Once Upon a Time in America
Director: Sergio Leone
Genre: Crime Fiction, Gangster, Period piece, Film adaptation, Ensemble Film, Drama
Year: 1984
Country: Italy, United States of America
Language: English Language, Italian Language, French Language
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Burt Young, Tuesday Weld, Jennifer Connelly, Joe Pesci, Darlanne Fluegel, Treat Williams, James Hayden, Danny Aiello, Richard Bright, Brian Bloom, James Russo, Mario Brega, William Forsythe, Dutch Miller, Larry Rapp, Robert Harper, Richard Foronjy
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. It chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, and the rise of mobsters in American society.
Leone adapted the story from the novel The Hoods, written by Harry Grey, while filming Once Upon a Time in the West. The film went through various casting developments and production issues before filming began in 1982.
The original version by the director was 269 minutes (4 hours and 29 minutes) long, but when the film premièred out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Leone had cut it down to 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes) to appease the distributors. This was the version that was to be shown in European cinemas. However, for the US release on June 1, 1984, Once Upon a Time in America was edited down even further to 139 minutes (2 hours and 19 minutes) by the studio and against the director's wishes. In this short version, the flashback narrative was
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