When anyone — cinephile or casual moviegoer — gushes over Sergio Leone, there’s always one film that’s left out: Once Upon a Time in America.
It’s to be expected. Leone is beloved for his Westerns, and America isn’t a Western. Even if he tread over the same themes, Leone fans want their antiheroes in battered cowboy hats, not crisp fedoras.
Once Upon a Time also suffered from multiple cuts. There are currently three versions of the film available. Leone had shot between 8 to 10 hours of footage; he managed to get it down to six, and then chopped it down to 224 minutes to satisfy his producers. It was further butchered for its American release, where it was a critical and financial disaster. We did finally get the 224 Cannes cut stateside — too late for Leone to receive any comfort — but even so, the film has never been given the kind of love and hype it deserves.
That’s destined to change now. Not only that, but we might actually get the America that Leone intended. According to Variety, a new cut is on the way. Leone’s children, Andrea and Raffaella Leone, have secured the Italian rights to the film and will be pairing up with Bologna Cinemetheque L’Immagine Ritrovata to digitally restore America, and add 40 minutes of new footage. It’s not known what the new footage will be, but there’s obviously a lot to pick from. We may finally get Leone’s six hour cut (he originally wanted it to be two three hour films), or something close to it.
Italy is already planning to re-release the finished film into theaters, and I sincerely hope we see some kind of theatrical re-release here. At the very least, I hope we get a really beautiful box set out of this with all the extras and retrospectives that have been missing from previous DVD editions. America is a film that’s been left out of the dialogue for too long, and it would be wonderful to finally evaluate it as it was meant to be seen.
4 comments
I know I should be more excited about this….but I’m not. I think its in the dialogue too much. It’s really not as great as people make it out to be, and what could an even longer cut than the one on the current DVD possibly offer, beside be a labor to get through?
That doesn’t make it an overrated film, it just makes it a difficult one.
BEST NEWS SINCE EVER.
Most Mafia films delve into family and betrayal. “OUATIA” however deals with something more poignant/personal to many people without them actually realizing it…Community and the decisions you’ve made that affect it in relation to yourself. The symbiotic relationship doesn’t only shape our lives but ultimately the world we leave behind. The symbolism used in the film is enough to make even the most die hard Sopranos fan blush. A watch and a Garbage truck have never seemed so powerful and menacing to my eyes. Skipping forth and back between the three time periods gives the film an all encompassing depth that will make you feel like your watching America grow from adolescents into maturity along with the characters. While from a very young age we see these business men mature from apathetic to sociopathic we learn about how it strengthens & eventually poisons the only thing that has motivated them and how they look out for their closest friends. James Woods is a tour de force. The most egmatic position of the film is only revealed after the films done as one of the three segments turns out to may have never taken place at all. This is an ambiguity revealed in the final shot of the film that IF true doesn’t leave the movie barren from lack of plot but thickens the power of the climactic decision due to something most never EVER take the time after a life altering decision to do…contemplation, & true reflection of choice.
This film means so much to me on a humanistic level because it transcends while re-evaluates its genre to reveal an epic about essentially two friends and the country their friendship molded.
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