ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984), SCARFACE (1983)

The kids of Once Upon a Time in America...

Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America depcits a group of Jewish kids growing up in the mean streets of New York during the 19-teens. The kids are led by Noodles (played as an adult by Robert De Niro) and Max (played as an adult by James Woods).  Noodles commits a murder against a rival gang member and has to spend a stretch in prison. When he comes out, he re-enters the prohibition underworld where Max is a big time operator now. Their relationship is complicated by a mutual love interest named Deborah (played as an adult by Elizabeth McGovern). A lot of the plot, which changes timelines often, has the older Noodles (in 1968!) looking for Deborah and Max, who may or may not be alive.

Leone makes great films but he doesn't make perfect films. There are issues with the timeline here and the rape scene between Noodles and Deborah throws the whole movie emotionally out of whack. However, the degree of difficulty with the plot and high-wire he films this on is extremely high and it works quite well for the most part. It wasn't commercially successful but it does have many fans (myself included). Leone's body of work is pretty sparse overall, so enjoy the ones you can, I say. This includes the first two of Leone's Once Upon a Time Trilogy, the first being Once Upon a Time in the West and the second being the very underrated Once Upon a Time in the Revolution (aka Duck, You Sucker aka A Fistful of Dynamite).
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...grown up in later scenes

Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino in Scarface

I hadn't seen Scarface (1983) since it's initial release thirty-five years ago. One reason for that was that it really rubbed me the wrong way during this first viewing. The violence seemed too over-the-top and I really didn't find any characters in the film particularly sympathetic, especially Al Pacino's Tony Montana. Would someone kill this guy already!

But since then, I've seen the original Scarface (1932) and it made me appreciate the remake a little more in how it blended in some of the original plot points into it (Tony's relationship with his sister and best friend). Seeing Scarface '83 again, I did appreciate Pacino as Tony. He completely transforms himself into this Cuban madman and is a totally different kind of gangster than Michael Corleone. And he's not 100 percent bad as he refuses to blow up a car with two young kids in it...Better than nothing I guess. Scarface '83 still isn't going to be on my list of favorites, but I admit it has had a lot of staying power in popular culture, so I won't argue against it being in the 1001 book.

"Say hello to my little friend" (I had to say it somewhere)

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1967, ITALY)

The Great American Western (Though sometimes they make 'em in Italy) (Post 8 of 12)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When I was growing up, it seemed the term "spaghetti western" was used rather derisively. The three movies in the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood dollars trilogy (Which is probably what most of us think of when we think of the term spaghetti western) were all hits in Europe when they were first released and later were hits in the United States. They weren't, however, an initial hit with critics. New York Times reviewer Renata Adler famously said about this film that...

Anyone who would voluntarily remain in the theater to see this movie in its entirety is not someone I should want to meet in any capacity ever!

But time has certainly been kind to the reputation of this film. Check out RottenTomatoes.com and you'll see how the critical opinion has gone from "love it or hate it" in the 60's to mostly "love it."

Well, I'm a certainly a Leone fan, but let me just see if I can pick out...

Ten memorable moments from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

10. Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes quietly sits down and has a meal with a family that he is about to gun down.

9. For some reason I love the scene where the soldier with no legs gives Angel Eyes information, Angel Eyes eyes gives him some coin and the "half soldier" happily goes into a bar and orders a whiskey.

8. Any time Clint Eastwood (as Blondie) shoots someone's hat off,

7. Eli Wallach (as Tuco) takes Blondie out into the desert to slowly kill him.

6. Tuco's verbal confrontation with his religious brother tells us all we really need to know about Tuco's background.

5. When Tuco and Blondie blow up the bridge dividing the battling armies it's pretty cool as well as an important plot device.

4. Tuco's in the gun store is funny, and despite his brashness you somehow root for him.

3. Blondie offering a dying soldier a smoke and a wrap is an unusually poignant moment.

2. So is the band in the prison camp playing while Angel Eyes has Tuco beaten up.

and the number one moment from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the three way gun duel at then end...and the part right before...and the part after. I could almost do a top ten list of memorable moments from the final duel scene alone, but the whole final scene is a helluva finale to one great horse opera.

So that's the good. So what's the bad?

Well, it really does tend to stretch the imagination that these three characters seem to keep running into each other throughout the film, even if they are trying to get to the same place. But I'm willing to overlook it. Poetic license if you will.

And the ugly...
There are basically no women in this movie! The only woman I can think of with any lines here is Bill Carson's girlfriend, who mostly gets slapped around by Angel Eyes in her one scene. However, one of the end credits could read that Sergio Leone will compensate for his lack of women in this movie with the appearance of Claudia Cardinale in Once Upon a Time in the West!