Editing Once Upon a Time in America (section)

== Release ==
''Once Upon a Time in America'' premiered at the [[1984 Cannes Film Festival]] on May 20, 1984.{{sfn|Frayling|2012|pages=460–61}} It received a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nero |first=Dom |date=3 July 2018 |title=One of the Best Movies About America Was Made By an Outsider |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a22028586/once-upon-a-time-in-america-sergio-leone/ |website=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417161551/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a22028586/once-upon-a-time-in-america-sergio-leone/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the United States, a heavily edited version of the film received a wide release in 894 theaters on June 1, 1984, and grossed $2.4 million during its opening weekend.<ref>{{cite web |title=Once Upon a Time in America |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=onceuponatimeinamerica.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |publisher=[[IMDb]] |access-date=March 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131323/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=onceuponatimeinamerica.htm|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> It ended its box-office run with a gross of more than $5.3 million on a $30 million budget,<ref>{{cite web |title=Once Upon a Time in America |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Once-Upon-a-Time-in-America#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]] |access-date=March 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402180314/http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Once-Upon-a-Time-in-America#tab=summary |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and became a [[box office bomb|box-office bomb]].{{sfn|McCarty|2005|page=235}}

Numerous women at the film's premiere reacted furiously, mostly due to the two rape sequences. One woman confronted Robert De Niro at a [[press conference]] and made harsh comments to the film's depiction, describing it as "blatant, gratuitous violence".{{sfn|Eberwein|Bell-Metereau|2010|pages=26–27}} In general, the rape scenes specifically were controversial.<ref>{{cite news |title=Elizabeth McGovern: De Niro and Me |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/elizabeth-mcgovern-de-niro-and-me-109588.html?amp |date=October 14, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=October 13, 2021 |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605091344/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/elizabeth-mcgovern-de-niro-and-me-109588.html?amp |url-status=live }}</ref> Richard Godden defended Leone's representation of rape, saying that it "articulates the dysfunction between bodies in images and bodies themselves". Of the scene in which De Niro's character rapes her character, Elizabeth McGovern said that it "didn't glamorize violent sex: it is extremely uncomfortable to watch and it is meant to be". She went on to state:<ref>{{cite book|first=Christopher|year=2000|last=Frayling|title=Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death|location=London|publisher=Faber and Faber|page=448|isbn=0571164382}}</ref>
{{blockquote|And if you say, "this violence is wrong", you'd have to enlarge that to say, "all violence in movies in wrong", and then you'd have to say, "you can only make movies about good people who obey the law and do right things" which a) excludes a lot of what life is and b) makes for some very boring movies.}}

In his book, Leone scholar [[Christopher Frayling]] argues that the movie's central gang are all emotionally stunted "like small boys obsessed with their equipment who have no idea how to relate to flesh-and-blood women".{{sfn|Frayling|2012|page=}}

=== Versions ===
==== US version ====
The film was shown in [[limited release]] and for film critics in North America, where it was slightly trimmed to secure an "R" rating. Cuts were made to two rape scenes and some of the more graphic violence at the beginning. Noodles's meeting with Bailey in 1968 was also excised.

The film gained a mediocre reception at several sneak premieres in North America. Because of this early audience reaction, the fear of its length, its graphic violence, and the inability of theaters to have multiple showings in one day, [[The Ladd Company]] cut entire scenes and removed approximately 90 minutes of the film<ref name="Sokol">{{cite web |first=Tony |last=Sokol |title=''Once Upon a Time in America'' Is a Movie That Can Never Be Too Long |date=September 22, 2021 |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america-can-never-be-too-long/?amp |website=Den of Geek |access-date=October 11, 2021 |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605091308/https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america-can-never-be-too-long/?amp |url-status=live }}</ref> without the supervision of Sergio Leone.

This American wide release (1984, 139 minutes) was drastically different from the European release, as the non-chronological story was rearranged into chronological order. Other major cuts involved many of the childhood sequences, making the adult 1933 sections more prominent. Noodles's 1968 meeting with Deborah was excised, and the scene with Bailey ends with him shooting himself (with the sound of a gunshot off-screen) rather than with the garbage truck conclusion of the 229-minute version.{{sfn|Hughes|2006|page=}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}} Sergio Leone's daughter Raffaella Leone said that Sergio had dismissed the US version as not his own movie.<ref>{{cite news |first=Susan |last=King |title=Sergio Leone's Original ''Once Upon a Time in America'' Out on DVD |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-once-upon-a-time-america-leone-deniro-20141003-story.html?amp?true |date=October 2, 2014 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=September 30, 2021 |archive-date=October 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211002041449/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-once-upon-a-time-america-leone-deniro-20141003-story.html?amp%3Ftrue |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== USSR ====
In the [[Soviet Union]], the film was shown theatrically in the late 1980s, with other Hollywood blockbusters, such as the two ''[[King Kong (franchise)|King Kong]]'' films. The story was rearranged in chronological order, and the film was split in two, with the two parts shown as separate movies, one containing the childhood scenes and the other comprising the adulthood scenes. Despite the rearranging, no major scene deletions were made.<ref name="OUTSL">{{cite AV media |date=January 8, 2001 |title=Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone |medium=Documentary |language=en, it |publisher=CreaTVty, Westbrook|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYBpXwH8rRU}}</ref>

==== Restored original ====
[[File:De Niro McGovern 2012.jpg|thumb| [[Robert De Niro]] and [[Elizabeth McGovern]] at the screening of the film's restored version, during the [[2012 Cannes Film Festival]]]]
In March 2011, it was announced that Leone's original 269-minute version was to be recreated by a film lab in Italy under the supervision of Leone's children, who had acquired the Italian distribution rights, and the film's original sound editor, Fausto Ancillai, for a premiere in 2012 at either the [[Cannes Film Festival]] or [[Venice Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=March 10, 2011 |title=''Once Upon a Time'' to Be Restored |url=https://variety.com/2011/biz/news/once-upon-a-time-to-be-restored-1118033710/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122200528/https://variety.com/2011/biz/news/once-upon-a-time-to-be-restored-1118033710/ |archive-date=November 22, 2015 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=March 18, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://thefilmforum.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2957 |publisher=The Film Forum |date=March 13, 2011 |title=''Once Upon a Time in America'' – 269 minute version in 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610164934/http://thefilmforum.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2957 |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |access-date=April 21, 2011}}</ref>

The restored film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, but because of unforeseen rights issues for the deleted scenes, the restoration had a runtime of only 251 minutes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barraclough |first=Leo |url=https://variety.com/2012/film/markets-festivals/another-chance-for-once-1118054109/ |title=Another chance for ''Once'' – Entertainment News, Film Festivals, Media |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=May 16, 2012 |access-date=May 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110101458/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118054109|archive-date=November 10, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Gallman |first=Brett |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/news/once-upon-time-america-other-directors-cuts-worth-143800580.html |title=''Once Upon a Time in America'', Other Director's Cuts Worth Watching |publisher=Movies.yahoo.com |date=April 21, 2012 |access-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120709024328/http://movies.yahoo.com/news/once-upon-time-america-other-directors-cuts-worth-143800580.html |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/58952.html |title=Cannes Classics 2012 – Festival de Cannes 2014 (International Film Festival |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215183141/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/58952.html |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |website=Festival-cannes.fr |access-date= June 5, 2014}}</ref> However, Martin Scorsese (whose Film Foundation helped with the restoration) stated that he was helping Leone's children gain the rights to the final 24 minutes of deleted scenes to create a complete restoration of Leone's envisaged 269-minute version. On August 3, 2012, it was reported that after the premiere at Cannes, the restored film was pulled from circulation, pending further restoration work.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/03/sergio-leone-once-upon-time-america |location=London |work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Tony |last=Paley |title=Sergio Leone's ''Once Upon a Time in America'' is withdrawn from circulation |date=August 3, 2012|access-date=December 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214204500/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/03/sergio-leone-once-upon-time-america|archive-date=February 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Home media ====
In North America, a two-tape [[VHS]] was released by [[Warner Home Video]] in February 1985 and 1991 with a runtime of 226 minutes. The U.S. theatrical cut was also released at the same time in February 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|date=December 18, 1984|page=21|title=Two Homevid Versions Of 'America'}}</ref>

A two-disc special edition was released on June 10, 2003, featuring the 229-minute version of the film.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erickson |first1=Glenn |title=DVD Savant Review: ''Once Upon a Time in America''|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s861once.html |website=[[DVD Talk]] |access-date=March 26, 2015 |date=June 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117153225/http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s861once.html|archive-date=November 17, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> This special edition was re-released on January 11, 2011, on both [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Once Upon a Time in America Preview |url=https://www.ign.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america/dvd-87102 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |access-date=March 26, 2015 |date=January 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403155318/http://www.ign.com/movies/once-upon-a-time-in-america/dvd-87102|archive-date=April 3, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> On September 30, 2014, Warner Bros. released a two-disc Blu-ray and DVD set of the 251-minute restoration that was shown at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, dubbed the ''Extended Director's Cut''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=14163 |work=Blu-ray.com |title=Once Upon a Time in America: Extended Director's Cut Blu-ray |date=June 5, 2014|access-date=June 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607013810/http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=14163|archive-date=June 7, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> This version was previously released in Italy on September 4, 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Once Upon a Time in America'' (Comparison) |url=http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=898776 |website=Movie-Censorship.com |access-date=March 26, 2015 |date=December 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402151406/http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=898776|archive-date=April 2, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>