Popular reviews

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 24

  Whoa.

  Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, with no exaggeration, is one of the most moving and potent cinematic experiences that I have ever had. It's a combination of everything that made me love the cinema: Immaculate cinematography, wonderful direction, a tight and free-flowing screenplay, underlying themes woven throughout the film, pitch-perfect editing, incredible performances......

  This film has EVERYTHING.

  Simultaneously a gangster story, a coming-of-age fable, and an ode to aging; the film cuts between these three feelings and time-periods, all with the same characters but with each of them in different stages of development. Both physically and emotionally, the audience gets a grasp of their lives throughout the 3hr and 50 minute run-time. For most of the…

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  Review by ben mcdonald ★★ 4

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  A very conflicting film. The first half is astounding, a sweepingly poetic landscape of nostalgia for the past and excited hope for the future. The production design and cinematography are predictably breathtaking- I've thought fondly about that shot on the poster ever since I first laid eyes on it. Ennio Morricone delivers his best Leone score, second only to Once Upon A Time In The West.

  Yet almost immediately after we're reintroduced to our adult gang of characters, the film falls apart, becoming largely tedious and lacking a coherent direction. Then our principal character commits two horrific rapes, almost completely without motivation.

  From where I stand, this isn't nearly as polished as Leone's two western masterpieces, and it certainly doesn't earn its absurd runtime.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 31

  I kinda hate gangster films. This isn't a new idea to me, but this film more or less crystalized what I hate about them. In short, gangsters are not Robin Hood. They do not rob from the rich to give to the poor. They do not empower the poor; they feed off of them. They do not fight injustice disguised as law; they simply treat the law as coincidental. The closest argument you have is that they gave immigrant populations recourse to power in a system that hated them, and that is certainly true. But you rarely see them wield that power toward anything but assimilating into the system in a backward sort of way. While some gangster films have…

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  Review by liam f ★★★★

  there's a lot that could be said about this film, but one thing's for sure: these men were most definitely not good fellas

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  Review by Kevin Jones ★★½ 8

  Checking in at just under four hours, Once Upon a Time in America takes a long time to say absolutely nothing unique. A gangster film, the film does nothing for the gangster genre that could not be accomplished in a far shorter runtime because oh my God is this thing long. It just takes forever to end and even then, I still had no idea why it took so long. I love gangster films with The Godfather Parts I and II being among my favorites. I even like Black Mass and Live by Night, which have hardly been universally beloved. Yet, I could not enjoy Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. There are many repulsive elements included that…

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  Review by Will ★★★★★ 3

  I’m so annoyed at myself for putting this film off. 

  Everyone should see this film. The camerawork, the editing (especially the transitions), the acting and the story telling is just too good. It’s what all films should be like. 

  I wish there was more of Joe Pesci but we got a shit load of Robert De Niro so we good. 

  I enjoyed the crap out of this film and I’ll probably be thinking about it for a very long time.

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  Review by sophie kempenaar ★½ 21

  hard to feel anything but unadulterated disdain—MUCH less care or interest—for this man after watching him commit atrocity after atrocity, including (but certainly not limited to) two violent rapes. sir your name is NOODLES you and your buddy egg salad sandwich can sit the hell down.

  even in general, the film never says or does anything interesting enough to justify the agonizingly long runtime. every single woman and girl exists to either get ogled or raped—sometimes both. i wish i could say there‘s even a single exception. the pretty, romantic score undercuts any attempt to criticize the gangster lifestyle, effectively doing the opposite and glamorizing it even further. this is made even more glaringly obvious when the film culminates in…

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  Review by sour dee ★★★★ 4

  80s Ranked 👍

  Luxurious as a post-Godfather gangster movie, Once Upon a Time in America ascends gracefully on a less extreme narrative that is explicit and cautious as it continuously shifts its contrasting timelines skillfully with a heart-rending tone and finale.

  With a grandiose theme and an extensive, overarching story, Sergio Leone doesn’t shy away on putting an end on the romantic anti-hero of the gangster as he exclusively unveils their moral bankruptcy and unconditional repulsiveness that they’ve exerted unto an already nauseating world. It’s as tragic as it can be but the end result is still immensely satisfying for its notable care in its characters who are a microcosm of the “american dream”, where growth and change are obscure as greed and hatred will always triumph over anything else.

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  Review by 𝐏𝐚𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐆𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧 🇮🇹 ★★★★★ 7

  In Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone traces the rise of Noodles and Max (superbly played by Robert De Niro and James Woods), and their gang of very young Jewish immigrants who, as they grow up, will reach the top of New York's organized crime scene. The film begins and ends in a den above a Chinese shadow puppet theater, where Noodles is used to smoke opium, a drug that increases visionary abilities and alters the perception of time. And it is precisely time that is the real protagonist of the film. A succession of events spanning over fifty years, broken down into a complex interlocking between different planes and moments, in a skilful game of flashbacks and…

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 2

  "You're in no position to exercise your will."

  freedom is a trap, destiny is a fluke. you can do anything you want except escape yourself.

  [251m version]

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  Review by Ryan Daniel ★★★★½ 5

  Before I say anything about the movie, I just wanna acknowledge how dope this Letterboxd community is. I never thought I’d really care enough to get too into it, but talking movies with everyone is a lot of fun, and I quickly got sucked in by everyone’s incredibly friendly and inviting nature. So thank you guys, y’all are awesome.

  This movie is beautiful. There’s definitely some career defining work in here from multiple different people. De Niro was incredible, James Woods was really good, the score was stunning, the camerawork was incredible. Not too much to say that hasn’t already been said, but I loved it. I still prefer The Good the Bad and the Ugly over this, but this is still some of Leone’s best work.

  Also, I don’t know about you guys but baseball is finally back tonight and I’m VERY excited.

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★★ 1

  Sergio Leone gives rise to a rich assortment of themes in Once Upon a Time in America along with producing one of the most impressive American gangster films of all time. Robert De Niro’s tormented portrayal of Noodles is one tinged with shame and the damage suffered during his youth, and the principle of a man reflecting upon his life choices shares many themes which Martin Scorsese explores with him in The Irishman. The construction of the film forms like a momentous tapestry that's greater than the sum of its parts, and there are multiple stories which it communicates simultaneously.

  Sergio Leone’s vivacity in directing is contemplatively illustrated, and it's a sprawling film and not solely in its almost four-hour…