Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
93%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Won 2 Oscars
143 wins & 380 nominations total
Sergio Leone’s epic crime drama is visually stunning, stylistically bold, and emotionally haunting, and filled with great performances from the likes of Robert De Niro and James Woods.
Once Upon a Time in America is like a never-ending storybook, but instead of fairy tales, it’s filled with gangsters, violence, and betrayal. It’s like a Scorsese film on steroids, with a runtime that could rival a Lord of the Rings marathon. But don’t let that scare you away, because Sergio Leone’s final masterpiece is a cinematic journey that’s worth every minute. The cinematography is stunning, the score is hauntingly beautiful, and the performances are top-notch. It’s a complex and layered story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, even if you need a few bathroom breaks along the way. So grab some popcorn, settle in, and get ready for a wild ride through the dark underbelly of America’s criminal underworld.
Production Company(ies)
Miramax, Be Gentlemen Limited Partnership, Lawrence Bender Productions,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language throughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references
Year of Release
1984
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English, Italian, Spanish, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jun 10, 2003
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld, Burt Young, directed by Sergio Leone, written by Harry Grey, crime, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Paul Attanasio, Gary Arnold, Lou Lumenick, Steve Macfarlane, David Fear, Richard Corliss, Toussaint Egan, David Nusair, Josh Larsen, Mike Massie, Dom Nero, Jeffrey M Anderson, produced by Arnon Milchan, MPAA rating R, New York City, Jewish slum, bootlegger, Mafia boss, violence, betrayal, remorse, flashbacks, 1920s, 1930s, organized crime, friendship, loyalty, guilt, American Dream, visually stunning, stylistically bold, emotionally haunting, great performances
Worldwide gross: $374,565,754
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $432,793,701
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 356
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 47,196,696
US/Canada gross: $142,502,728
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $164,655,424
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 463
US/Canada opening weekend: $41,082,018
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $47,468,404
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 251
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $90,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $103,990,909
Production budget ranking: 386
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $55,999,104
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $272,803,688
ROI to date (est.): 171%
ROI ranking: 708
James Woods – Maximilian ‘Max’ Bercovicz
Elizabeth McGovern – Deborah Gelly
Treat Williams – James Conway O’Donnell
Tuesday Weld – Carol
Burt Young – Joe Minaldi
Director(s)
Sergio Leone
Writer(s)
Harry Grey
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 2 Oscars
143 wins & 380 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (7)
The movie’s four hours long, but no one had the time to write a single real character.
January 4, 2018
Paul Attanasio
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
This would-be epic schlep, dragging almost 50 years of chronology over a sluggish 140 minutes, is far too slight of text and ponderous of presentation to sustain more than nodding-off dramatic interest.
May 5, 2017
Gary Arnold
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
Adding 22 minutes only enhances Leone’s brilliant saga of guilt and betrayal
April 11, 2015 | Rating: 4/4
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
TOP CRITIC
Here was a filmmaker who specialized in pure, blistering images, and this operatic earthiness just doesn’t play as well as the horrifying, salacious stuff.
November 21, 2012 | Rating: 2.5/4
Steve Macfarlane
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Sergio Leone’s languid, lovely and lengthy ode to Lower East Side mobsters (more specifically, mobster films) …
November 20, 2012 | Rating: 4/5
David Fear
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Leone is less interested in arousing an audience’s easier emotions than in presenting, at a dispassionate distance, the horror of two men warily walking toward each other on a tightrope suspended above the snake pit of their , deepest compulsions.
April 12, 2011
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Once Upon a Time in America is a tremendous work that captures the animating ambition and sorrow at the heart of the American Dream.
October 22, 2021
Toussaint Egan
Polygon
…sprawling subject matter that’s employed to admittedly erratic yet often striking effect by Leone…
February 16, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
…an epic of blinkered nostalgia.
September 10, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
The cinematographic style has evolved, but it’s still unmistakably reminiscent of his earlier projects.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A stratosphere-scraping citadel of cinema, nearly everything about Leone’s last film – and greatest masterwork – speaks to the grand illusion of the American Dream.
October 17, 2018
Dom Nero
Esquire Magazine
Complex gangster epic has strong violence, sex.
October 10, 2017 | Rating: 5/5
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Common Sense Media…
Plot
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Robert De Niro and James Woods deliver great performances in this visually stunning and emotionally haunting crime drama.
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