Once Upon a Time in America 4K 1984 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

In the roaring twenties, when America was dancing to the sounds of jazz and every vagrant dreamed of becoming a millionaire, a group of desperate young men met in the slums of New York. By eliminating their competitors, ruthlessly punishing traitors, and brazenly pulling off cunning scams, they became the kings of the criminal world during the golden age of Prohibition. They swore to give their lives for each other, knowing that the most important things for them—friendship, duty, and justice—would not be drowned in rivers of blood and a bottomless ocean of money. Many years later, fate dealt a cruel blow to the legendary gangsters, forcing them to fulfill their oath. It happened once in America...

Review 4K Movie

Films of such magnitude as Once Upon a Time in America are difficult to classify into any one genre. It is not a crime film, although there is plenty of criminal activity in it. It is not a drama, although the main characters experience such upheavals that they would be enough for several Mexican soap operas. And everyone probably understands that it is not a comedy. The genre of this film can most likely be defined as a saga, not a gangster saga, not a love saga, but rather a human saga, or a life saga—decide for yourself.

“Saga.” I called the genre of this film a saga because it is truly a very LARGE-SCALE canvas. It tells the story of the 1930s, Prohibition, and a Man (capitalized for a reason) with the strange nickname “Noodles,” who is the leader of a small gang of four juvenile hooligans. A little later, Noodles meets another guy named Maximilian (or just Max), they become close friends, start making money little by little (not very legally, of course), and then one not-so-great day, Noodles ends up in prison for murder. He will serve a long sentence and will be released as a grown man. After leaving prison, he learns that his friends, led by Max, have long been doing their own thing, namely opening their own bar where they sell illegal alcohol (don't forget about Prohibition!) and are also involved in a couple of other smaller businesses. Noodles joins them because he has a share in the business, and he starts working with his old friends...

Of course, from all of the above, you won't understand why this film is so amazing. The whole point is that you just have to see it, feel it, empathize with it, understand it—in short, everything that some people don't really like to do.

Robert De Niro. Many may disagree with me, but De Niro plays Noodles amazingly. He plays amazingly both in his maturity and in his old age, he is calm, but at the same time he can get so angry that it seems like nothing to anyone. Watching De Niro play Noodles, it's impossible to imagine anyone else in this role.

James Woods. When it comes to this remarkable actor, almost everyone agrees that James Woods' Max is simply magnificent. He plays Max so well that you don't just believe him, you believe him completely. Max is simply magnificent, he is smart, cunning, calculating, in some ways attractive, in some ways repulsive. Woods is brilliant in the role of Max.

Children. In this film, credit must be given to the casting of the actors playing the children, that is, the young De Niro, Woods, etc. The children also play their roles perfectly, and in these children you can already see all the characters of the film in their adult lives. Noodles is just as reserved, loves his friends, but even more so he loves Deborah, his first love and the love of his life. Max is just as cunning, smart, and calculating.

The film's director is Sergio Leone. As he himself said, he carried the idea of creating this film for most of his adult life.

Leone, as he himself said, carried the idea for this film for about fourteen years. He took part of the plot from a book by a certain Harry Gray (actually Harry Goldberg), who wrote an autobiography in which he told, as you can imagine, about himself.

He wrote about how he also joined a gang, how he became a gangster, and how he was later forced to hide from the mafia.

Watch. Of course, you MUST watch this film. It is one of the few films that can REALLY change your view of the world. It's a complex story that tells us about friendship, love, and life, and it will keep you glued to the screen. Yes, the film is quite long, but think about it: could such a story have been told in the standard 1.5-2 hours? No, it wouldn't have worked, or it would have worked, but it would have been a completely different story, less brilliant, more stupid. This film is timeless, because many years have passed since its release, but it has not lost its relevance, because some people still haven't learned how to be friends, how to love, how to LIVE. Think about this before watching the film, and then think about it after watching it. I guarantee that your outlook on life will be different. But know that no review, no comment, no advice from your friend CAN convey how brilliant this film is...