Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone (2001)
A short documentary based on Sergio Leone's life and career, and the making of the film "Once Upon a Time in America."
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Reviews
Truly Dreadful Film
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
The acting in this movie is really good.
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
This documentary is a short but nonetheless poignant salutation to Segio Leone and his greatest work: Once Upon a time in America. It will contain little new information for those already familiar with the man and his work, but to those with little knowledge of him beside the watching of the film, it gives an interesting insight into both his creative genius and the butchering of his magnus opus by a "naieve" Hollywood.Even for those already in the know it nonetheless contains a powerful and fascinating interview with James Woods who describes OAAT in America as the "Everest" of his achievements and how he regretted telling Leone this himself. Its ending, in juxtaposing the close of the OAAT with the end of the documentary also provided for me a moving and fitting tribute. Short yes, but ultimately still a telling tribute and interesting to those unfamiliar with the life of the great Sergio Leone
An excerpt of this documentary based on Sergio Leone's life is included on the two-disc "Once Upon a Time in America" Director's Cut DVD. Unfortunately it seems very amateur, the interviews are poorly edited, repetitive and contain little insight; and worst of all, the people interviewed themselves had little to do with the film's production.Perhaps the most interesting story is the one which one of the film's co-writers tells about Leone's peculiar requests in regards to scriptwriting methods.I also enjoyed the James Woods interview segment, in which he explains how a critic that called "America" the worst film of 1984 later saw the director's cut version and named it the best movie of the entire decade.Overall, there are some good bits like these, but a lot of the documentary could have been cut down/edited and more interesting anecdotes and interviewees could have been selected.