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Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 8/03, 11/08

OnceAm
11/08: The last time I saw Once Upon a Time in America, it was too fucking slow, too fucking boring, and too fucking long.

Watching it again, my opinion hasn't changed. However, my perspective is now better because I may have seen the butchered version last time. Once Upon a Time in America has all the qualities of a masterpiece yet isn't so. It has the following problems:

First of all, there's no pulse. Although it's beautifully shot with keen attention for details, everything feels dead, hollow, and pointless.

Second, the scenes are overstretched and thus prolong the running time to nearly four hours. It should've been a 150-minute picture, but Sergio Leone is obsessed with camera techniques. I can imagine each scene with Leone going, "Zoom in. Stop. Let the character think for a minute. The eyes. Zoom back a bit. Stop. Let him think for another two minutes. Slide the camera over. Stop. Look at the eyes. Let him think. Zoom in. The eyes. Zoom out. Zoom in. Let him think. Zoom in. Stop. The eyes." Okay, that's fucking enough, moron.

Third, the misogynistic treatment of women in general is enough to doom the picture. I ended up disliking the characters and having no vested interest in them.

Four, Robert De Niro's grin at the end pretty much says it all as he's probably laughing at me for wasting my time on this piece of shit. So, it's a déjà vu from The Last Tycoon?

All in all, Once Upon a Time in America is an overrated The Godfather wannabe.