After decades of waiting for a definitive version of the late great director Sergio Leone’s final masterpiece ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, we’re extremely thrilled to announce Warner Home Video will be releasing the 1984 gangster epic in a brand new remastered Once Upon a Time in America Extended Director’s Cut Edition Blu Ray on September 30th.
The extended version features 22-minutes of additional footage, bringing the runtime to 251 minutes, and was supervised by the film’s original sound editor, Fausto Ancillai.
Synopsis: Spanning four decades, Sergio Leone’s final film tells the story of David “Noodles” Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles’ 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the truth about the fate of his friends and again confronts the nightmare of his past. Leone’s film is both a criticism of gangster-film mythology and a continuation of the director’s exploration of the issues of time and history, while the violence and gore that frequent the first half of the film turn into a sad elegy about wasted lives and lost love.
The new Collector’s Edition contains a new 32-page book with rare photos and insightful notes that chronicle the movie’s production history. The book also includes a letter written by Martin Scorsese. He noted, “At long last, materials for some of these missing sections have been found and re-inserted into the picture under the supervision of Leone’s family and surviving collaborators. The work has been completed by the magnificent team at Cineteca di Bologna and L’Immagine Ritrovata, with generous funding from Gucci, and it has been wonderful to witness this enlargement of Leone’s vision, step by precious step.”
The Once Upon a Time in America Extended Director’s Cut is being released via two editions: a 2-disc Extended Director’s Cut Collector’s Edition, which contains the Extended Director’s Cut, the 1984 theatrical edition, Digital HD with UltraViolet, plus the 32-page book with rare photos and chronicles of the movie’s production; and a single-disc standard edition.
Note: This is not the first time this version has been released. A BluRay edition has been available in Italy for some time, however the image transfer was horrible screwed up according to reviews of the discs. So far, no release in other markets has been announced. It is still some time to go until September, we hope to be able to announce releases as well for the UK, Germany and all other countries.
Click here to get the DVD Version from Amazon.com
INTERNATIONAL AVAILABILITY — updated!
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Germany release is October 9 (Steelbook) and 23 (regular edition)
UK release is Oct 17 (Steelbook) and 20 (regular edition). Region free
Deutsch: Artikel zur Extended Edition auf Nischenkino.de
Special Features
- Commentary by Film Historian and Critic Richard Schickel
- Making of Once Upon A Time in America & more!
