A BP DVD Review

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One Upon a Time In America is film about the Jewish mafia starring Robert Deniro and James Woods. In the pantheon of gangster movies, you don’t really hear cats checking for this joint much, and I think that’s because it’s so god-damn long. At 3 hours and some change, this is great film for a day when you and a loved one are snowed, or you just have time like that. While this version is available on DVD, and even longer director’s cut is scheduled to be released this year. Jesus Christ-who the hell wants to look at James Woods for four hours? But I digress.

Set in pre and post-prohibition-era DUMBO, this joint is told mainly in flashback, which would be the death of any other film except this one. The script is really rich and quick, and this helps the story move faster, even if the movie itself kind of drags in places. I could not believe there was a movie with this many rape scenes, and it was a crazy turn-off. I’m not a pansy, but it seemed like women were often brutalized in this film to serve no story purpose whatsoever. That fact makes recommending it give me pause, but if that kind of thing doesn’t offend you, and you can get past it, then whatever.

Sergio Leone is a genius best known for the spaghetti western genre-that’s right, the ENTIRE GENRE-who famously turned down a chance to direct The Godfather. The acting and directing are great-as if you expect any less from Woods or DeNiro-but you have to wonder why this film was so fucking long. And you’ll either really flattened and amazed or really, really turned off by the ending.

This is a cool film about a part of American history that we don’t read about much. Any real fan of the American Crime genre should own it.

This story is filed under: The Screening Room