Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian-American epic crime drama film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. Based on Harry Grey’s novel The Hoods, it chronicles the lives of two Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence as Jewish gangsters 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.
About Once Upon a Time in America in brief
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian-American epic crime drama film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. Based on Harry Grey’s novel The Hoods, it chronicles the lives of two Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence as Jewish gangsters in New York City’s world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, together with the rise of mobsters in American society. It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. It is also the third film of Leone’s Once Once a Time Trilogy, which includes Once Upon A Time in the West and Duck, You Sucker! The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli and the film score by Ennio Morricone. The shortened version was a critical and commercial flop in the United States, and critics who had seen both versions harshly condemned the changes that were made. The original \”European cut\” has remained a critical favorite and frequently appears in lists of the greatest gangster films of all time. The gang’s financial success ends with the 1933 repeal of Prohibition. Noodles is released from jail in 1930 and is reunited with his old gang, who are now major bootleggers during Prohibition. During a robbery, the gang meet Carol, who later on becomes Max’s girlfriend, while also providing muscle for union boss Jimmy O’Donnell.
Noodle tries to impress Deborah to impress her on an extravagant date, but then rapes her after she declines his marriage proposal. While looking for Deborah, she simply closes her seat from her train station, and closes the blinds. The boys stash half their money in a suitcase, which they hide in a locker at the railway station, giving the key to Fat Moe Gelly, a reliable friend who is not part of the operation. While there, Max suggests robbing the New York Federal Reserve Bank, but Noodle regards it as a suicide mission, who also fears for his life. While they go to Florida, they go on a vacation with Carol and Eve, and they go with the Federal Reserve for a vacation, with Max and Carol, but they go back to New York for a second vacation. They leave the bank with the money, but Max convinces Noodle to join the Teamsters’ union, but he refuses. After the gang has some success, Bugsy ambushes the boys and shoots Dominic, who dies in Noodle’s arms. In a rage, Noodle stabs Bugsy and severely injures a police officer. He is arrested and sentenced to prison. The gang prospers from The Hooders from bootlegging from The Bronx to New Jersey, but is later released from prison and goes on to become a successful bootlegger in Florida, with Carol as his girlfriend. In the end, Noodle decides to leave New York and move to Florida.
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This page is based on the article Once Upon a Time in America published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
