Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime drama film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. It chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, and the rise of mobsters in American society. Leone adapted the story from the novel The Hoods, written by Harry Grey, while filming Once Upon a Time in the West. The film went through casting changes and production issues before filming began in 1982. The original film by the director was 269 minutes long, but when the film premièred out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Leone had cut it to 229 minutes to appease the distributors. This was the version shown in European cinemas. However, for the US release on June 1, 1984, Once Upon a Time in America was edited further to 139 minutes by the studio, against the director's wishes. In this shorter version, the flashback narrative was changed, by re-editing the scenes in chronological order. Leone was reportedly heartbroken by the American cut, and never made another film before his death in 1989.