4. Once Upon A Time In America (1984)
Warner Bros.Again, production woes became a real problem for Leone in his late career, and the production and release of his New York epic Once Upon a Time in America essentially caused Leone to resign from filmmaking altogether. Starring Robert De Niro and James Woods as Prohibition-era gangsters, the multi-decade journey through the streets of NYC still manages to be an impressive achievement despite its troubles. Originally cut by Leone at a staggering 269 minutes (nearly four and a half hours), the film was recut for European cinemas - and then recut again by American distributors against the wishes of the director. When the film premiered in the States it ran at 139 minutes (two hours and nineteen minutes), and the restructured version was panned by critics. Yet, as some reviews recognized at the time, cutting a four-hour Leone film is akin to chopping an opera or two out of Wagner's Ring Cycle - that is to say that some masterpieces are meant to be lengthy. Indeed, a film set in 1968 that spends a great amount of time in flashback to the 1920s and the 1930s needs time to establish each of these eras. There are several versions of the film available now, and the 229-minute restoration is one of the closest available to Leone's original cut (although Leone's children still seek to restore his original 269 minutes). Regardless of the actual length, Once Upon a Time in America is one of the best depictions of Prohibition in New York City ever set to film.