Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

8.4 | May 23, 1984 (IT) | Drama, Crime | 03:49

epic new york city regret lovesickness rape life and death sexual abuse street gang corruption based on novel or book prohibition era gangster sadistic money laundering opium mafia boss murder memory jewish american torture brooklyn bridge childhood friends nostalgic aggressive 1920s 1960s 1930s

Budget: 30 000 000 | Revenue: 5 500 000

Crime, passion and lust for power.

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Featured Crew

Sergio Leone

Screenplay, Director

Arnon Milchan

Producer

Cast

Robert De Niro

David 'Noodles' Aaronson

James Woods

Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz

Elizabeth McGovern

Deborah Gelly

Treat Williams

James Conway O'Donnell

Tuesday Weld

Carol

Joe Pesci

Frankie Monaldi

Burt Young

Joe

James Hayden

Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg

William Forsythe

Philip 'Cockeye' Stein

Larry Rapp

'Fat' Moe Gelly

Images

Reviews

CinemaSerf

7 | May 25, 2023

Told by way of a really potent (and well scored by Morricone) retrospective, this sits us down and takes us through a forty year period in the life of the now down-at-heel "Noodles" (Robert De Niro) and of the development of the city of New York. The contents of an old briefcase serve as an aide memoire as the retrospective illustrates just how he and three of his childhood friends decided that the gutter was not for them, and that using the "system" to get on was the only way.

Filipe Manuel Neto

8 | Oct 10, 2022

It's an excellent film, which proves the importance of good post-production, and how bad editing can ruin the whole thing.

There are certain films that impress us so much when we see them that we are really surprised when we discover how ignored they were by the great awards. This film is one of them: I was really shocked to find that it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe… and I had to read a bit to understand why that happened.

Andres Gomez

8 | Mar 15, 2013

Stereotypical Sergio Leone film with endless waitings and sight crossings.

One of the performances that made Robert de Niro de actor he is and an interesting way of telling a story and the evolution of America during the years of the alcohol prohibition.