Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Buy This Item Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition) by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $11.49  on 8-28-2008     This movie has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no <I>Godfather</I>. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. <I>--Marshall Fine</I> Reader Reviews I didn't read all the reviews so I may be covering old ground. It was 1954, I was a precocious 12 year old in a Times Square book store when I picked up the book "The Hoods" by Harold Grey and it has remained a favorite throughout the years. This book was the basis for Leone's movie and like all film makers he butchered [a cinematic technical term] the original story. Perhaps he could not deal with the book's complexities in a visual sense and for some dopey [another cinematic technical term] reason he had to tack on an ending that was totally superfluous to Mr. Grey's story. So, if you didn't read the book, buy it now. It will make your experience of the story much, much richer. I gave the movie 5 stars because as a stand-alone movie it is excellent - the performances were outstanding, the sets magnificent and the evocation of a time long gone priceless. The best part for me was seeing the story's beginning on the Lower Eastside prior to World War I. That part was relatively true to the book. It was very much the same as when I walked those [Jewish Ghetto] streets in the 1950's. Lastly, although the novel chronicles the rise and fall of a group of Jewish mobsters - it also gives an insight to the history and birth of the crime syndicates that exist to this day.

Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $11.49 Updated on 8-28-2008.

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