Ten years in planning, Sergio Leone’s epic Once upon a Time in America portrays 50 years of riveting underworld history and offers rich roles to a remarkable cast.
Robert De Niro and James Woods play lifelong Lower East Side pals whose wary partnership unravels in death and mystery.
Strong support comes from Tuesday Weld, Joe Pesci, Jennifer Connelly, Elizabeth McGovern and the young actors playing the central characters as ghetto kids.
To see this film (offered for the first time in the full version 1984 Cannes Film Festival audiences cheered) is “to be swept away by the assurance and vitality of a great director making his final statement in a medium he adored” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times). --Warner Bros.
Cast: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Danny Aiello, Richard Bright, James Hayden, William Forsythe, Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Jennifer Connelly
Cannes (Out of Competition)
*****
Read about this film
Title: Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Date of birth: 3 January 1929, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Date of death: 30 April 1989, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Writing credits:
Harry Grey (novel) & Leonardo Benvenuti
Music by: Ennio Morricone
Country: Italy | USA
Language: English | Italian | French
Color: Color
Runtime: 139 min.