I've tried before but never seen Once upon a Time all the way through, I always got bored! I was finaly persuaded watch it a few days ago and I really didn't like it.

Way too long!

The ending had a good twist to it but did Max jump in the garbage lorry or has he gone to start another life for himself? Not satisfactory at all!!

Then there was the rape scene in the car! Up to that point I had no feeling for Noodles one way or another (not a good sign) but hated him after that - what was it all about? Didn't he love this woman?

I thought it was a very over-rated film

I think it's actually an under-rated film. I found it to be an excellent film, but very long. I couldn't watch it all in one sitting, not because I was bored, but because I have a life outside the TV.

As far as Max goes, I think that's part of the mystery at the end...but then again, I always assumed he did jump into the truck...

And the rape scene? I can't remember all the details since I haven't seen it in awhile, but if I recall, I think it's a culmination of Noodles feelings for her and the frustration and such turning into a sickening display of perversion. But I didn't particularly hate the character, it just made me remember this movie is about gangsters.

for me Once Upon a Time in America is a very good film. i never expected it to be that good when i first watched it, so i watched it again. twice in a row, imagine how long i was in front of the TV watching the same film? my only break is going to the comfort room and eating lunch.
To Each his Own Puppet Princess . . .

GoodFella

It's a good movie but I got a few questions:

1)Noodles did think Max died at the bank-robbery. But the burned body wasn't Max. But how come Noodles didn't know Max wasn't at the robbery. His other friends must have known that Max send someone else (the burned body) to do the robbery.
2)Also Max (and maybe the others) know that they were going to die at the robbery, why does he/they do it?
3) Why doesn't want Max that Noodles would come along to the robbery?

Intricate, vast, violent crime drama with a poetic feel of opera. Production values are high indeed, and the music is extraordinary.

9/10
****
#24

Leone's masterpiece. It can only be fully appreciated (just like any other film, really) when watched in one-sitting. The key thing is time in the film--it's almost like a silent character. Hence the long-takes, long length, and convoluted timeline.

Mick

I really love this movie...like Capo it gets a high rating in my book

Great film, the long running time just makes it better. I was really amazed as to how much the younger actors resembled the older actors. I have not seen it in a long time, but I have the DVD and still need to watch it.

10/10 or ****

Riley

It's been quite some time since I watched the movie, but if memory serves me correctly, I might be able to answer some of your questions :

1) His other friends died in the robbery, so even if they knew that Max was not there at first, they may have been told that this other guy was a last minute addition and they died anyway so Noodles would never know.

2) Max knew that they would die, but he was not there! I don't think that the others knew that they would die the way they wound up dying.

3) Max doesn't want Noodles to come because that is part of Max's elite plan. Max knew that the others would die because he set it up that way, and Max really loved Noodles in a sick and strange way, and would not have had Noodles die. Instead he made it look like he ( Max ) died so that he could start a new life, and at the same time he spared the Life of Noodles, his best friend. That is the Irony at the end, that part of Max's plan was that if the time ever came where his new life went sour and he had to go, he could always count on Noodles wanting revenge on him for what he did. That is why Max let Noodles know that he was alive at the end, that he set everything up, hoping that Noodles would seek revenge and kill him ( max ) making it an easy out for Max. But Noodles best revenge was NOT killing Max, because as Max told Noodles at the end, he could only accept being killed from Him. Noodles really got his revenge by NOT killing Max.

Again, I have not watched this movie in quite a long time, but this is how I remember it.


Don Cardi

Thanks Don Cardi,
But i still have one question..

Noodles didn't recognize the burned body but he (thought he) knew it was Max.
That was Max intention.. But how could Max know that the body was gonna be burned like that, so Noodles wouldn't recognize the burned body?

Im pretty sure that Max (James Woods) died at the robbery. The end scene with him was just a hallucion caused by the opium that Noodles smoked.

After meaning to see this movie for a long time, I finally did last night. I thought it was pretty good. It was too long though. I think they should have left out the part at the end where Noodles sees Debora again,for starters. The only part that was really confusing was the very begining where they shot that woman. Who were they looking for? Noodles? Why? Who were they?
I loved the story of it and how it was shot. This I think is one of De Niro's best movies. The role was so unlike any of his other roles.Sure, he's played toughguys before, but Noodles was totally diffrent from any other mobster.I was expecting Pesci to have abigger role, but then again, he never does.
8/10

It's Noodles' wife I believe.

It's been quite some time since I watched the movie, but if memory serves me correctly, I might be able to answer some of your questions :

1) His other friends died in the robbery, so even if they knew that Max was not there at first, they may have been told that this other guy was a last minute addition and they died anyway so Noodles would never know.

2) Max knew that they would die, but he was not there! I don't think that the others knew that they would die the way they wound up dying.

3) Max doesn't want Noodles to come because that is part of Max's elite plan. Max knew that the others would die because he set it up that way, and Max really loved Noodles in a sick and strange way, and would not have had Noodles die. Instead he made it look like he ( Max ) died so that he could start a new life, and at the same time he spared the Life of Noodles, his best friend. That is the Irony at the end, that part of Max's plan was that if the time ever came where his new life went sour and he had to go, he could always count on Noodles wanting revenge on him for what he did. That is why Max let Noodles know that he was alive at the end, that he set everything up, hoping that Noodles would seek revenge and kill him ( max ) making it an easy out for Max. But Noodles best revenge was NOT killing Max, because as Max told Noodles at the end, he could only accept being killed from Him. Noodles really got his revenge by NOT killing Max.

Again, I have not watched this movie in quite a long time, but this is how I remember it.


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]What do you mean Max set everyone up at the last bootlegging job? (it wasnt a robbery) i thought noodles called the cops on max and everyone else and the police came and max started shooting and the police killed all of them.

Ok well first off as for the Max jumping into the garbage truck, that is just meant for the veiwer to decide. You see that wasn't even James... oh dear i've forgotten his name... well the actor who played max. They decided that it'd be to just dress an extra up like him and shoot it from a distance so the man would be unidentifiable. It was also supposed to be from Noodles' perspective. He mentioned in the scene prior to this that his "eyes aren't any good, even with my glasses" so he was in a way fore shadowing. Leone wanted the veiwers to see it from Noodles point of veiw, and wanted to leave a bit of question in the fans and allow them to sort of debate it. I highly suggest you try watching it with the commentary they explain it a little better then that.

Now for deborah and Noodles encounter in the limo. What Noodles did was completely out of his own selfishness you could say, and the emotional complexity which I personally think makes the character the masterpeice it is. He loved her so much, that he just had to have her disregaurdless of the consquences. Just take a moment to digest that. I hope this helped, and I also recomend you try watching the film with the commentary on.

Oh! I completely forgot about the opium theory. Ok well what that is all about is that basically all the scenes from the point Noodles leaves the opium den on are just op. dreams. This is supported by the very last scene where he is still in the opium den. The way I see it is that all the scenes from their child hoods, andthe scenes before he goes into the opium den are flash backs. Then all the scenes from his elderly age andthe scenes from the 30s which take place after he leaves the den are just figments of his imagination. And the last scene of him grinning in the opium den also sparks the possibility that if it was just flashbacks and dreams then maybe he never left the den in time and his former colluege's/the gangsters had found him and killed him. Thats what I make of the whole Opium Theory at least.