one of the
most satisfying films i have ever seen.
"Once Upon A Time In America" tries for many of the same ambitions,
but it falls short. The film follows a group of friends from their
beginnings as kiddy gangsters to the strange places they end up
when they are old. The story is told as a very intricate set of
flashbacks/flashforwards that happen in three different time
periods. The story moves from period to period and tells the story
sideways. This is a little odd, but not incomprehensible. The first
time period occurs around 1919. The major characters are played
by teenage actors. The second time period is 1933, and is played
by De Niro et al. The third period is 1968 and is played by De Niro
et al trying to look old.
The young actors that play the young characters are nothing short
of amazing. I am usually disapointed by the kids that play young
versions of actors, but this time the resemblance is nothing short
of phenominal. The actor who plays a young De Niro has a career.
He does a better De Niro than De Niro does. The characters made up
to look old is much less convincing, their hands give them away completely.
I kept having the thought that if the actors would wash all that makeup
off, they would be much more comfortable.
The closest i can get to giving my reaction to the film as a
whole it is to say that the movie succeeds in the small, and fails
in the large. I was never once bored during the whole four and a
half hours (yup, a 30 minute intermission). There are scenes
that are absolutely rivetting. But when it is over there is this
lingering disatisfaction with it. The ending in particular isn't
as high voltage as it is supposed to be. The final shot is
interesting, but it doesn't have much to do with the story. I
feel like there was a big buildup for a climax that never came.
I think the problem lies in two different places. One is the script.
The coming confrontation is built up to, but it doesn't have that
sense of inevitability that is necessary in these things. In "Once
Upon A Time In The West", everything in the entire movie is done
to cause the final confrontation. When Harmonica and Frank circle
each other, waiting to slap leather, they seem to be the personification
of warring forces. The fight is literally bigger than they are.
The ending of "America" has no such feel to it. It looks like all
the characters could just walk away from it and go have a drink
together. The impact is underwhelming.
The other problem is De Niro. He is a very capable actor, but we
never get to see why Noodles does the things he does. He always
looks half bemused by it all. In fact the kid who plays young
Noodles brings much more intensity to the role. When young
Noodles knifes Mugsy to death, the kid has a very convincing
berserk fury. A fourteen year old with a switchblade and guts
kills a twentyfive year old killer with a gun. The scene is
devastating. When De Niro blasts the guy who tortures Fat Moe
the only thing shocking is the gore. We need to see why Noodles
does things, not just what he does.
For Leone fans, i can report that most of the director's bag
of tricks show up. We get the giant glowing eyes shot, we
get the ultra slow pacing (in places) and we get the
female singer crooning during the emotional scenes. It isn't
very violent for a Leone film, but that still translates
to about 36 dead people during the course of the film.
There is one way that time and changing mores have helped Leone.
In "West", he had to be content with showing the tops of Claudia
Cardinale's breasts. There is still a chilling love scene, but
Henry Fonda is the reason it works. In "America", Leone shows us
everything, in some very strange and sometimes very erotic
shots. I'm sure that Leone enjoys the freedom to show more of
the human body. This does bring one major Leone problem into the
limelight. Leone films have a lot of violence against women in
them. It is usually part of the plot, but there is a lot of it.
In "America" he has two scenes that disturb a lot of people. They
both involve violent sex. One is a not quite a rape during a
jewelery robbery. The other is acquaintance rape in a car. Both
scenes are very graphic and frightening instead of erotic. There
is justification of sorts for why all this happens, but it isn't
as if the plot depends on it. I support the right of a film
maker to do whatever the film demands, but i think Leone has a
very bad attitude towards women, and wish he would find other
ways of propelling his plots forward. Leone doesn't seem to feel
that his films attack women. After all, only three women are abused,
and about 35 guys die in various ways. His nonviolent sex scenes
are good enough that he really could get by without the rapes.
The version I saw (at the Plitt in Century City) purports to be
the original version shown in New York. One reviewer said that several
minutes of sex and violence had been trimmed. What was left
worries my about what was cut out. The version that toured the
country in the spring and summer was cut down and straightened
out into a linear plot. I don't know if this is going to show
anywhere else. The place was pretty packed, but this is LA after
all.
This isn't a must see film. If you like Sergio Leone you will
probably like this one, but this isn't a good place to start.
Petition your local theater to get the long version of "Once
Upon A Time In The West", and see that instead.
chris
decvax!vortex!ism780!chris
decvax!cca!ima!ism780!chris