Can anyone that enjoys this movie explain why they like it beyond the visuals? Genuinely curious, I was massively disappointed by this, and I watched the extended cut for what its worth
The story hits nice for me. It's a fairytale in its structure, feeling larger than life and having a clear progression/beginning/middle/ending. The characters and their betrayals felt real. Our hero is actually an anti-hero rather than a Hollywood definition of that (ie a hero who kills people and smokes).
It's super comfy. Everything feels so deliberate. It's just brilliant.
I have to disagree with almost all of that. There is no fairytale structure, no clue where you're getting that. The progression is not clear at all, in fact it seems either very poorly thought out, or not thought out at all with random asspulls and characters who are incredibly one dimensional and quite frankly annoying. I'll agree about Noodles being an actual anti-hero in the sense that he's not even remotely heroic or redeemable, however they seemed to also, unfortunately, make him more of an anti-protagonist because he himself is extremely dull and is not at all compelling to spend so much time with.
A movie falsely remembered as a masterpiece because of a few nice shots, Deniro and Leone attached, and a butchered initial cut.
The ending is a template double identity/folk tale trope.
The main character's journey is one of learning, it isn't supposed to be heroic. You have superhero expectations for what's essentially a drama.
What does he learn?
Are you saying perhaps Max is Noodles? Or Noodles may be Max? Or maybe Noodles is just on an opium trip and none of it ever happened? Or maybe it all did happen and Max jumped into a passing garbage truck to commit lightning fast trash compactor seppuku to atone for his sins?
Cmon dude, flick is a mess and its not as coherently thought out as you may think it is
He ( and the viewers) are reminded that life brings counterintuitive surprises that go against one's expectations- memories become hazy and facts go unexplained. The expectation of a neatly package payoff is middlebrow.
2 years ago
Anonymous
It's a preposterous surprise though, and it can't even commit to it because it knows its senseless. Hence the garbage truck/opium ending.
Hazy memories and unexplained facts are certainly a part of life, but this film doesn't examine that at all, just handwaves.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Surprises aren't beholden to your expectations, that's why they're surprises.
Vagueness serves a purpose because eventually memories can get caught up on them, and the presence of memories changes the scope of our resilience. It becomes a dream that fades, recedes, comes back in glimpses etc. The opium could be a narrative element to suggest an explanation, but none is needed.
The movie isn't a whodunit.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Imagine having to explain this to midwits.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Imagine having to explain this to midwits.
The definition of a surprise is not whats important. What is is that the movie builds to something basically out of the realm of possibility, then backtracks, or does it? Its lazy shit, and not as deep as you are making it out to be. I think Leone at a certain point had no clue what he was doing so he just tried everything.
2 years ago
Anonymous
The definition of surprise is that it...surprises. Expecting a predictable twist and trying to blame the director for the absence of one is on you
2 years ago
Anonymous
I bet you get Lynched alot too.
2 years ago
Anonymous
absolutely love Lynch, Twin Peaks Return is probably the best media of the past 15 years.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>s-spell it out to me please mr director
americans shouldn't be allowed to post.
I feel like we watched completely different films. There's not really much I can say except you're clearly wrong. Like you can't call the characters 1-dimensional with a straight face. The progression is so apparent that it's practically smacking you in the face.
But you do you.
I agree. It's a successful subversion of gangster films which is why it filters people. Essentially the anti-goodfellas
Knowing that Leone passed on directing The Godfather to make it really reframes a lot of the film for me. It's such an undeniable masterpiece that I'm genuinely surprised by all the b***hing in this thread. I can only assume the majority of people complaining watched one of the very incomplete edits for my own sanity.
>Knowing that Leone passed on directing The Godfather to make it really reframes a lot of the film for me. It's such an undeniable masterpiece that I'm genuinely surprised by all the b***hing in this thread. I can only assume the majority of people complaining watched one of the very incomplete edits for my own sanity.
Especially the anon claiming a 5 hour film is an incoherent mess. Like how would that even be possible.
It shows the true side of early 20th century organized crime ie israeli street shit that lead to these people stepping into the upper echelons of society
I am planning on seeing this because on netflix I clicked on it and the scene played it showed robert deniro and noodles on a beach and robert asks whats that james woods says its a dream the federal reserve bank he talks about. I really liked that scene. But its really fricking long though 4 hours what the frick. I mean im really interested but like Its a movie I can imagine myself watching like 50 minutes of then watch 50 other movies before I complete the whole thing
is that the heckin BROOKLYN BRIDGERINO?! OMG OMG FILM OF THE CENTURY WHAT A SHOT WHAT A FRICKING SHOT (CLAP CLAP CALP* I CANT FRICKING GET OVER THIS CINEMATOGRAPHY OH M YFRICKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOD
Boring. Learn how to edit your films. If you need 5 hours, you're a sloppy and shit director. Its "kino" for baby reddit shitters who just learned about their soon to grow cuckterion collection
We've come to a point in this board where ultimately middlebrow people come here asking for remedial lessons or rant about how they disliked a masterpiece without saying much other than trying to call it boring or saying the ending makes no sense.
It is a beautiful wistful movie about human desires and decisions and the ultimate vagaries of life. You have to grasp visual/musical beauty and the flow of life itself in order to fully enjoy
>It is a beautiful wistful movie about human desires and decisions and the ultimate vagaries of life. You have to grasp visual/musical beauty and the flow of life itself in order to fully enjoy
Total headcanon interpretation.
Leone wanted to make a Godfather movie but didn't posses the artistic precision and concision of someone like Coppola, so it comes off as muddled, confused, bitter, and ultimately pointless.
Once Upon A Time In The West is his masterpiece anyway.
Stop projecting-- you can't speak on behalf of Leone. You can give your own interpretation, which you haven't because you fail to empathize and immerse yourself in the story. This type of simpleton dismissal attempt sheds light on your personal limitations, not the movie's.
Again, the existence of dysgenic types such as you should never mean you belong here-- you should be cleaning stables, not attempting to talk about Sergio Leone.
best movie of all time and it's not even a contest. makes amerishits seethe because it is italian and filters midwits and this is why it's never in the discussion of what are the best movies of all time while trash like The Dark Capeshit and Basedshank redemption are laughably in every top 10.
The one thing I never could understand after watching the film multiple times:
[Spoiler] Why did Noodles turn on his friends? The people he had known for his entire life. What's the motivation? [/Spoiler]
Max was getting crazy and reckless and Noodles wanted to get them arrested so they'd just serve a few years in prison and maybe chill out, but instead the boys made a final stand and got killed in a shootout, which is what he didn't want to happen.
noodles wanted out - or at least to stay clear of the big stuff. he didn't like how they went from petty street crimes to straight up killing and knew sooner or later they'd be on the wrong side of things. by selling out he hoped they'd just do time for a while but be safe
Noodles betrays Max, seeks refuge in opium to cope with the guilt, mind wanders between past and future, dreams and memories. It's a Proustian fairy tale about the passing of time, a meta deconstruction of 30s gangster pictures as mythology and a journey through America's history of violence and israeli malfeasance. The scene with the kid eating the cake instead of waiting for the prostitute is the most beautiful depiction of innocence ever put to celluloid, using the Beatles Yesterday for the time skip is also brilliant, the scene of e-girl Connelly dancing is pure cinematic grace, the Morricone score always brings me to tears.
The "twist" subhumans that try to push the narrative that part of it was a dream or the ending is a dream are hapless clowns that cannot understand basic narrative and pacing. You are essentially tone-deaf.
It is no real surprise that a character that chooses to flee from his life ends up in a drug induced trance state for multiple years is heavily identifiable within each and every single poster here, it is like a proverbial reflection of the choices you've made in your lives, the way you are living now, the time you are spending here and naturally your "theories" that follow are just as ugly.
>It is no real surprise that a character that chooses to flee from his life ends up in a drug induced trance state for multiple years is heavily identifiable within each and every single poster here, it is like a proverbial reflection of the choices you've made in your lives, the way you are living now, the time you are spending here and naturally your "theories" that follow are just as ugly.
best post i've ever seen on Cinemaphile and it hits too close home
Noodles betrayed his friends and family then ran away from it for years in a drug induced guilt trance. He then took all the courage and willpower he had in him to face it head on, to face Max again. This is beautiful on so many levels, it becomes a story of courage, responsibility, redemption and forgiveness. A cautionary tale for you, the viewer, to face your own choices and regrets with all the courage that you can muster. It is truly, beautiful.
Instead people would rather believe in a lie(that it was all a dream) than face the truth. The truth of their sad ugly lives. Your lives.
Do something about it. If not towards them, then towards yourself. Even in the movie, the opium den eventually runs out and he has a choice, death or redemption.
eh i took it as more sad and cautionary than courageous. i thought in the end he was still the person trying to run away from reality - to him max died all those years ago and the person standing in front of him is someone else. that's what i took from the opium den ending anyway but im a self-admitted brainlet
Some people seem to expect a shootout or one of those action hero catchphrases that oversimplify, explain away and "solve" the movie's moral dilemmas instead of the much better fading away/vanishing scene.
It has parallels w The Irishman, another crime drama where reminiscing and pondering over life choices is the most important narrative element.
Noodles betrayed his friends and family then ran away from it for years in a drug induced guilt trance. He then took all the courage and willpower he had in him to face it head on, to face Max again. This is beautiful on so many levels, it becomes a story of courage, responsibility, redemption and forgiveness. A cautionary tale for you, the viewer, to face your own choices and regrets with all the courage that you can muster. It is truly, beautiful.
Instead people would rather believe in a lie(that it was all a dream) than face the truth. The truth of their sad ugly lives. Your lives.
>Once Upon a Time in America was based on The Hoods, a semi-autobiographical novel by Harry Grey (real name: Herschel Goldberg), who'd spent his youth engaged in some of the activities attributed to Noodles (Robert De Niro's character) and his gang. >By 1968, when Leone approached him, Grey had no interest in meeting in person to discuss his work—after all, he was still in hiding from the gangsters he'd dealt with decades earlier—but was won over by the fact that he'd seen and enjoyed Leone's spaghetti Westerns. He agreed to meet for a drink, whereupon Leone peppered him with questions and Grey gave short, taciturn answers. >It was this meeting that inspired Leone to tell the story the way he did: with an older Noodles looking back on his past, much as Grey did that night over drinks.
To be honest, if I met this guy I'd also think he's a bigger escapist loser than me. Like I get you're being hunted by the mafia bro but come on this is just pathetic
He told the tale, and inspired Leone in terms of tone and subtleness, which is more than enough. Culture isn't about giving you what you expect in pre-digested, storebought way.
You'd settle down eventually. This worldweariness would find you at some point-- besides The Irishman, Collateral also goesinto similar territory.
At some point, you start reminiscing, taking stock, reassessing
Noodles betrayed his friends and family then ran away from it for years in a drug induced guilt trance. He then took all the courage and willpower he had in him to face it head on, to face Max again. This is beautiful on so many levels, it becomes a story of courage, responsibility, redemption and forgiveness. A cautionary tale for you, the viewer, to face your own choices and regrets with all the courage that you can muster. It is truly, beautiful.
Instead people would rather believe in a lie(that it was all a dream) than face the truth. The truth of their sad ugly lives. Your lives.
man... movies used to make you feel something, hollywood is a dead horse
I can remember three "rapes".
The first was the cop screwing the little girl, which although is statutory rape of a minor, the girl wasn't struggling or screaming or anything, she even charged him I think, and immediately started screwing some other kid when he stopped (she was a little cooz anyways.)
The second was the bank Robbery, which a lot of people get confused about. The woman he "rapes" is in on the Robbery, and whispers in his ear to "make it look real". Idk if she meant "frick me on this desk", but she wasn't fully opposed to it, and again that character was a little cooz.
The third, now that's a rape. I mean, shit, as far as I'm concerned that is THE rape depiction in cinema. No blood or gore, but up close, animalistic fear as we watch this absolute degenerate destroy this poor woman. We can joke about women all we want but scenes like these really just remind me of what a natural advantage I have as a man that im much more likely to never have to go through the horror of something like a rape. Elizabeth McGovern's look of fear, bewilderment, disgust, and most disturbing of all, pleading, just left such an awful taste in my mouth. I think it was a good moment in the film that added a lot to noodles character, he goes from likeable hood to absolute trash human in seconds, and you realize the dude you were rooting for the whole time was just what everyone said he was , a dirty low life hood. Leone is also an absolute artist, only someone with his tact and brilliance could deliver a rape scene and make it not only extremely realistic but artistically awe inspiring, as shocking and grotesque as it is.
> No blood or gore, but up close, animalistic fear as we watch this absolute degenerate destroy this poor woman
It cushions the blow a bit to remember that she was basically telling him that even though they've loved each other since they were kids, he isn't good enough for her and she's going to be out of his life forever starting tomorrow. He figured frick it, might as well get that out of her before she goes, and even bring her down to his level for a moment, like she ain't so perfect now.
A fricking monumental movie, I already feel comfortable saying that this may be the greatest American crime movie after the Classical Hollywood period, if not ever. It's somehow simultaneously better at being operatic (naturally, since its Leone) than The Godfather while also making the actual crime as non-sugarcoated or romanticized as in Scorsese's mob epics.
The relationship between Noodles and Max reminds me of Cagney and Bogie in The Roaring Twenties, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a big point of reference for Leone. As personal and self-referential as it was for Scorsese, I have to imagine that while he was making The Irishman he was thinking about this film as well, it covers a lot of similar thematic ground about the life of a gangster basically being a wasted one. I liked both, but I definitely prefer the Leone movie.
The scope of the film is so fricking enormous, I love the whole recreation of the ethnic israeli neighborhoods in New York and the way it shows the time passing and the changing of the area. What an amazing use of non-chronological storytelling; Tarantino, eat your heart out. There is something heartbreaking about those opium den scenes. What an ending. The movie feels as definitively "about" America as any other great crime epic, even more than The Godfather with its Statue of Liberty shot and immigrant narrative. What a fricking achievement, I wish Leone lived to 100.
The Godfather is technically perfect but Pauline Kael was right that its essentially the greatest hack studio project ever made; the acting, cinematography, lighting, editing etc. are all unimpeachable but after its over something just feels hollow to me. I think to a large degree its because the thematic weight revolves around Vito as a Kane-esque figure of a more noble and idealized past and the sense that something more honorable and civilized in the mob has been lost, when in reality we know from Michael's first conversation with Kay that he is just as much of a scumbag as any of them. The second movie skirts around the issue by not really showing his rise beyond killing one local hood and getting revenge on the man who destroyed his family, because Coppola knew that if we saw what Vito had to do to get to the position he's at in the beginning of the first movie we would regard him more like the protagonists of The Public Enemy or Hawks' Scarface. This dishonesty along with the emphasis on plot over story make the films profoundly overrated to me, they really do not represent the best that cinema or gangster movies can be.
Goodfellas is great and belongs near the top, but De Palma's Scarface is not on that level unless you're fourteen or a rapper.
It did not feel like a slog to me at all, I would happily watch the 2012 expanded cut if its available without the piss filter.
The Godfather is technically perfect but Pauline Kael was right that its essentially the greatest hack studio project ever made; the acting, cinematography, lighting, editing etc. are all unimpeachable but after its over something just feels hollow to me. I think to a large degree its because the thematic weight revolves around Vito as a Kane-esque figure of a more noble and idealized past and the sense that something more honorable and civilized in the mob has been lost, when in reality we know from Michael's first conversation with Kay that he is just as much of a scumbag as any of them. The second movie skirts around the issue by not really showing his rise beyond killing one local hood and getting revenge on the man who destroyed his family, because Coppola knew that if we saw what Vito had to do to get to the position he's at in the beginning of the first movie we would regard him more like the protagonists of The Public Enemy or Hawks' Scarface. This dishonesty along with the emphasis on plot over story make the films profoundly overrated to me, they really do not represent the best that cinema or gangster movies can be.
Goodfellas is great and belongs near the top, but De Palma's Scarface is not on that level unless you're fourteen or a rapper.
It did not feel like a slog to me at all, I would happily watch the 2012 expanded cut if its available without the piss filter.
Love the part when James woods is looking out the window at his son who's about to go have fun with his gf at some party when at that age he had to be doing israeli gangster shit
I watched the extended cut with my dad and brother and found it boring, overlong and I hated every scene when they were kids, although I did think it was a gorgeous film.
You homies are really selling it to me in this thread though, maybe I need to rewatch it on my own without my dad's idiotic observations
Thing i dont understand is noodle knew prohibition would come to end and sooner their income would dried up. Why did he vet mad when max suggest him to go legit with bussiness and making money there. Obviously could still do mafia thing
Baste 30 Rock enjoyer
I still haven't seen this - how does it stack up against the rest of Leone's movies?
It's his best
watch the extended of course
I wish de Niro died in 2009. His legacy secured.
checked, easily his worst.
such a shame it doesnt live up to the hype.
Duck, You Sucker! is obviously his most underrated
>Duck, You Sucker! is obviously his most underrated
Yeah, because it's his worst.
filtered
Easily his best.
Different genre. One of the greatest movies of all time.
It's got a scene where a dude stimulates a woman's nipple with the barrel of his revolver. One of the hottest sights ever filmed
My personal favorite work of his
Go check out the 4 hour cut
This movie sucks. It's full of despicable, unlikable characters. It's a slog to get through.
If you're looking for an alternative to Godfather, Goodfellas, or Casino, this ain't it.
zoomer brain
its baffling the love this movie gets because it has a few pretty shots. it really is not very good, wish it wasnt so.
t. moron
I recently rewatched OUATIA, and I have to agree, the film is extremely overrated, and the way the film's story progresses makes no sense.
Me during the rape scene
which one?
The second in the car
Reminder that both rape scenes were unscripted
pure kino
Can anyone that enjoys this movie explain why they like it beyond the visuals? Genuinely curious, I was massively disappointed by this, and I watched the extended cut for what its worth
I loved the first half, the whole build up. Second half is strange and the end makes no sense.
The story hits nice for me. It's a fairytale in its structure, feeling larger than life and having a clear progression/beginning/middle/ending. The characters and their betrayals felt real. Our hero is actually an anti-hero rather than a Hollywood definition of that (ie a hero who kills people and smokes).
It's super comfy. Everything feels so deliberate. It's just brilliant.
I have to disagree with almost all of that. There is no fairytale structure, no clue where you're getting that. The progression is not clear at all, in fact it seems either very poorly thought out, or not thought out at all with random asspulls and characters who are incredibly one dimensional and quite frankly annoying. I'll agree about Noodles being an actual anti-hero in the sense that he's not even remotely heroic or redeemable, however they seemed to also, unfortunately, make him more of an anti-protagonist because he himself is extremely dull and is not at all compelling to spend so much time with.
A movie falsely remembered as a masterpiece because of a few nice shots, Deniro and Leone attached, and a butchered initial cut.
The ending is a template double identity/folk tale trope.
The main character's journey is one of learning, it isn't supposed to be heroic. You have superhero expectations for what's essentially a drama.
What does he learn?
Are you saying perhaps Max is Noodles? Or Noodles may be Max? Or maybe Noodles is just on an opium trip and none of it ever happened? Or maybe it all did happen and Max jumped into a passing garbage truck to commit lightning fast trash compactor seppuku to atone for his sins?
Cmon dude, flick is a mess and its not as coherently thought out as you may think it is
He ( and the viewers) are reminded that life brings counterintuitive surprises that go against one's expectations- memories become hazy and facts go unexplained. The expectation of a neatly package payoff is middlebrow.
It's a preposterous surprise though, and it can't even commit to it because it knows its senseless. Hence the garbage truck/opium ending.
Hazy memories and unexplained facts are certainly a part of life, but this film doesn't examine that at all, just handwaves.
Surprises aren't beholden to your expectations, that's why they're surprises.
Vagueness serves a purpose because eventually memories can get caught up on them, and the presence of memories changes the scope of our resilience. It becomes a dream that fades, recedes, comes back in glimpses etc. The opium could be a narrative element to suggest an explanation, but none is needed.
The movie isn't a whodunit.
Imagine having to explain this to midwits.
The definition of a surprise is not whats important. What is is that the movie builds to something basically out of the realm of possibility, then backtracks, or does it? Its lazy shit, and not as deep as you are making it out to be. I think Leone at a certain point had no clue what he was doing so he just tried everything.
The definition of surprise is that it...surprises. Expecting a predictable twist and trying to blame the director for the absence of one is on you
I bet you get Lynched alot too.
absolutely love Lynch, Twin Peaks Return is probably the best media of the past 15 years.
>s-spell it out to me please mr director
americans shouldn't be allowed to post.
>he's not even remotely heroic or redeemable
Noodles is not supposed to be redeemable. It’s a tragedy that shows how he fricked up his soul.
I feel like we watched completely different films. There's not really much I can say except you're clearly wrong. Like you can't call the characters 1-dimensional with a straight face. The progression is so apparent that it's practically smacking you in the face.
But you do you.
Knowing that Leone passed on directing The Godfather to make it really reframes a lot of the film for me. It's such an undeniable masterpiece that I'm genuinely surprised by all the b***hing in this thread. I can only assume the majority of people complaining watched one of the very incomplete edits for my own sanity.
>Knowing that Leone passed on directing The Godfather to make it really reframes a lot of the film for me. It's such an undeniable masterpiece that I'm genuinely surprised by all the b***hing in this thread. I can only assume the majority of people complaining watched one of the very incomplete edits for my own sanity.
Especially the anon claiming a 5 hour film is an incoherent mess. Like how would that even be possible.
Please explain the depth of the four main characters then please, I'd love to hear it.
I agree. It's a successful subversion of gangster films which is why it filters people. Essentially the anti-goodfellas
The friendship as kids was kino. And the soundtrack is morricone’s best.
Soundtrack is one of my all time favorites
I love long films that span an entire lifetime
Jen Connolly
Everyone at their best here
If you don't like it, that's fine, I have a few close friends who couldn't get into it
It shows the true side of early 20th century organized crime ie israeli street shit that lead to these people stepping into the upper echelons of society
It's crazy how they covered up that part of history while Capone is known by everybody
I am planning on seeing this because on netflix I clicked on it and the scene played it showed robert deniro and noodles on a beach and robert asks whats that james woods says its a dream the federal reserve bank he talks about. I really liked that scene. But its really fricking long though 4 hours what the frick. I mean im really interested but like Its a movie I can imagine myself watching like 50 minutes of then watch 50 other movies before I complete the whole thing
>There are people who have only seen a heavily shortened edit of this film and rate it poorly because of that
Travesty
is that the heckin BROOKLYN BRIDGERINO?! OMG OMG FILM OF THE CENTURY WHAT A SHOT WHAT A FRICKING SHOT (CLAP CLAP CALP* I CANT FRICKING GET OVER THIS CINEMATOGRAPHY OH M YFRICKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOD
That's the manhattan bridge you tard.
Not the original anon you replied to but humble enough to admit all these years my brain said Brooklyn Bridge without paying attention.
Movie is still overrated.
>unmoggable
Can't you fricking morons speak in non-memeable normal terms, what the frick has happened to this site, Jesus Fricking Christ I hate you
MOGGED
RIIIIIIIING
Nah, Godfather and Goodfellas blows it out of the water for gangster films. But it is pretty good.
Boring. Learn how to edit your films. If you need 5 hours, you're a sloppy and shit director. Its "kino" for baby reddit shitters who just learned about their soon to grow cuckterion collection
We've come to a point in this board where ultimately middlebrow people come here asking for remedial lessons or rant about how they disliked a masterpiece without saying much other than trying to call it boring or saying the ending makes no sense.
It is a beautiful wistful movie about human desires and decisions and the ultimate vagaries of life. You have to grasp visual/musical beauty and the flow of life itself in order to fully enjoy
>It is a beautiful wistful movie about human desires and decisions and the ultimate vagaries of life. You have to grasp visual/musical beauty and the flow of life itself in order to fully enjoy
Total headcanon interpretation.
Leone wanted to make a Godfather movie but didn't posses the artistic precision and concision of someone like Coppola, so it comes off as muddled, confused, bitter, and ultimately pointless.
Once Upon A Time In The West is his masterpiece anyway.
Stop projecting-- you can't speak on behalf of Leone. You can give your own interpretation, which you haven't because you fail to empathize and immerse yourself in the story. This type of simpleton dismissal attempt sheds light on your personal limitations, not the movie's.
lmao frick off homosexual
Again, the existence of dysgenic types such as you should never mean you belong here-- you should be cleaning stables, not attempting to talk about Sergio Leone.
>smug_fat_soyjack.jpg
Spot on description of what makes this film magnificent
I love this movie, but the end makes no sense.
That's life. Human decisions are unexpected, not all endings are spelled out.
RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGG
>he deleted his post
Imagine the seethe
>no my mistakes! I cant look stupid!);
Die zoomer. This movie is shit for trannies.
RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG
Is the netflix version good?
am I an absolute brainlet to find this pretentious and boring ? I even like this kind of story, maybe I watched it too late
no, its those things and distasteful as well.
>once upon a time in america
>pretentious
you can not like it, but it can’t be pretentious.
Every normie goes to wash. street to take that exact picture of the manhattan bridge like that. It's a cool photo though.
best movie of all time and it's not even a contest. makes amerishits seethe because it is italian and filters midwits and this is why it's never in the discussion of what are the best movies of all time while trash like The Dark Capeshit and Basedshank redemption are laughably in every top 10.
It does make several respectable lists of best movies of all time though
The one thing I never could understand after watching the film multiple times:
[Spoiler] Why did Noodles turn on his friends? The people he had known for his entire life. What's the motivation? [/Spoiler]
Both Max and Noodles are driven by unbridled, shortsighted ambition (they're gangsters) and sibling rivalry.
Max was getting crazy and reckless and Noodles wanted to get them arrested so they'd just serve a few years in prison and maybe chill out, but instead the boys made a final stand and got killed in a shootout, which is what he didn't want to happen.
noodles wanted out - or at least to stay clear of the big stuff. he didn't like how they went from petty street crimes to straight up killing and knew sooner or later they'd be on the wrong side of things. by selling out he hoped they'd just do time for a while but be safe
it is literally spelled out 5 minutes after in an exposition dialogue you dumb homosexual.
>Italian director
>Italian(-American) actor with a history of Italian mobster movies
>movie's about israeli gangsters
Noodles betrays Max, seeks refuge in opium to cope with the guilt, mind wanders between past and future, dreams and memories. It's a Proustian fairy tale about the passing of time, a meta deconstruction of 30s gangster pictures as mythology and a journey through America's history of violence and israeli malfeasance. The scene with the kid eating the cake instead of waiting for the prostitute is the most beautiful depiction of innocence ever put to celluloid, using the Beatles Yesterday for the time skip is also brilliant, the scene of e-girl Connelly dancing is pure cinematic grace, the Morricone score always brings me to tears.
The "twist" subhumans that try to push the narrative that part of it was a dream or the ending is a dream are hapless clowns that cannot understand basic narrative and pacing. You are essentially tone-deaf.
It is no real surprise that a character that chooses to flee from his life ends up in a drug induced trance state for multiple years is heavily identifiable within each and every single poster here, it is like a proverbial reflection of the choices you've made in your lives, the way you are living now, the time you are spending here and naturally your "theories" that follow are just as ugly.
>It is no real surprise that a character that chooses to flee from his life ends up in a drug induced trance state for multiple years is heavily identifiable within each and every single poster here, it is like a proverbial reflection of the choices you've made in your lives, the way you are living now, the time you are spending here and naturally your "theories" that follow are just as ugly.
best post i've ever seen on Cinemaphile and it hits too close home
Noodles betrayed his friends and family then ran away from it for years in a drug induced guilt trance. He then took all the courage and willpower he had in him to face it head on, to face Max again. This is beautiful on so many levels, it becomes a story of courage, responsibility, redemption and forgiveness. A cautionary tale for you, the viewer, to face your own choices and regrets with all the courage that you can muster. It is truly, beautiful.
Instead people would rather believe in a lie(that it was all a dream) than face the truth. The truth of their sad ugly lives. Your lives.
If it's been a few years since I've seen someone, I try to never see them again
Do something about it. If not towards them, then towards yourself. Even in the movie, the opium den eventually runs out and he has a choice, death or redemption.
eh i took it as more sad and cautionary than courageous. i thought in the end he was still the person trying to run away from reality - to him max died all those years ago and the person standing in front of him is someone else. that's what i took from the opium den ending anyway but im a self-admitted brainlet
Some people seem to expect a shootout or one of those action hero catchphrases that oversimplify, explain away and "solve" the movie's moral dilemmas instead of the much better fading away/vanishing scene.
It has parallels w The Irishman, another crime drama where reminiscing and pondering over life choices is the most important narrative element.
>Once Upon a Time in America was based on The Hoods, a semi-autobiographical novel by Harry Grey (real name: Herschel Goldberg), who'd spent his youth engaged in some of the activities attributed to Noodles (Robert De Niro's character) and his gang.
>By 1968, when Leone approached him, Grey had no interest in meeting in person to discuss his work—after all, he was still in hiding from the gangsters he'd dealt with decades earlier—but was won over by the fact that he'd seen and enjoyed Leone's spaghetti Westerns. He agreed to meet for a drink, whereupon Leone peppered him with questions and Grey gave short, taciturn answers.
>It was this meeting that inspired Leone to tell the story the way he did: with an older Noodles looking back on his past, much as Grey did that night over drinks.
To be honest, if I met this guy I'd also think he's a bigger escapist loser than me. Like I get you're being hunted by the mafia bro but come on this is just pathetic
He told the tale, and inspired Leone in terms of tone and subtleness, which is more than enough. Culture isn't about giving you what you expect in pre-digested, storebought way.
I think if I had half the skills or street smarts this guy had I wouldn't be sitting in Cinemaphile or pumping drugs bro
You'd settle down eventually. This worldweariness would find you at some point-- besides The Irishman, Collateral also goesinto similar territory.
At some point, you start reminiscing, taking stock, reassessing
man... movies used to make you feel something, hollywood is a dead horse
I prefer Godfather pt1 and Carlito's Way
Oh and Scarface ofc
Kino
> rape a woman
> end up being pals
what the actual frick
She understood and got over it
It was a different time
I can remember three "rapes".
The first was the cop screwing the little girl, which although is statutory rape of a minor, the girl wasn't struggling or screaming or anything, she even charged him I think, and immediately started screwing some other kid when he stopped (she was a little cooz anyways.)
The second was the bank Robbery, which a lot of people get confused about. The woman he "rapes" is in on the Robbery, and whispers in his ear to "make it look real". Idk if she meant "frick me on this desk", but she wasn't fully opposed to it, and again that character was a little cooz.
The third, now that's a rape. I mean, shit, as far as I'm concerned that is THE rape depiction in cinema. No blood or gore, but up close, animalistic fear as we watch this absolute degenerate destroy this poor woman. We can joke about women all we want but scenes like these really just remind me of what a natural advantage I have as a man that im much more likely to never have to go through the horror of something like a rape. Elizabeth McGovern's look of fear, bewilderment, disgust, and most disturbing of all, pleading, just left such an awful taste in my mouth. I think it was a good moment in the film that added a lot to noodles character, he goes from likeable hood to absolute trash human in seconds, and you realize the dude you were rooting for the whole time was just what everyone said he was , a dirty low life hood. Leone is also an absolute artist, only someone with his tact and brilliance could deliver a rape scene and make it not only extremely realistic but artistically awe inspiring, as shocking and grotesque as it is.
>as far as I'm concerned that is THE rape depiction in cinema
I agree. It was effective to say the least
Good shot
> No blood or gore, but up close, animalistic fear as we watch this absolute degenerate destroy this poor woman
It cushions the blow a bit to remember that she was basically telling him that even though they've loved each other since they were kids, he isn't good enough for her and she's going to be out of his life forever starting tomorrow. He figured frick it, might as well get that out of her before she goes, and even bring her down to his level for a moment, like she ain't so perfect now.
the first was just a well known prostitute in the neighborhood
Yeah
why did he rape her, bros? kind of ruined the movie for me
>look at what I did for you
>now give me what I earned
Tarankino
Leone wanted to hammer down the point of mobsters being the biggest pieces of shits on the planet
Noodles was famished for all the things he missed out on while he was in jail, he wanted everything and immediately
cute and funny motion picture
I might be ok with watching pre 1995 movies but I really don't care about that anymore either since all these people hate Christians anyway now
A fricking monumental movie, I already feel comfortable saying that this may be the greatest American crime movie after the Classical Hollywood period, if not ever. It's somehow simultaneously better at being operatic (naturally, since its Leone) than The Godfather while also making the actual crime as non-sugarcoated or romanticized as in Scorsese's mob epics.
The relationship between Noodles and Max reminds me of Cagney and Bogie in The Roaring Twenties, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a big point of reference for Leone. As personal and self-referential as it was for Scorsese, I have to imagine that while he was making The Irishman he was thinking about this film as well, it covers a lot of similar thematic ground about the life of a gangster basically being a wasted one. I liked both, but I definitely prefer the Leone movie.
The scope of the film is so fricking enormous, I love the whole recreation of the ethnic israeli neighborhoods in New York and the way it shows the time passing and the changing of the area. What an amazing use of non-chronological storytelling; Tarantino, eat your heart out. There is something heartbreaking about those opium den scenes. What an ending. The movie feels as definitively "about" America as any other great crime epic, even more than The Godfather with its Statue of Liberty shot and immigrant narrative. What a fricking achievement, I wish Leone lived to 100.
The Godfather is technically perfect but Pauline Kael was right that its essentially the greatest hack studio project ever made; the acting, cinematography, lighting, editing etc. are all unimpeachable but after its over something just feels hollow to me. I think to a large degree its because the thematic weight revolves around Vito as a Kane-esque figure of a more noble and idealized past and the sense that something more honorable and civilized in the mob has been lost, when in reality we know from Michael's first conversation with Kay that he is just as much of a scumbag as any of them. The second movie skirts around the issue by not really showing his rise beyond killing one local hood and getting revenge on the man who destroyed his family, because Coppola knew that if we saw what Vito had to do to get to the position he's at in the beginning of the first movie we would regard him more like the protagonists of The Public Enemy or Hawks' Scarface. This dishonesty along with the emphasis on plot over story make the films profoundly overrated to me, they really do not represent the best that cinema or gangster movies can be.
Goodfellas is great and belongs near the top, but De Palma's Scarface is not on that level unless you're fourteen or a rapper.
It did not feel like a slog to me at all, I would happily watch the 2012 expanded cut if its available without the piss filter.
Rare copypasta
Well said
israelites running around acting like Black folk.
No thanks, pass.
Love the part when James woods is looking out the window at his son who's about to go have fun with his gf at some party when at that age he had to be doing israeli gangster shit
>she say das my kid outside
>he turn around go huh?
>he look and the nukka look EXACTLY LIKE THE DUDE
The correct version to watch is the one that clocks in at 3:50, correct?
boomers unironically think that borefest gayfather trilogy is better than infinity wars saga lmao.
>Universe is constantly expanding
>removing half of life brings balance
I watched the extended cut with my dad and brother and found it boring, overlong and I hated every scene when they were kids, although I did think it was a gorgeous film.
You homies are really selling it to me in this thread though, maybe I need to rewatch it on my own without my dad's idiotic observations
It wasn't his fault. In groups it's better to go for action movies, comedies and so on
nah you and your family were right, not internet homosexuals.
i won't pretend to like the unrestored scenes
>Movie was originally cut as two 3-hour movies
What do you think Joe Pesci's story would've looked like?
I wonder if Woods and De Niro had some /misc/ fights on set or maybe De Niro wasn't such a b***h back then
the glorification of new york ghettos is disgusting
Thing i dont understand is noodle knew prohibition would come to end and sooner their income would dried up. Why did he vet mad when max suggest him to go legit with bussiness and making money there. Obviously could still do mafia thing