The Plot:

Traces the story of four jewish italian friends who grow up in New York. Working for small time criminals and forming their own gang, the boys begin to gain clout in the neighborhood. After a revenge killing one of them is sent to juvenile prison. Upon his release he learns that his friends have become the kingpins of a prohibition era crime organization and that he too is in charge. What follows is a very successful bootlegging business filled with money and power for the friends. However the groups ambitions, and greed lead to their downfall.

My Thoughts: (Reviewed by K-Billy)

This movie is roughly 3 hours and 50 minutes. It’s hailed by many as a masterpiece that rivals the Godfather. It’s the last picture of famous director Sergio Leone and is considered his finest work. Unfortunatly, I can’t see where all of this holds true. This movie traces the boys from when they’re young, to adults, and finally to when they are old( of course not all of them survive to old age). These time periods all blend together in flashback sequences of the main character, nicknamed Noodles (Robert DeNiro). One of my main problems with this movie is that it’s quite tedious. Just look at the running time. This is supposed to be the definitive cut of a movie that was once only around 2 hours and 30 minutes. If you ask me some of the scenes definitly tend to run long and I wonder why some others are even in the movie. The story itself is fairly good but is odd in a few parts such as the ending which I won’t get into which really leaves the whole thing up for interpretation. It really isn’t a conventional gangster story and I’m not sure if I enjoyed that. It focuses so much on Robert DeNiro’s character as compared to the others. I enjoy watching a lot of gangster movies and for some reason I really didn’t feel the same when I saw this, for better or for worse. I was also kind of disappointed with DeNiro. I’m a huge fan of his work but in this film he seems to just be going through the motions(this performance pales in comparison to him in Taxi Driver), there’s not much emotion in his performances except for the dark side shown of him when he rapes women.(how lovely). Which leads me to another point. There is pretty much no real likable character in this movie. James Woods character is physcotic, the other two friends really don’t have much to do and aren’t very interesting and worst of all Robert Deniro’s character is pretty much a zombie who kills people and rapes women, even the one he somewhat loves. Like I said the other members of the cast really aren’t mentionable. Although the kids who play the younger versions of the main characters did quite a good job. Sadly I really wanted to enjoy this movie more then I did, and have watched it numerous times to make sure that I was giving it my undivided attention. Everytime I come out with the same feeling that while I enjoyed it, I can’t say it’s anything special. Rival of the Godfather this movie is not, doesn’t even come close. But it does stand on it’s own as an enjoyable mob picture that explores what happens to the people involved in such a lifestyle.

Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, and Jennifer Connelly

Directed by Sergio Leone

Rated R

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