Once Upon a Time in America 4K 1984

Former gangster Noodles (Robert De Niro) returns to his native Brooklyn after 30 years of wandering and faces the ghosts of his past.

Why watch it?

For a long time, I put off watching this film for a very trivial reason—its 4-hour running time. Yes, it's a gangster saga, a genre that I really like, but damn, four whole hours. Yes, it's one of De Niro's most memorable roles, but you have to clear your evening for a good four hours. Yes, it's one of the most famous films in the world from the great and terrible Sergio Leone, but FOUR, FOUR FUCKING HOURS! The 40th anniversary was a great incentive to watch it, so I started the movie, got hooked right away, and came to my senses during the final credits, seemingly just a minute later. But the timer showed that four hours had passed.

While watching the film, I managed to laugh a little, swear a little, sigh a lot, and exhaust my quota of the word “wow” for several years to come. Who would have thought that in the era of crime epics by Coppola and Scorsese, a slow-paced thriller would come out that would blow all its competitors out of the water. Don't get me wrong, The Godfather and Goodfellas are also excellent films, but they don't have such a devastating effect and don't make you spend weeks on end speculating about the meaning of what you've seen (what if it's all just a dream of the stoned Noodles?).

And anyway, to hell with clichés and genre conventions! Leone's film will only seem like a gangster movie to superficial viewers. There are gangs, guns, and Prohibition, but Sergio explores the larger and more intimate themes of aging, guilt, and the unreliability of memory. Once Upon a Time in America, as befits great art, stubbornly resists unambiguous interpretation. This film is as addictive and intoxicating as a half-forgotten dream — an excellent way to pass four hours, by the way.