I’ve been a fan of Sergio Leone’s films for many years. I think he’s one of the most influential directors of all time, although probably not in ways that he would have imagined. But just watch any sitcom. Sooner or later, there’ll be a scene where two of the characters confront each other. Stirring music will swell up, and the camera will zoom in for close-ups of their eyes narrowing. It’s the classic Leone-staged final gunfight, played for laughs. I’m convinced that it’s been done so many times it’s become part of filmmaking grammar, and some directors probably don’t even know anymore who they’re paying homage to when they shoot a scene like that.My favorite Leone film, and one of my favorite films, period, is ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Somehow, though, I never got around to watching the similarly-titled ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, one of Leone’s last projects from the Eighties. We watched it last night. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the epic (three and a half hours!) story of several Jewish boys from New York who grow up to be mobsters. The story jumps around in time from the Twenties to the end of Prohibition in the Thirties to the late Sixties, when one of the boys (Robert DeNiro as an adult) returns from a long exile to confront some ghosts from his past, and thereby trigger a series of flashbacks.
There’s no question this is a well-made film. The acting is good, the script strikes plenty of suitably operatic notes, and the photography is beautiful. Most of the Leone touches are there: the complex plot; the long, lingering, sometimes almost dialogue-free scenes; the frequent close-ups; the sweeping Ennio Morricone musical score; and the occasional bits of dark humor. It’s a violent, gritty film, befitting the subject matter.
But even though I found much to admire in this movie, ultimately I was a little disappointed in it. I felt like it was building up to something that never quite came together and didn’t care for the ending at all. I know it’s probably unfair to compare this film to ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, but that movie built up to something and really delivered. ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, not so much. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s worth watching. I doubt if I’ll ever revisit it, though, as I do on a regular basis with ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
10 comments:
Once upon a time in the west is also my favorite western. I've seen Once upon a time in America just once and have wanted to see it again. It's definitly not as good as West.
You know, I just had the same thought the other day about the filmmaking grammer. You see this sequenze everywhere, from advertising to sitcoms.
And if you see the original, it is still effective. You nearly can smell the fear, the hate and the excitement of the approaching gunfight. :-)
Never seen this one. Once Upon A Time In The West is also among my favorite westerns though. Henry Fonda playing a bad guy is just a great idea.
My favourite has always been The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and I've always thought Once Upon a Time in The West was a bit pretentious.
Once Upon a Time in America is supposed to be based on a paperback original, by one Harry Gray. Anyone read that? I remember reading an article in which Leone talked about meeting Harry Gray who was supposed to have written from his own mob experiences. Can't remember any details from it, though.
I'd go with Juri on the good, the bad and the ugly but I love once upon a time too. Only the good, the bad had eastwood and wallach - brilliant
For me, the actors in AMERICA never seem to hit the right notes, and it sinks the movie. Not sure if it was simply a matter of miscasting, or if Leone had difficulty communicating what he wanted. The time is fast approaching when filmmakers will have the technology to make movies populated by the digital recreations of classic actors. The thought usually makes me shudder, but in the case of AMERICA, I think it would be fun to replace the miscast stars and supporting actors with Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, Jean Harlow, George Raft, and Nehemiah Persoff in their prime.
Great review of a great film, James. I’ve watched it several times. The screen credits list THE HOODS by Harry Grey as its source. I’ve tried reading Grey’s lengthy 1952 novel several times over the years but despite a cover blurb by Mickey Spillane (“This book by Harry Grey—an ex-Hood himself—will shock you, but you must read it. He dares to tell the truth about cold-blooded killer mobs and how they work.”), I’ve never been able to make it past the first few pages. Someone must have agreed with my assessment because when the movie was released, someone else novelized it for paperback tie-in. Not much better is Grey’s second novel, CALL ME DUKE, though the 1956 Graphic pb reprint sports a very cool cover. The best of the three has to be PORTRAIT OF A MOBSTER (Signet, 1958), which is a First Person rendering of the Dutch Schultz story from Dutch’s point of view. This one was filmed in 1961, during the Untouchables craze, and starred Vic Morrow as Dutch, was directed by Untouchables regular Joseph Pevney, with a screenplay by Howard Browne.
--Stephen Mertz
I was listening to a reggae collection and a song called "The Return of the Ugly" caught my eye. Now, lots of reggae songs had a Western-themed titles (like "Django" or "Clint Eastwood"), and I came to think this would've been been a great idea. Who doesn't think Tuco doesn't get away from the hanging tree?
And Eli Wallach is even alive! (Well, okay, he's almost 100 by now, but it would still make a great movie.)
I saw it the second time yesterday. Amazing film. Robert De Niro did a good job.
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