For some reason I began to watch Sergio Leone‘s Once Upon A Time in America, which I’d seen twice in ’84 — the truncated 139-minute Ladd Company version, which was moderately awful, and then the sadder, more meditative 229-minute version, which played (and still plays) much better**.
Last night’s viewing, alas, didn’t go as well. I mostly felt bored and repelled, and then I started fast-forwarding from time to
time, and then more frequently. I eventually gave up.
My primary blockage was due to feekings of absolute loathing for the main characters…Robert De Niro‘s Noodles (imagine grappling with that absurd nickname throughout your life) plus all the other weaselly gunsels and thugs (James Woods, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Treat Williams, Danny Aiello, James Hayden and especially the repulsive William Forsythe).
I hated the two gratuitous rape scenes, both perpetrated by Noodles with poor Elizabeth McGovern and Tuesday Weld suffering the assaults. Ennio Morricone wrote a moving, melancholy score, but I just felt bored and soiled by the damn thing…having to suffer the company of so many ugly and distasteful animals and sleazoids.
The 269-minute version deserves a certain “respect,” but I will never, ever re-watch this film at any length…life is too short. It’s a beast.
The version that screened at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival ran 251 minutes…imagine.
