The story behind this 1984 film is almost as long and involved as the movie itself. Directed by Sergio Leone, who has only directed a handful of films, it is an epic tale of Jewish New York’s gangsters told over several decades, employing a lot of flashback techniques that can take a while to navigate through and make sense of. This, at last, is Leone’s three-hour, 40-minute version that has been cut and butchered more than once into more cinema-friendly lengths. In 2003, with Joe Public still in his DVD buying frenzy, comes the full-length version that has so far been unavailable in the home video market.
David 'Noodles' Aaronson (Scott Tiler/Robert De Niro), is a Jewish kid from the mean streets of New York. He runs with a few mates who are also pretty street wise. Their days of crime begin simply enough, doing the odd-job here and there for more organised bosses, slowly building up to their own little independent team of petty thieves, muggers and extortionists.
He befriends another petty crim, Max Bercovicz (Rusty Jacobs/James Woods), who joins their gang, and makes new enemies into the bargain. The gang hits pay dirt when they catch the local copper in a compromising position with the neighbourhood slut, and manage to get photographic evidence. The copper agrees to their demands to turn the odd blind eye in exchange for their silence.
The boys diversify their interests and wisely set themselves up a superannuation fund by stashing wads of cash in a suitcase in a guarded railway locker, on the understanding that it is to be split equally at a later time. The key is minded by their friend 'Fats' (Larry Rapp), but he is not told what it is for.
Things come to a screeching halt for the boys when 'Noodles' is arrested for murder and spends time inside. Upon release, he is welcomed back to the fold, but the boys have moved on and now run a successful prohibition and prostitution racket owned by their partnership, 'Noodles' included.
The boys still do the odd ‘job’ and 'Noodles' immediately finds himself in the middle of just such a job offer. Local crime boss, Franki Minaldi (Joe Pesci) asks the boys to pull an out-of-town diamond heist. They agree. Upon presentation of the loot, and after receiving payment, they execute the receivers and end up with the lot, and a whole messa trouble to boot.
Shortly after, the friendship between ‘Noodles’ and Max becomes strained, when both feel the business needs to move in different directions, especially with the ending of prohibition. Max has a dream to pull off the ultimate job, but ‘Noodles’ sees it as folly, and worse, certain to end in disaster. He doesn’t want to desert his life-long friend, but knows the consequences of not stopping him. He has a plan, but it involves doing the one thing that mobsters never do, ratting! Whether he acts or not, he knows he will lose something of significance.
The film makes much use of flashback and the opening half hour of the film appears confusing and disjointed, but this turns out to be a blessing in disguise as small snippets are slowly revealed that help put the pieces together. As the bigger picture emerges, so does the level of interest and ability of the story to drag you in. The opening passages slowly become more workable, and the characters become more identifiable. It is not until late in the film though, that all the pieces come together to make for a satisfying experience. What have appeared to be loose ends are tied up to deliver a very dramatic ending that is left somewhat open to interpretation.
The costumes, props and sets are all convincing. The acting is, as you would expect of this cast, extremely good. Even the young actors playing the same characters as De Niro and Woods are solid, and in most cases, bear quite a resemblance to their adult counterparts. There is a certain level of mystery and suspense that is worked in nicely, and some very graphic images, hence the R rating.
For those who love films like The Godfather and Goodfellas, this will have definite appeal.
The first thing of note is that the movie is split over two discs, and you will have to change the discs to see the whole thing. There is no ‘intermission’ at this point and the end of the first disc hits a bit hard. It is presented in an aspect ratio of somewhere between 1.78:1 and 1.85:1 which suggests slight modification from the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is 16:9 enhanced however.
The image is relatively sharp for a film that's 20 years old and should not bother any but the fussiest of viewers. Colours are very dark and earthy at times, but this is a deliberate mechanism to convey that much of the film is set in the past. Generally colours are not bright or bold, but this is also deliberate and enhances the dark tone of the film. There are no problems with the colour such as bleeding, and only minimal noise and grain.
Black levels are generally very good, but appear slightly discoloured in some scenes on Disc Two and shadow detail is also quite good. There are few, if any, instances of aliasing or shimmer, but there are a large number of white specks that seem to be right throughout the film. There is also some minor evidence of debris such as dirt, but it's nowhere near as problematic. There is also noticeable edge enhancement in many scenes.
There is a layer change on disc one at 64:52 that is rather poorly placed mid-scene, but the change on Disc Two at 39:51 occurs at the intermission.
There are two Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, being in English and Italian. While dialogue is clear, and there are no apparent synchronisation issues, this would have to one of the least immersive 5.1 experiences I have had. Rear channels are used for some very soft music at times, but not for ambient or effective sounds, and at times I had to lean over to see if they were still there. The soundtrack, incidently, is very nice and adds great atmosphere.
There is almost no noticeable separation of sound across the front sound wall, but there is some evidence of panning. All dialogue is placed squarely in the centre channel, as are most sound effects. While this all sounds like it is a disappointment, it isn’t really. Sure, a little more action from the surround speakers would have been welcome, but their minimal input is missed if you pipe the sound to just the left and right front channels. This is an extremely subtle, but effective audio track.
