Is 'Once Upon a Time in America' a standalone movie?

Is 'Once Upon a Time in America' a standalone movie? - From below of aged retro golden clock placed atop information booth of historic Grand Central Terminal with arched windows

I know that 'Once Upon a Time in the West', 'Duck, You Sucker!' and 'Once Upon a Time in America' are considered technically part of the same trilogy by various sources, but is there any in-universe connection between them? Do I even need to watch the other two before 'Once Upon a Time in America'?



Best Answer

The link is thematically:

In Leone’s second major trilogy of thematically connected films, sometimes called the Once Upon a Time trilogy — Once Up a Time in the West; Duck, You Sucker (also titled, Once Upon a Time… the Revolution, or A Fistful of Dynamite); and Once Upon a Time in America, the setting is not always the American Old West, and Leone concentrates more on the “rituals preceding violence than on the violence itself.” In Leone’s first trilogy of Westerns, the Dollars Trilogy, the protagonist doesn’t change, although those around him often do, if only because of his violent acts. In the Once Upon a Time trilogy, instead of there being a single protagonist, who is most often considered the “hero” of the story though he is neither moral nor “good,” there are at least two protagonists, and they do change during the course of each individual film’s story, which is “unusual” for Leone characters.




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Is Once Upon a Time in America a sequel?

Once Upon a Time in America is the final entry in Leone's \u201cOnce Upon a Time\u201d trilogy. It followed Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era Una Volta Il West) (1968), and Once Upon a Time in the Revolution, which came out in 1971 as Duck, You Sucker!.

Is Once Upon a Time in America connected to Once Upon a Time in the West?

It was the final film directed by Leone before his death five years later, and the first feature film he had directed in 13 years. It is also the third film of Leone's Once Upon a Time Trilogy, which includes Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck, You Sucker!

Is there an uncut version of Once Upon a Time in America?

The 2002 DVD is fully uncut. When the 'complete' film was released on laser disc in America, it still had to be trimmed slightly from 229 minutes to 227 minutes, to secure an 'R' rating. Cuts were made to the two rape scenes, and some of the violence at the beginning.

Is the movie Once Upon a Time in America a true story?

Once Upon a Time in America is based loosely on a book called The Hoods, written by Harry Goldberg under the pseudonym Harry Grey. In this autobiographical novel Goldberg recalls his experiences in the Prohibition Era, and attempts to explode the romanticized image of Gangsterism given us by Hollywood.



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