Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. It chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime. The film explores themes of childhood friendships, love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, broken relationships, and the rise of mobsters in American society. Leone adapted the story from the novel The Hoods, written by Harry Grey, while filming Once Upon a Time in the West. The film went through various casting developments and production... issues before filming began in 1982. The original version by the director was 269 minutes long, but when the film premièred out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Leone had cut it down to 229 minutes to appease the distributors. This was the version that was to be shown in European cinemas. However, for the US release on June 1, 1984, Once Upon a Time in America was edited down even further to 139 minutes by the studio and against the director's wishes.
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| Release date: | February 17, 1984 |
| Directed by: | Sergio Leone |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 229 Minutes |
| Producer: | Arnon Milchan |
| Editor: | Nino Baragli |
| Music by: | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography: | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Screenplay by: | Sergio Leone, Franco Ferrini, Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Ernesto Gastaldi |
| Estimated budget: | $20,000,000 |