Once Upon a Time in America

Saw Once Upon a Time in America. It was a gangster movie, set during the gangster-sploitation-era of the 20s. The film rocks steadily back and forth through time between the 1900s and the indefinite modern day of the 60s/70s. The protagonist is a gangster named Noodles but played by Robert De Niro, so he's not as wimpy as his name implies. In the past he is a tough kid who drifts into crime, lured by the easy money and relative freedom. He is aided and abetted in this endeavor by his partner in crime, Max, played in the future by James Woods' creepy, alien, cement-like face. Usual gangster business ensues.

They take over their neighborhood from a small-time thug, some guy in a suit says he likes their moxie, they hootingly have their 'first time' with a prostitute etc etc. The story is told from the perspective of the old-man Noodle, remembering his entire life (as people in epic films tend to do (this movie is 229 minutes long, so it counts as an epic, I say.)) The result is that this is all extremely nostalgic. The blood is there in cartoony fire-house red and there's violence, but not many bad times and not much suffering. The most sympathy we ever feel for the victims of the boys is when we hear a news-stand owner lamenting as his stand burns down. This lament is drowned out by the lil rascals' giggling. It's not done in an obvious way, but this is memory lane and Noodles' story. A recurring musical theme in this movie is a schmaltzy version of Yesterday by The Beatles that has violins drowning out everything but the words "Yesterday" and "Suddenly." Even the title! "Once upon a time..."

In all of this sentimentality is the childhood sweetheart of Noodle. She's an ultra-serious girl who wants him to give up his egocentric life of crime for her. This he does not do of course and lives to deeply and centrally regret it. The entire movie is full of regret and strangely full of cruel acts of mercy. The ending in particular hits the revenge-by-mercy nail on the head. It's telling that Noodles' drug of choice is opium, famous for inducing a happy trip through memory lane. There's a sequence near the end that casts a strange ambiguity over the film. Leaving a party, our hero sees a creepy garbage truck go by, followed by a car packed full of drunken party-goers (that are perhaps from another time?) going in the opposite direction. Clearly someone's trying to tell us something.

An interesting take on the gangster genre, especially coming from Sergio Leone, who seems to be really interested in moral ambiguity. I suppose there's a good deal of sympathy for the devil which I normally am annoyed by but this time perhaps I was seduced by the Hallmark treatment of Tommy-guns. The film is more than just sentimentality, but that was the most interesting thing about it for me.