I was first to vote, and to me it’s not a contest at all: Once Upon A Time In America is an absolutely amazing film; easily the pinnacle of Sergio Leone’s career IMO.
And, on the remote chance that someone might be basing their choice on the butchered “US version”, the choice in this poll is for the 229 minute “European version” of Once Upon a Time in America.
I know, I’m definitely in the minority on this. The whole thing reminded me of a fever dream, which is I guess pretty appropriate given the plot and narrative structure. Still, the soft focus, music that sounded like a bad 80’s VHS recording of a TV show, and unlikable characters that just didn’t feel real at all annoyed the hell out of me.
Sergio Leone just didn’t seem to understand people at all, especially women. His style worked well with Westerns but it just fell flat for me in a Gangster movie. Also, in spite of the title, the movie felt nothing like America to me.
The Godfather III was an OK mafia movie ruined by bad casting and the high expectation set by the previous installments. I take that any day.
IMO Godfather 2 was a far better film than Godfather 1. And GF1 was an amazing film. But its linear and fairly predictable. Godfather 2 is a deep and complex film; it boasts amazing performances and brilliant writing and directing. Its a candidate for the best film ever made.
Why Goodfellas was so highly rated, I can only guess the narration was more honest?? I would vote Casino as 10x better in that poll. What threw me was the point-- these fucks aren’t in charge and never will be worth shit unless dead. Both films are kids films in comparison to Godfather.
Once Upon A Time In America, however, is up to par IMHO.
Even as I type this, some doubt lingers - Once Upon a Time or Goodfellas?
But enough - I will go with Once Upon a Time in America. It hasn’t entered our collective consciousness the same way that the others have (‘An offer he can’t refuse’, “I amuse you?”) but on the whole I think its a superior film.
Not just no other ‘mob flick’, but no other movie in general rivals its sweep and scope. I suppose that if Godfather I and II were fused into one sublime whole, sure, that would be a good match. But as it stands, in terms of carrying the viewer on a journey of time and characters, Once Upon a Time has no peer.
How many movies of four hours length seem to speed by? How many other three hour plus films leave you longing for more as the end credits roll? Once Upon a Time picks you up and never puts you down. Right to its very last scene, you still wonder - did he or didn’t he? Does it even matter?
And, one small point - although not so small that it didn’t influence my vote - is Once Upon a Time’s soundtrack. Haunting, sumptuous, perfectly matched to what’s on screen. Although, I would not argue that Goodfellas didn’t also have a magnificent soundtrack, it was composed of old tunes, of classics. OUATIA’s on the other hand was one hundred percent original. And magnificent.
Once Upon a Time in America - in a class by itself.
The Godfather Pt. I
Goodfellas
The Godfather Pt. II
Casino
Terminator
Ocean’s Eleven
Ocean’s Twelve
Liar Liar
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
White Chicks
Big Momma’s House 2
Any Coppercab video
2 Girls 1 Cup
Serbian Film
Static.
Once Upon A Time In America
I hated, hated, hated that film. Every grandiose flourish, every repulsive, vile, grubby, hateful character, and every audience-insulting attempt to make these scumbags appear romantic or elicit sympathy for them. Once Upon A Time In America is the story of a bunch of stupid, ugly, thieving, grasping, unrepentantly thuggish, psychopathic charisma-vacuums behaving precisely how you’d expect them to. Theirs was a story not worth telling, and I resent having wasted four hours of my life on it.
Once Upon… is what I would consider a “flawed masterpiece”. It is overlong and I find its characters to be less charismatic than in the other films. I love most of the part with the child actors and the reflective scenes with Deniro but I did not enjoy most of the “grownup” scenes and some of them are actively repellent. Amazing musical score, though.
My choice is GF2, although I would rate the films something like this:
Gotta go with Part 2 here, especially the young Vito scenes.
I like Once Upon A Time In America, but there are some real problems with it. And yes, it’s waaaaay too long.
