Once Upon a Time in America | Rotten Tomatoes

Once Upon a Time in America

R

1984

2h 19m

Crime

Drama

List

87%

Tomatometer

55 Reviews

93%

Audience Score

50,000+ Ratings

In 1968, the elderly David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) returns to New York, where he had a career in the criminal underground in the '20s and '30s. Most of his old friends, like longtime partner Max (James Woods), are long gone, yet he feels his past is unresolved. Told in flashbacks, the film follows Noodles from a tough kid in a Jewish slum in New York's Lower East Side, through his rise to bootlegger and then Mafia boss -- a journey marked by violence, betrayal and remorse.

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Critics Consensus

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.

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

It isn’t just the echoing moments that keep you absorbed. It’s those reverberant dreamland settings and Leone’s majestic, billowing sense of film movement; the images seem to come at you in waves of feeling.

Sep 13, 2023

Full Review

Paul Attanasio

Washington Post

The movie's four hours long, but no one had the time to write a single real character.

Jan 4, 2018

Full Review

Gary Arnold

Washington Post

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

Full Review

Toussaint Egan

Polygon

Once Upon a Time in America is a tremendous work that captures the animating ambition and sorrow at the heart of the American Dream.

Oct 22, 2021

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...sprawling subject matter that's employed to admittedly erratic yet often striking effect by Leone...

Rated: 3/4

Feb 16, 2021

Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

...an epic of blinkered nostalgia.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 10, 2020

Full Review

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Tibor F

12 minutes into the film and literally nothing is happening. So... skipped the film. Long, mega boring films might have been good ages ago, when you were stuck in a film theater with your girlfriend/boyfriend, but seriously, who is going to waste his/her time when there are literally 20 other films just a click away?

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/03/24

Full Review

Christian K

Incredible score (goat) and production design, I have never in my life seen a film that lingers on shots and dialogue more than this one. I'm overall mixed on this while remembering the good more than the bad.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/20/24

Full Review

Alec C

This is a story of the pursuit of the American dream and the fallout that happens because of it! A group of young friends get involved in organized crime and slowly rise up the ranks, only for it to all come crumbling down after a massive betrayal leaves only one of them alive to deal with the aftermath. Sergio Leone crafts a crime epic that portrays itself as a Shakespearean tragedy with a memorable cast of unknown greats that maintains its legacy long after it's done!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/02/24

Full Review

Giorgos A

The Greatest Movie Of All Time! Period!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/16/24

Full Review

KB B

It was a good movie with good acting. It's worth the watch.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/13/24

Full Review

Kitty _

Even the incredibly beautiful soundtrack from the legendary Morricone could not make me ever want to sit through this film again - depressing, nostalgic, melodramatic, distasteful, uninspiring and even rather painful.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/02/24

Full Review

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Sergio Leone

Director

Robert De Niro

David 'Noodles' Aaronson

James Woods

Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz

Elizabeth McGovern

Deborah Gelly

Treat Williams

James Conway O'Donnell

Tuesday Weld

Carol

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Synopsis

In 1968, the elderly David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) returns to New York, where he had a career in the criminal underground in the '20s and '30s. Most of his old friends, like longtime partner Max (James Woods), are long gone, yet he feels his past is unresolved. Told in flashbacks, the film follows Noodles from a tough kid in a Jewish slum in New York's Lower East Side, through his rise to bootlegger and then Mafia boss -- a journey marked by violence, betrayal and remorse.

Director: Sergio Leone
Screenwriter: Harry Grey
Production Co: Warner Brothers, Embassy International Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 12, 2015
Runtime: 2h 19m

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