Despite the film’s overarching darkness, Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America transcends the boundaries of the classic gangster movie. Leone delivers a beautifully framed exploration of how the choices we make in our youth shape the trajectory of our adult lives.
Sergio Leone’s epic tale of friendship, betrayal and revenge is one of the finest Depression-era dramas ever made. Yet despite his swan song picture receiving a raucous 20-minute standing ovation at Cannes, it earned just $5.3 million on a $30 million budget, making it a box-office flop. This may be why this razor-sharp exploration of immigration, isolation, economic depression and crime is so often overlooked.
Once Upon a Time in America is as emotionally relentless as it is gritty and beautiful, as we follow a group of friends, Noodles, Patsy, Max, Cockeye and Dominic, from early adolescence to adulthood in the developing New York City. Leone opens the film with four streetwise kids who understand the hidden rules of New York’s backstreets. The kids thrive and survive on a mix of low-level crime and violence, protecting each other from the dangers of the adult world that swirls around them. These are the children of immigrants, their lives caught in a trap of self-preservation and social isolation defined by identity, position and class – the only escape route achieved through power, notoriety and status. However, this escape route is built on a child’s view of the world, with little understanding of the long-term costs of their actions.
As they grow into adulthood (Robert De Niro, James Woods, William Forsythe, James Hayden), the scale and nature of their crimes, along with the brief notoriety they receive, are shrouded in an atmosphere of impending doom. After all, power eventually fades, and criminal success can quickly turn to individual tragedy.
Despite the film’s overarching darkness, Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America transcends the boundaries of the classic gangster movie. Leone delivers a beautifully framed exploration of how the choices we make in our youth shape the trajectory of our adult lives. The final scenes are wrapped in memories that can’t be changed, disagreements that can’t be healed, and friendships that died because of a need for position, status, and survival.
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