Delayed Reaction: Once Upon a Time in America

[Note: This is part of a project I'm calling "A Century in a Month". The idea is that I'm going to start with a movie from about 100 years ago and pick a series of connected films until I get to the present. The rules I set this time are release years, per IMDB, can't be more than 5 years apart. I can't repeat the same connection although I can reuse the same type of connection. That means if I use "movies directed by Scorsese" to connect two, I can't use Scorsese as a connection again but I can use a director as a linking element again. I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, but it seems like a fun game.]

Connection to Hair: Both star Treat Williams

 

Premise: A group of Jewish gangsters thrive then fall apart with the passing then repeal of prohibition.

 

There’s a special section of my movie list for movies I’m sure I’d like, but who has the time? It’s full of movies like Heaven’s Gate, the original Solaris, and Shoah that I’m certain I’ll like or at least appreciate but it’s so hard to convince myself to spend 3+ hours on one movie. Thankfully, this “Century in a Month” project backed me into a corner when I could either watch Once Upon a Time in America or 2 other movies to get to the same place in the timeline.

 

This movie is an infamous bomb. It was released in 1984 with a massively shortened cut. I won’t say that all 3 hours and 49 minutes of the re-release cut were essential, but the breadth of the story couldn’t handle the 90 minutes of cuts made to it. I hope I never have to see that version.

The full version of the film is familiar but good. Yes, it does feel like people keep making the same movie about New York City just in different decades (The Godfather, Gangs of New York, Goodfellas). You either like that kind of movie or you don’t. I do enjoy it.

 

This cast is crazy. Until the very end, new faces keep popping up. Even one of the kid roles went to a future Oscar winner (Jennifer Connelly). I’m so used to Grudge Match-era Robert De Niro, that I can forget how much of a god damn movie star he was back in the day. It’s almost frustrating how good James Woods was in the 80s, because he’s such a public prick now.

There are definitely worse ways to kill 4 hours.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend