Reviewing this film is no easy task. Much like my reviews on "Godfather" or "Citizen Kane", I honestly don't think a review on this film can do much justice, especially when being spoiler free. It's just a film that you have to see for yourself. There are also three different versions of the film. There's the short version; the theatrical version; and the newly released restored version with added scenes. The one I'm going to review is the theatrical version because that's the version that many people are familiar with. Much like my reviews on "It's A Wonderful Life", "Back To The Future", and "Citizen Kane"; I'm going to review the film in parts since the majority of the film is our main character played by Robert DeNiro having flashbacks of his life and regrets of crime.
THE OPENING
The film opens up with gangsters looking for Robert Deniro's character Noodles, and already there's tons of violence. They kill his Wife; they brutally beat his friend for answers; sexually harass an innocent woman during the search, and towards the end of this opening we see Robert Deniro take out one of the thugs. Where's Deniro hiding you may ask, and why are the gangsters looking for him? Well, he's hiding in a Chinese Opium Den, while having flashbacks of the past 24 hours or so, which leads to a clever out of order montage. I'll admit, when I first saw this opening, I was completely puzzled. I didn't know what was going on; what happened during the flashback montage (While being irritated by the telephone constantly ringing every 5 seconds or so); and who took what was ever in the case. As I watched the film again, I finally not only understood the situation better, but this opening was supposed to leave the audience with questions. If you pay direct attention to the montage, the answers to why Deniro is being chased by the gangsters is shown visually without any narration. We go from seeing the corpse's of his dead friends from what appears to be the aftermath of a shoot out with the cops; we cut to an end of Prohibition Party with his friends alive before the events of the shoot out; we find out that Noodles was responsible for their deaths by calling the cops; and while we see this montage, we hear 24 telephone rings which symbolize the guilt and regret that our main character has done. I think that was well put together. However, as I said before, we are still left with questions, which we know that the film will answer as it progresses.
Decades have passed, and Noodles under a new identity receives a letter informing him that the cemetery where his friends are buried has been sold and are asking him to make arrangements for their reburial. Noodles discovers that someone has found out his true identity, and returns to his old neighborhood, and contacts some old friends of his for answers. Throughout Noodle's search for answers, we are then presented with flashbacks of his life, leading up to his betrayal. I'm going to review and talk about each time frame in order, so let's start out with this character's early life of crime.
1920's
Noodles, and his friends were Jewish immigrants who spent their youth living in the Jewish Ghetto's on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, doing jobs for a street punk named Bugsy. However, a kid from the Bronx named Max moves into the ghettos and convinces Noodles and the gang to form their own operation. Noodles on the other hand, is thinking of maybe giving up his life as a street punk to be with his love interest Deborah instead.
First off, the acting from the kids playing our main characters when they were young is outstanding and powerful. They're fun and likable; they execute the drama really well; and while doing criminal things, and trying score with a prostitute around their age, there's still a bit of childhood innocence to these characters, which is done really well, and is extremely hard to pull with characters like these. The kids themselves also really resemble and act like the actors playing them when they're adults. One of the child actors you might recognize who was an unknown at the time, who now made it big now, is Jennifer Connelly playing Noodle's love interest Deborah. Her acting is just as great as all the other actors playing our main characters as kids, and she too acts and resembles the actress playing her character when she's an adult...well aside from having different colored eyes, but personally, I think that enhances the beauty of adult Deborah.
The cinematography, art direction, and edits are all really incredible and are a sight to look at in almost every single shot throughout the whole entire film. The flashback of Noodles' youth also has a similar look to the flashback's of Young Vito's rise to power in "Godfather Part 2", which also starred Deniro as Vito. Speaking of influences, Leone himself also pay homage and tribute to many classic gangster films as well as heist and crime films, throughout the years such as "Little Caesar", "The Roaring 20's", "Angels With Dirty Faces", "The Killing", even "A Clockwork Orange". During the childhood sequence Leone also based some of the crime figures that are gang encounters off of real crime figures. The street punk Bugsy is named after Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel; and the big Mafia boss that the gang sells their invention too is based on Al Capone, who's called Al Capuano in this film. This sequence also features the iconic and memorable shot of the film of the kids passing the Brooklyn Bridge that's standing between two buildings.
There are only two violent scenes in this portion, but trust me; both of those scenes are very brutal. There's also plenty of suggestive material, and for a brief moment, we see a cop having sex with an under-aged prostitute, which is very shocking (Especially when being part of a segment about childhood). Like I said, there is some humor in this sequence, and one of the best examples of that humor is when the gang takes care of a newsstand for not paying Bugsy. At first, it looks they're just peeing on a bunch of newspaper in the stand as a practical joke, but when we cut to the same shot again, they're actually doing the complete opposite. One of the best and memorable scenes in the film is the scene when Patsy is eating a Charlotte Russe. The reason why it's memorable is because the kid buys the pastry as payment for the young whore Peggy, but as he waits outside for her, while she's finishing up her bath; Patsy, who is poor and hungry, takes a few nibbles of the pastry to finally eating it, realizing that eating in the condition he's in (Especially when having a piece of food that he can hardly afford), is more important than sex. I wish I could talk more about the scenes in this sequence, but then I'd be spoiling the film more newcomers.
1930's
Noodles gets released from prison after serving 12 years for a crime he's committed when he was a kid, and now his friends Max (James Woods), Patsy (James Hayden), and Cockeye (William Forsythe) are now gangsters during the Prohibition, who bootleg liquor; run a speakeasy under Fat Moe's restaurant; own a whore house with their childhood friend Peggy; do jobs for crime bosses; and provide muscle for Union boss Jimmy Conway O'Donnell (Treat Williams). Noodles, now with the power, tries to rekindle his relationship with Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern); while, Max lets greed and power get the better of him, which could get him killed if not careful.
The performances from all the actors in this film are incredible! Robert Deniro as our main character Noodles is one of his best performances of all time. Maybe not as iconic, compared to his other roles, but it's still one of his best. While, bringing his classic Deniro charm by being tough, fun, and cool; his best scenes are his emotional moments. How he and the film deliver his emotions is done so perfectly, that you can actually feel the pain that this character is going through. It's also done in a very subtle way, like Michael Keaton when he's Bruce Wayne in "Batman". It's not over exaggerated; there are no tears; but, you can definitely feel the pain inside the character from the acting and facial expressions, as well as having a touching atmosphere to go with it.
James Woods as his best friend Max, to me, is Wood's best performance in his career. He brings his James Woods humor and charm, but for the majority of the film, he plays the role so maturely, that I completely forget some of the humorous roles that Wood's has played. I also enjoy the relationship and chemistry with him and Deniro. In the beginning, they come off as rivals to becoming really close friends and partners, to slowly losing their friendship out of Max's greed for power; and the transformation to this complex character is done extraordinarily well. One of the recurring phrases and themes in the film is whenever Max and Noodles get in a rough spot in their friendship, they go swimming which is used as relief scenes between the two; which is done really well, and brings the nostalgia of when Noodles and Max fall into the water together during their childhood. Even that crazy moment of Noodles driving the car off the dock and into the water with his friends with him, is executed well.
Another relationship, I enjoy throughout the film is the complex love relationship between Noodles and Deborah. They both love each other and both desire to make it big in life, but they can never be together because Noodles chooses to take up a life of crime to get to the top; while Deborah chooses an honest life by using her dancing, and acting talents to make it to the top. That really makes their relationship, both interesting, and tragic. Elizabeth McGovern does a wonderful job as adult Deborah, and every scene with her and Deniro together is gold. It makes you both smile, but feel sad at the same time due to this complex relationship. The best example is when Noodles takes Deborah out on a romantic date, that goes from being romantically beautiful to having a very sad and heartbreaking end.
The supporting characters in this film, man there's just too many to talk about! James Hayden and William Forsythe as Max and Noodle's friends and partners in crime are fun and likable characters, and you know something, considering what these guys do in this film, it's amazing how the film makes this gang of thugs such likable characters. I know, that's done in every gangster flick since the gangsters are the main characters, but these guys are actually worse. They don't just kill people, they cold-bloodedly kill them the minute before any of their victims can think or comprehend the situation; they brutally rape women; and they even switch a bunch of babies in the hospital to get what they want, and if you think they switch them back, they accidentally lose the list, laugh and joke about it, and leave it up to fate. The characters in "The Godfather" aren't as vicious and cold as these guys. The reason why we are still emotionally invested with these horrible characters is that we spend so much time with them, that we actually get to feel for them. We know them from their childhood as they suffered through poverty; laugh along with their fun personalities; and our main character Noodles, despite doing such horrible things, he does regret most of his actions. Their actions are still cruel and unacceptable, but (Like in any great gangster film) there's still such a strong investment to these characters that you can't help but fall under the film's spell.
The rest of the supporting cast is just as powerful as our leads. There's Tuesday Weld as Max's girlfriend Carol, who gives a classy performance as this ex-whore, and that scene with her and Noodles in the car together is a really perfectly acted scene for her. You have Treat Williams as Union Boss Jimmy Conway O'Donnell, who is just perfect for his role. There's Joe Pesci and Burt Young, who play two crime bosses that are brothers; and the scene with them together is easily one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Joe Pesci brings his Joe Pesci charm, while Burt Young eats like a pig and tells the gang a funny, but very dirty story. With Deniro aside, the film actually has two other cast members from "The Godfather" films. You have Danny Aiello (Who played Tony Rosato in "Godfather Part 2") as a police Chief, who's really just playing himself, but at the same time he does bring a good amount of fun and drama to his character. Then you have Richard Bright as the fun-loving hitman Chicken Joe, who played Michael's silent, cold, and tough, right-hand man Al Neri in all three "Godfather films". The actors who play adult Peggy, and adult Fat Moe, are not big named stars, but they play their characters so well, that it makes the characters seem more real.
Again, much like the 1920's portion of the film, there's not too much action. However, the action that is present in this portion of the film is cool, brutal, and violent for gangster fans, as well as having the traditional classic gangster to look too it. The sexual material in this portion has to be one of the most graphic pieces of material that I've ever seen in a film. You see a woman fully naked; there's a dirty moment where Tuesday Weld's character is looking at the characters privates (Which, thankfully are not shown); and there are two rape scenes, that are so hard to watch, that the rape scene in "A Clockwork Orange", while still disturbing, feels more tamed when compared to this! Sergio Leone, is best known for his close-up shots in his Western films, and how he captures the facial expressions of the actors, is just as epic as his Western films. Some of the highlights include the Coffee stirring scene, as we cut to each character as Noodles is stirring his Coffee (Which, that minute in the film is supposed to hint that the gang knows what happened during Noodle's date with Deborah, and the silence from the people in the room, as we only hear the sound of a spoon clanking in a Coffee cup, creates the awkwardness of the situation); the scenes when they're ready to kill; and my personal favorite scene, is when each gang member come out of the shadows to stop a man from being killed. I can talk about more things in this portion of the film, but than I'd be giving away the whole film.
THE PRESENT
I already told you about the plot in the Present portion of the film, and feeling that I'm giving more away than I should, as well as this portion leading to the climax of the film, I'll be short when talking about this portion of the film. The present-day portions of the film are where the nostalgia from our main character's past really kicks in, and nostalgia is indeed one of the many main themes in this movie. The make-up they put on the actors is very real and convincing; the places that our main character has been to in the past have completely changed over the decades; the encounters with Noodle's old friends feel just as real, as when you meet someone that you haven't seen in years; and the transition to the flashbacks are done perfectly and are very creative as well.
Before I wrap up the review, there is one important thing that I must talk about the film, that really helps makes the film so wonderful and emotional, and that's the music. The film's score is done by Ennio Morricone, who's provided the score for all of Leone's Western films, and even though his score to "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" is his most iconic piece that he's composed, personally his score for this movie is my favorite by him, and is also my favorite film score of all time! It's haunting, it's magical, it brings the emotion, tone, and atmosphere to the film; and it fits every scene and moment perfectly. There's that beautiful Piano music to help create the sadness and the drama, that starts out small, but then just builds and builds with the help of the string section. There's the love music that plays in most scenes when Deborah and Noodles are together, which adds that romantic, yet tragic tone of their love. The score even gets jazzy to give the film the feel of the times. Instead of having a badass Harmonica tune that we get in "Once Upon A Time In The West"; we get a tan flute that brings both happiness and sadness. I also admire what Morricone did with the classic Beatles song "Yesterday" by having it be all instrumental, except with the lyrics "Yesterday" and "Suddenly" being echoed. Speaking of classic songs, the film has good use for original classical music as well. You have Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" in the opening, and towards the end of the movie; "La gazza ladra" used during a scene that references "A Clockwork Orange"; and "Amapola", which is a song that Deborah use to dance too when she was a kid. So yeah, the score is awesome. Some complain that they use the same music over and over, but so do a lot of classic films, and if you want my opinion (Which is why most of you are reading this), I think they brought the right balance to it. I didn't find it to be repetitive at all.
What more can I say, I think I've said pretty much everything to sum up how great the film is. However, I will remind you readers reading this that this is a long film that is over 2 hours long, and some might find it too slow, dragging, hard to follow, and might require more than one viewing to understand and appreciate it. If you have time to spare, and I mean plenty of time, definitely give it a watch, but make sure you got your mindset to what you're getting into based off of this review. It's an epic and underrated gangster classic, and for me anyway, gets better with each viewing.
RATING 5/5
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