#harry grey

[legendsofracing]

Walt Hansgen and Randy Pearsall's MG TD, leading the later-to-be winner – the Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica of Larry Kulok and Harry Grey – at the inaugural 12 Hours of Sebring in 1952.

[gregorygalloway]

Once Upon a Time in America premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 1984.

It was the first feature film directed by the 54-year-old Sergio Leone in 13 years (and his last), and is considered the third installment in his Once Upon a Time trilogy (preceded by Duck, You Sucker! in 1971 and Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968).

Leone had become interested in the story after reading Harry Grey's 1952 novel The Hoods, and met with Grey (a pseudonym for a gangster/informant) numerous times to better understand the life of American gangsters.

Leone envisioned a two-part film, with each part about 3 hours long, but was dissuaded from this idea and the Cannes version ran to 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes), where it received a 20-minute standing ovation (some viewers were angered by the rape scenes in the movie and Robert De Niro was confronted at the press conference. Elizabeth McGovern defended her scene by stating, "it is extremely uncomfortable to watch and it is meant to be.").

US distributors refused to release Leone's version of the film, and instead put a butchered (scenes were re-ordered or completely cut without Leone's involvement), 139 minute version in theaters, where it received negative reviews and was a box office failure. Leone disavowed the film and died in 1989, before his original cut was released in the US in 2012 (a 226-minute version was released on VHS in 1985).

Once Upon a Time in America is now considered to be one of the best gangster films ever made.

[80smovies]

[anamon-book]

ワンス・アポン・ア・タイム・イン・アメリカ ハリー・グレイ、リー・ヘイズ[原作] 小林宏明・訳 サラブレッド・ブックス352 二見書房

[dinonfissatoaffetto]

- Che hai fatto tutti questi anni Noodles? - Sono andato a letto presto. Harry Grey, C'era una volta in America

[80smovies]

[80smovies]

[80smovies]

Once Upon a Time in America