GOOD THINGS ARE WORTH WAITING FOR.

 I was 35 when I met The Old Girl. She was worth waiting for. But, I digress, this post is about a film.

Once Upon a Time in America (Italian: C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American[3] venture produced by The Ladd Company, Embassy International Pictures, PSO Enterprises, and Rafran Cinematografica, and distributed by Warner Bros. Based on Harry Grey's novel The Hoods, it chronicles the lives of best friends David "Noodles" Aaronson and Maximilian "Max" Bercovicz as they lead a group of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence as Jewish gangsters in New York City's world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, together with the rise of mobsters in American society.

It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. It is also the third film of Leone's Once Upon a Time Trilogy, which includes Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker! (1971).[5] The cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli, and the film score by Ennio Morricone. Leone originally envisaged two three-hour films, then a single 269-minute (4 hours and 29 minutes) version, but was convinced by distributors to shorten it to 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes). The American distributors, The Ladd Company, further shortened it to 139 minutes, and rearranged the scenes into chronological order, without Leone's involvement. The shortened version was a critical and commercial flop in the United States, and critics who had seen both versions harshly condemned the changes that were made. The original "European cut" has remained a critical favorite and frequently appears in lists of the greatest gangster films of all time.

          - Wikipedia

 I read 'The Hoods' by Harry Grey when I was still at school. It's a powerful book and one which I must try and find to read again.

I've looked on the free OVERDRIVE on-line reading system but it's not listed. Maybe Shelley's library has it. I could borrow it and have Richard deliver it. He's got nothing else to do until the education system register him again.

Anyway, when Sergio Leone made the film in 1984 I was keen to see it. The problem was though that the early release of the film, outside of Europe was the butchered Americanised version which totally destroyed the film and maybe led to Sergio Leon'e early death. I waited for the longer, original version. And waited. I then shelved the idea, not wanting to watch it on DVD as , with really good films it's much better watching them on big screens in picture theatres. As a result I never came across ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (full version) on the big screen. This is a bit like the outstanding Michael Cimino film HEAVENS GATE which the stupid Americans labelled 'the worst film ever made' as they panned ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA after the producers ruined the film with clumsy shortening edits. Leone's film, like Cimino's went on to gain multi awards in European countries and has been on continual show there for over 30 years, The Europeans (and Japanese) have taste and can appreciate a good film without it having to be less than 2 hours long to cater to an unsophisticated audience with limited concentration span (Robert, look away now).

Recently I've been watching films on Netflix as, living out in the country it's not convenient to drive into town to watch a film and, anyway, the local offerings are usually school holiday pap or Liam Neeson-type action films. This is how I discovered ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA . It's a nearly 4 hour long film (Leone wanted it to be 4 and a half hours long) so I watched it over 3 nights. I did this not because I don't have the necessary concentration span but because it's so lyrical and beautiful (even given the subject matter) that it deserves to be savoured.

Is it the 'greatest gangster film' of all time'? I get annoyed at these type of superlatives as film viewing, like art and literature is mostly subjective. I really like the film but I also liked the Godfather series and Martin Scorsese films (which the producers also wanted to shorten for the stupid Americans).

I do recommend watching it though.