This movie is simply one of the best movies ever made.
Warner Brothers has now restored the original Sergio Leone cut and is presenting it in anamorphic widescreen and restored audio on DVD.
click this link to pre-order:
<LINK_TEXT text=“Amazon.com … ntintar-20”>Amazon.com</LINK_TEXT>
oh, and yeah, by using this link you support the site, als always.
I just dont hope you have to change discs (like godfather 2, LOTR:FOTR SE…)
i loved this movie although I think i have seen a cut version on tV (it was non-chronologic though)
This man speaks the truth. Watch this movie.
I love this movie so much. Its one of the best Gangster films ever made. I’m definitely going to be getting this new DVD.
Roger Ebert saw the original 220+ minute version of this film back in 1984 and gave it four stars. Then he saw the totally fucked up re-edited 2nd version and gave it 1 star. Basically what it could be compared to is, say having Pulp Fiction come out in its original version getting rave reviews, then Miramax fucking it all up and releasing it in a backwards version. Thats what they did to Sergio Leone. Its one of those examples of the fucked up studios and their total lack of respect for artists.
This new DVD is the way it was supposed to be seen. Its a must have for any film geek.
I’m kind of fuzzy on the whole edited, non-edited thing. I rented the film about three or four years ago on a double tape vhs, and just remember being thoroughly confused afterward. I’m still not 100% sure what copy I saw, but I know there has to be a more cohesive copy out there, unless Leone was using some dream logic ala David Lynch.
I believe the copy I seen didn’t actually tell what happened to James Woods’ character in the end. It left off after some party with De Niro and Woods as grown men talking, I think (it’s been quite a while since I saw the whole thing through). Also, the scene with De Niro, Woods and the gang driving off that dock into the water was never resolved. Maybe it was supposed to be like that, but I thought for sure it would tell how they survived that.
There were quite a few other things that went unanswered, but it’s been so long. I do remember loving the beginning with the kids, and really liking it all except for what I didn’t understand. I should probably give it another watch someday, maybe this new dvd is just the answer 
A little backstory: Sergio Leone’s final film was to be his masterpeice. The studio, however, thought the length was too long for any audience to stand. It completely butchered this film. As a result, this film flopped in the box office. See the movie original cut.
Also check out Once Upon a Time in the West.
the problem is that this now restored director’s cut isn’t the original longest version (“italian-cut”) either… sad…
i just hope you dont have to change discs in the middle of the movie á la Godfather2.
[quote]the problem is that this now restored director’s cut isn’t the original longest version (“italian-cut”) either… sad…[/quote]
Its not?!! What the fuck?! I just looked at the info page on the new DVD, it says that this DVD is longer than the re- edited clusterfuck version most of us have been watching all these years (139 min). Then it goes on to say in the the DVD details : Remastered Directors Cut. ???
So I guess its less than 227 min, but longer than 139 min. I was hoping it would be Sergio’s original cut. 
warner brothers wanted to purchase ALL footage from Leone’s nephew and restore the original cut as it was screened in italian theaters.
on the dvd is not the italian cut, but the longest version available, the normal cut as you’d have seen it without any studio fucking it up.
hence, its the original cut, just not the original italian cut - WHICH NOBODY OUTSIDE ITALY HAS EVER SEEN anyway.
checked imdb.com:
139 min / Italy:238 min / USA:227 min (extended version)
so basically, what we get here is the third one, the 227 min version, which still misses out on 11 minutes of footage.
according to imdb.com, the 227 version (the restored one) still misses out on the raping scene.
[quote]
According to an interview given by Sergio Leone’s son in november 1998, Regency and Warner are planning to reconstruct and re-release Sergio Leone’s original 250-minutes director’s cut and have requested the missing footage from him. Among the missing sequences that may be restored to the film are:
Noodles as a kid comes back home after the failed attempt to steal the drunk’s clock and finds that his father has eaten all his dinner;
Noodles and Max rob a black trumpet player and steal his wallet and trumpet;
Old Noodles (De Niro) notices a black car following him after he leaves Riversdale Cemetetery, and he takes notes of the license plate. The same black car is later seen blowing up in front of senator Bailey’s house
Noodles gets drunk after his failed attempt to rape Deborah; he picks up a hooker but falls asleep in the bed instead of having sex with her;
An old Jimmy O’Donnel (Treat Williams) meets senator Bailey and convinces him that suicide is his only way out.
[/quote]
so chances are, that we even see this 250 min version, but i doubt that.
also, it is always a problem to restore the longest cut, if problems like these appear:
[quote]
The so called director’s cut does not exist in a finished state. Nino Baragli never edited the extra scenes and the cast didn’t sound loop their dialogue to those extra scenes.[/quote]
I think we get something a little bit longer than the 227 version, MAYBE the 236, but I don’t think that we get the 250 min version, as much as I’ve heard.
BESIDES, at amazon.com it sais 226 minutes.
but dont trust amazon, they said its 2.35:1, but as far as i know it’s 1.85:1
CHECK OUT THIS LINK:
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://home.earthlink.net/~davidp_hayes … s/m10.html”>http://home.earthlink.net/~davidp_hayes/Articles/m10.html</LINK_TEXT>
[quote]The final version to be mentioned is an Italian television version at 4 hrs 25 min. It is said that no English-language equivalent footage exists of the footage unique to this version. In any event, Sergio Leone did not envision these scenes as part of theatrical presentations, and an eight-hour cut seems unlikely to have been intended.[/quote]
And where can I get Once upon a time in the west?
you can’t. they are still remastering it. should be out on DVD soon I think.
I just saw this movie for the first time, it was on TV. It was the 227 min cut, I can’t even begin to imagine what the 139 min cut is like, that must be awful. This movie wasn’t a minute too long.
I bought the new DVD set a few weeks ago. Its a must have for film lovers and Leone fans. Its one of the best Mobster movies ever, its right up there alongside Godfather and GoodFellas for me.
Last week I watched Once Upon a Time in The West AND Once Upon a Time in America back to back. What an awesome double feature!
What I don’t like from the DVD is that they’ve split the movie in two discs instead of keeping it in one, that sucks!
Arre!
[quote]What I don’t like from the DVD is that they’ve split the movie in two discs instead of keeping it in one, that sucks!
Arre![/quote]Yeah. Nothing takes you out of a movie like having to change discs.
[quote]checked imdb.com:
139 min / Italy:238 min / USA:227 min (extended version)
so basically, what we get here is the third one, the 227 min version, which still misses out on 11 minutes of footage.
according to imdb.com, the 227 version (the restored one) still misses out on the raping scene.
so chances are, that we even see this 250 min version, but i doubt that.
also, it is always a problem to restore the longest cut, if problems like these appear:
I think we get something a little bit longer than the 227 version, MAYBE the 236, but I don’t think that we get the 250 min version, as much as I’ve heard.
BESIDES, at amazon.com it sais 226 minutes.
but dont trust amazon, they said its 2.35:1, but as far as i know it’s 1.85:1
CHECK OUT THIS LINK:
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://home.earthlink.net/~davidp_hayes … s/m10.html”>http://home.earthlink.net/~davidp_hayes/Articles/m10.html</LINK_TEXT>
[/quote]The rape scene is still there. At the end of the film when Noodles comes back and see Debrah is an akward moment. On one hand he raped her and on the other she still likes him. I love how complex this film is.
[quote]
The rape scene is still there. At the end of the film when Noodles comes back and see Debrah is an akward moment. On one hand he raped her and on the other she still likes him. I love how complex this film is.
[/quote]
LOL. Yeah, I bet.
Quit following me. >:(
[quote]
Yeah. Nothing takes you out of a movie like having to change discs.
[/quote]
And do you know what fucking sucks the most?
When somebody kicks you out without telling you why....
Have you found out why you got the boot yet?