8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Drama about the rise and fall of a group of Jewish gangsters in New York at the beginning of the century through the 1960s.
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt YoungDrama | 100% |
Crime | 49% |
Period | 42% |
Epic | 25% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
What’s sauce for the gangster goose isn’t always sauce for the gangster gander. There are a number of interesting parallels between Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films and Sergio Leone’s epic Once Upon a Time in America, not the least of which is the participation of Robert De Niro. But perhaps more interestingly, in the case of The Godfather II especially and Once Upon a Time in America, both films were “revisited” and reedited to make their stories chronological. In the case of Coppola's film(s), the director himself went back to the drawing board with editor Barry Malkin to make The Godfather Saga for network television, an attempt which completely changed the back and forth timelines of the second film, something that may have made the story more easily accessible, but which completely destroyed the cross referencing and intentional irony the original film version contained. In the case of Once Upon a Time in America, that film was wrested from director Leone’s hands, even after a triumphant premiere at Cannes, and chopped to bits for its American theatrical release, once again, like The Godfather Saga, put in “correct order” and, perhaps unlike The Godfather Saga, dealt a stultifying blow to its creators’ intentions. Somehow saner heads prevailed, and after a brief run in this extremely truncated version, something approaching Leone’s original vision was re-released and the film, while never attaining true blockbuster status, has achieved a certain cult audience through the years.
There already seems to be some (unfounded) controversy brewing over Once Upon a Time in America's AVC encoded 1080p image, in 1.78:1. I am probably one of the few people who saw the film theatrically (several times) in both its truncated and uncut versions, and it is my considered opinion that the film has never looked this good before. Overall there is a clarity and sharpness to this presentation which reveals whole new levels of fine detail. There is also a noticeable uptick in contrast and especially black values, at least in some scenes. Compare the opening moments of this Blu-ray with any previous home video version and the differences are striking. Not only are colors more beautifully saturated, black levels in the shadowy apartment reveal the glint of pearls around Noodles' moll's neck and other details which simply weren't readily visible in earlier incarnations. There are some niggling complaints which I'm sure some people will obsess over, but they are all endemic to the source material. Seemingly inexplicably, some shots are fuzzy and soft (almost always medium range shots, which argues toward the culprit being a lens), as in the medium shot of Noodles standing on a rural road as two bicyclists pedal by. Also some of the darker scenes are indeed murky, with some milky blacks, but again I'm firmly convinced these are inherent to the source material and not a result of any tinkering in the Blu-ray transfer. Some people have expressed concern over the film's length and the fact that it's "stuffed" onto one BD-50. Streaming rates hovered around 15-16 Mbps, certainly not incredibly robust, but also nothing to be very alarmed about. There really aren't many compression artifacts here of any real import.
Once Upon a Time in America is provided with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that some viewers may find less than involving, but it accurately recreates the theatrical experience without "faking" a surround scenario that the film never had to begin with. Immersion here is a fleeting circumstance, and even sound effects like the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns will often erupt solely from the front channels. The best thing about this track is the excellent fidelity, which supports one of the most glorious scores in 20th century film, yet another masterpiece by Leone's frequent collaborator Ennio Morricone. Use of source cues (including the intentionally ironic "God Bless America," sung by Kate Smith, as well as the old standard "Yesterdays") is also very well mixed into the soundfield. There's very good to excellent dynamic range here, and no dropouts or other damage to report. Perhaps not as bombastic as some listeners might expect, but still a decent and involving soundtrack that sports excellent fidelity across all frequencies.
We wuz robbed, robbed I tells ya! Though this new Blu-ray ports over the (miniscule) supplements of the previous 2 DVD Collector's Edition release, a film of this stature really deserves more loving treatment.
Sergio Leone's films constantly defy expectation and the tropes their supposed genres dictate. Once Upon a Time in America is one of the director's grandest achievements, a novelistic and operatic approach to the gangster idiom that demands that the audience stay on their collective toes to follow a story that reveals its secrets in dribs and drabs over the course of almost four hours. De Niro and Woods make a towering pair in this feature, but the real star here is Leone, a director at the absolute height of his inestimable powers. This Blu-ray offers the film looking better than it ever has in a home video presentation, and though there are some niggling issues to contend with in both image and audio quality, they can't negate the incredible achievement Once Upon a Time in America is in and of itself. Very highly recommended.
Extended Director's Cut
1984
Extended Director's Cut
1984
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1972
2016
1990
2019
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1995
1931
2007
1990
1931
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2002
1991
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1939
2002
Theatrical Edition
1997
2014
75th Anniversary Edition
1941
1990