The lives of gangsters
are often filled with drama, loss, betrayal, and the occasional shootout, which
explains why Hollywood has made so many movies about their chosen professions. Once
Upon a Time in America (1984) is a very interesting entry in the genre
since it was directed by an Italian director, is based on a book by a Russian-American
and takes place over three different eras in New York City. Also noteworthy is
the fact the gangsters here are all Jewish, something rarely seen in a genre generally
populated by Italian American characters. At 229 minutes, it is a massive epic
that is worth the time but might leave some viewers shocked by one character’s particular
crime.
Given the movie’s
length it is best viewed on an afternoon when one has nothing to do and nowhere
to go, which over the past year has been the case for me and billions of others.
This was yet another discovery on Amazon, which brought me one step closer to checking
off every movie directed by the Italian maestro, Sergio Leone. Despite not
being American he redefined that most American of movie genre, the Western,
with a trilogy of movies staring Clint Eastwood. It seems only natural that he
would then gravitate towards a gangster movie since many gangsters became the
modern outlaws. There is even a scene in Once Upon a Time in America where
the gangsters perform a robbery while wearing bandanas over their faces, just
like outlaws on horses would in the old west.
These particular gangsters
are childhood friends who grew up in a Jewish neighbourhood of 1918 Manhattan. This
neighbourhood feels meticulously recreated, from the rooftops of tenement
buildings to streets filled with hundreds of extras dressed in period, and in
many cases religious, clothing. The fact that these gangsters are Jewish is not
integral to the plot, but it is a clear part of their identity and seems to
have been handled with care.
What is integral to the
story are the themes of friendship and betrayal. The first character we meet is
Noodles (Robert De Niro) who in the 1930s is on the run after having seemingly
betrayed his associates. What has happened forces him to leave New York and not
come back until the 1960s. When he does come back, he visits his last remaining
friend in the neighbourhood, triggering many memories. The film then alternates
between the 1910s when the gang members were just children with the ambition of
becoming rich criminals, the 1930s when they have reached success as
bootleggers, and the 1960s as Noodles tries to reconcile with his past actions.
It takes a while to finally
piece together what happened to force Noodles out of town, but the journey is thoroughly
engrossing. As children the gang members behave as ordinary children would,
thinking of girls and sweets, sometimes at the same time. Yet they have enough
criminal ambition and wit to blackmail a cop, make a business proposition to a gangster,
and stash their ill-gotten gains in a train station locker. As adults (played
by James Woods, William Forsythe, and James Hayden) they own a club that is
open all day and have connections with the Italian mafia. You could say it’s an
American success story, but every success comes with a price.
That price weighs a lot
on Noodles who is greying in the 1960s and full of regrets. As he visits places
from his past, the film shows how one small thing can trigger emotions from
decades ago. It’s a great performance by De Niro, which made me feel sympathetic
for Noodles until I discovered one of his regrets included raping his childhood
crush. After that I felt uncomfortable watching any scene with his character and
was hoping he would suffer for his actions.
In fact, the biggest flaw
this movie has is how every female character is portrayed. They are either
prostitutes, girlfriends who are told to shut up, or victims. Depending on what
gangsters do in movies I can be morally agreeable to their actions up to a
point. I can keep rooting for them if they steal from the rich, manage a
casino, rig a horse race, or import alcohol, but violence against women is an obvious
red flag. The criminals on Peaky Blinders have a lot of blood on their
hands, but at least women help run their business and every one of them would
sooner shoot a rapist than have one on their crew.
Looking back at Leone’s filmography, as far as I can tell none of his movies have any female characters who are not either victims or prostitutes. Once Upon a Time in America was his last film, negating any chance of him ever rectifying that, assuming he would have ever been interested in doing so. It’s a shame because he went out on a high note, directing one of the most expansive and beautiful crime dramas ever made, but for me that beauty is tainted by the treatment of every women on screen.
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