If English is your first language and you could translate my old Italian texts, please contact me.
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Figlio d'arte, Sergio Leone (Italy, 1929) esordì nel
filone mitologico con
Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei (1959)
e Il Colosso di Rodi (1961),
film spettacolari e avventurosi che emancipano il genere dai modelli Hollywood-iani.
Nel 1964 lanciò il "western all'italiana", dapprima genere artigianale e autarchico e poi
assurto a gloria internazionale. Anche per la scarsità di mezzi a disposizione, i western di Leone
si caratterizzarono per l'enfasi eroica, per la prevalenza dell'azione, per la suggestione dei paesaggi e
delle musiche.
Per un Pugno di Dollari/ Fistful Of Dollars (1964),
based on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961),
è la storia di un pistolero solitario.
A lone rider dressed in a poncho (Clint Eastwood) stops to drink at a well
and witnesses two bandits harassing a family: they beat the husband while
the wife is watching powerless and their child is crying. He hardly stares at
the scene,
and continues his journey. He arrives in a small town where people seem
to be afraid of any stranger except a store owner who is eager to find
customers. Eastwood is soon welcome by thugs who scare his mule.
The saloon's owner Silvanito informs him that the town is held hostage
by two gangs vying for power, one led by Miguel and one led by the
sheriff. Eastwood is not intimidated at all. He lights
his cigar and asks for a room. Silvanito describes how the town has fallen into
the hands of bandits and smugglers. Instead of frightened, Eastwood sounds
interested in the situation as a business opportunity.
Eastwood walks into the main street and tells everybody who wants to listen
that he is willing to work as a gunslinger for Miguel, the head of the
first family. He is confronted again by the same gang. This time he looks
straight into the eyes of the leader and tells him to apologize to his mule.
They draw their guns but he is faster. The sheriff is nearby and accuses him
of murder: Eastwood ignores him and calmly walks away. He has just killed four
of the sheriff's men.
Miguel hires him and he catches a glimpse of the beautiful Marisol.
The cavalry rolls into town, escorting a mysterious stagecoach.
Eastwood is intrigued by both Marisol and the stagecoach, for different reasons.
The saloon owner tells him that Marisol belongs to Miguel's brother Ramon,
and it's dangerous
to even think about her. As for the stagecoach, Eastwood witnesses an attack
by fake soldiers led by the brutal Ramon himself (Gian Maria Volonte) armed
with a machine gun. He exterminates every single soldier of the cavalry.
At home Ramon announces that he has decided to make peace with the sheriff
and invited him for dinner.
Upon hearing the news, Eastwood resigns from his job, returns the money and
leaves. Ramon guesses that Eastwood has a plan of his own and doesn't trust
him.
With help from the faithful saloon owner, Eastwood sets his plan in motion.
They go to the cemetery at night, dig up two of the dead soldiers and plant
them next to a tombstone as if they were just sleeping. Then Eastwood visits
the sheriff's home, where the sheriff's wife is already wary of Ramon's
invitation to dinner. Eastwood tells them how Ramon ambushed the stagecoach
and that two soldiers are still alive and could be used as witnesses against
thim. The sheriff immediately gathers his men and heads for the cemetery.
Minutes later Eastwood tells the Ramon and Miguel the same story. He gets
money from both camps, and in the process he has just created a new
confrontation. While the two gangs shoot at each other at the cemetery, he
enters the compound of the brothers. In the basement he finds the loot
of the stagecoach attack as well as... Marisol. He takes her to the sheriff's
home. But it turns out that the brothers, at the end of the shootout, before
"killing" the two dead soldiers, have taken the sheriff's son as hostage.
The two families agree to exchange Marisol for the young man.
Eastwod does not object: he simply pockets more money from the sheriff's
wife. In the morning Eastwood is sitting in front of the saloon, observing
the two gangs who meet in the main street to exchange the hostages.
It turns out that Marisol is the woman of the first scene: she was kidnapped
by Ramon's men. Her husband and child are in the saloon, powerless to
intervene. When she hears her child cry, she runs to him. After having released
his hostage, Ramon orders his men to seize her. But the saloon owner pulls
out a gun. Everybody freezes for a few seconds, then Eastwood tells the
husband to take the child home and lets Ramon take Marisol away. Eastwood
seems indifferent to the woman's tragedy. The brothers reward him by inviting
him to celebrate with them. He pretends to get drunk and pass out, but at night
he frees Mirasol and delivers her to her family, gives them money and tells
them to cross the border.
Ramon learns that Eastwood is involved. His men torture him for hours, but
he does not talk. He manages to escape, crawling because he cannot even
stand up, and set fire to the compound of the
brothers. After torturing the saloon owner, the brothers
assume that Eastwood must have found shelter at the sheriff's house. Ramon
and Miguel set fire to it. When the sheriff's men come out to surrender, they
are killed one by one. The sheriff, his son and his wife are the last ones
to come out and be coldly executed. Eastwood watches the scene hiding inside
a coffin: the coffin maker has accepted to help him get out of town alive.
Eastwood spends days recovering from the wounds and relearning how to shoot.
When he is ready, he marches back into town. The saloon owner is being
tortured by Ramon in the middle of the street. Eastwood advances in his poncho,
indifferent to the gun that Ramon is aiming at him. Ramon, who never misses,
starts shooting. Every time Eastwood falls to the ground, as if dead, but then
gets back on his feet and keeps advancing. Finally, he drops the armor that
he was hiding under the poncho. When he draws, it's fatal: all of Ramon's
men are killed and Ramon is disarmed. Ramon tries to get his gun back but
Eastwood is faster. The saloon owner saves his life spotting Ramon's younger
brother who is about to shoot Eastwood from a window.
The town is clean. The saloon owner tells Eastwood to get out of town because
the army is on its way.
The main differences with Hollywood's western films were the
moral ambiguity of the characters (there is not clearcut difference between
the good and the bad), the Spanish colonial architecture of the border
(as opposed to forts
and pioneer villages), the slow majestic pace, the inscrutable psychology of
the hero (who remains nameless throughout the film), and a generally sloppy attitude
(no noble cavalry officers
or elegant gentlemen). Ennio Morricone's atmospheric soundtracks added an oneiric
dimension.
Per Qualche Dollaro in Più/ For a Few Dollars More (1965):
due leggendari
pistoleri danno la caccia a un bandito, l'uno per vendicarsi che gli ha violentata la sorella (che durante
l'amplesso si uccise), l'altro per intascare la taglia, e lo uccidono dopo aver sterminata la banda.
Il cacciatore di taglie (un ex-colonnello) arriva al paese
sperduto nel deserto (un saloon e una stazione) e va subito ad affrontare il pericoloso ricercato, che se la
sta facendo con una prostituta e lo uccide freddamente senza minimamente scomporsi. Incassa il premio
dallo sceriffo e si mette alla caccia di un altro bandito.
Anche Eastwood è sulle tracce di un altro uomo nel saloon affollato di
un altro paese dove sta giocando a poker: affronta l'uomo, uccide lui e i suoi complici. E se ne va
misteriosamente.
In un carcere una banda riesce a liberare il feroce, psicotico e drogato bandito
sulle cui tracce sono entrambi; questi non esita a vendicarsi di colui che l'ha denunciato incurante della
sua famiglia.
Sia il cacciatore sia Eastwood pensano che tenterà di rapinare la banca
di El Paso, paese battuto dal vento, e si sistemano in due hotel.
Il bandito assolda gli uomini per attaccare il paese. Eastwood e il colonnello si
associano.
Il colonnello ha un conto da regolare con il drogato: gli violentò la sorella, dopo averlo
sparato, e lei si uccise durante l'amplesso.
Eastwood accetta il piano del colonnello. Libera un vecchio
amico del bandito e glielo riporta per entrare a far parte della banda. Ne sgomina tre in duello, poi segue il
resto che va ad attaccare il paese, dove li aspetta il colonnello. Ma i due vengono beffati e la rapina
riesce.
Eastwood si aggrega di nuovo alla banda e il colonnello si offre come esperto di
casseforti. Tentano di fregarli, ma vengono smascherati e i banditi si divertono a picchiarli. Il bandito li
salva soltanto perchè medita di usarli contro i suoi stessi uomini: li fa liberare dal suo fido e
manda sulle loro tracce gli altri, certo che nessuno tornerà vivo. Tradimento di stampo tragedia
shakespeariana (lui che recita la parte di un Otello e Re Lear). Aprendo la cassaforte, il bandito scopre
però che i due avevano già trafugato il denaro e a mani vuote rimane anche il suo miglior
uomo, che ha subodorata la fregatura ed è tornato a sorprenderlo. I due intanto massacrano la
banda. Poi tornano ad assediare il bandito (l'"indio") e il suo compare, che si sono alleati di nuovo.
E il colonnello gli rivela finalmente la sua vera identità. Il colonnello e l'assassino di sua sorella
si sfidano a duello al suono del carillon che lo sposo aveva appena regalato alla sorella quella stessa sera.
Alla fine del ritornello
il colonnello fa giustizia. Se ne va lasciando a Eastwood tutti i morti con le loro taglie. Eastwood carica
tutti sul carretto e parte, ma prima ricade anche la borsa del denaro, che lui aveva sottratto di
nascosto.
Tre personaggi che sono tre miti greci, e almeno due eroi
shakespeariani: Eastwood, il più cinico e il più ermetico, è anche il più
moderno, quello che esce dagli stereotipi del genere per lanciarsi in nuovi spazi mitologici.
Il Buono, Il Brutto e Il Cattivo/ The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
is about three misfits in search of a treasure during the Civil War.
The film is set in 1862 during the Civil War.
A hitman, Angel Eyes, has been sent on a mission to find a former soldier and
make him reveal the whereabouts of a fellow soldier who stole some gold.
To save his life, the soldier reveals that the thief has changed name and is now
Bill Carson. The soldier offers to double Angel Eyes' reward, but Angel Eyes
still kills him and takes the money, and has to kill his son too on the way out.
Angel Eyes then returns to the old man who hired him and tells him what he found out, but then Angel Eyes also kills the old man to justify that he took the soldier's money. In reality, Angel Eyes has learned of the existence of this stolen gold and now wants it for himself.
Meanwhile, a
Mexican outlaw, Tuco, wanted for robberies, rape, cheating, etc etc, is delivered to the town's folks by bounty hunter Blondie (Clint Eastwood),
who, after collecting the bounty, calmly waits to see the outlaw hanged. But then Blondie shoots the noose and terrifies the crowd so that Tuco can escape.
They join outside town and we understand
that they are partners: Blondie only pretends to deliver the outlaw, cashes the
reward and then helps Tuco escape, so that the bounty on Tuco's head keeps
increasing. They repeat the trick in another town, but then Blondie decides that
Tuco's value has reached a peak and dumps him in the desert with no horse and no water.
Tuco manages to reach a town and robs a gun store (the old owner passively
collaborates with the thief who is robbing him). Tuco then meets with the
three thugs of his old gang and they set out to find Blondie. They find him
in a town where Blondie has taken a hotel room. While Tuco and his henchmen are
preparing to storm the room, down in the streets the Confederate troops are
marching through town after being defeated in battle. Alerted by the sound of
spurs, Blondie easily kills Tuco's thugs, but Tuco surprises him. Tuco forces
Blondie to hang himself in the room but just then a cannonball rips through the
hotel, freeing Blondie. Tuco catches Blondie in the desert and forces him
to walk in the desert with no water and no horse.
When finally Blondie collapses, Tuco is about to shoot him dead, but is distracted by a runaway coach. Tuco stops the horses and finds cadavers inside the coach.
Tuco robs them of their valuables.
However, one man is still alive. He is the very Bill Carson. He begs Tuco to spare him and offers him gold for water. Tuco thus learns the story of the stolen gold. Carson tells him that the gold is in a cemetery but refuses to tell him
which tomb until Tuco gives him water. Tuco walks to get water and Carson dies
whispering the secret to Blondie. Now Tuco knows the cemetery but not the tomb
and Blondie knows the tomb but not the cemetery; like it or not, they are
partners again. And so now there are three men after the gold: Angel Eyes,
Blondie and Tuco.
Tuco rides to a mission where Blondie gets cured for his dehydration.
The priest in charge is Tuco's older brother Pablo, who reveals that their
parents have died. Pablo scorns the criminal and ungrateful brother but Tuco retorts that Pablo is only a spoiled child.
Tuco and Blondie ride towards the location of the cemetery (that only Tuco knows) and are taken prisoners by Union soldiers because Tuco is wearing a stolen a Confederate uniform. Asked for his name, Tuco says "Bill Carson". Alas, Angel Eyes has enrolled in the Union army, has become sergeant and runs the fort because his commander is dying. Upon hearing the name "Bill Carson", Angel Eyes brings Tuco in his office and tortures him to find out where the gold is.
Tuco reveals the location to Angel Eyes but also that only Blondie knows in which tomb the gold is buried. Angel Eyes doesn't torture Blondie but takes him with him offering to split the gold. Tuco is loaded on a train and sent to a town where he is wanted and where he will be hanged. Tuco however escapes from the train and heads towards the cemetery. He catches up with Blondie and Angel Eyes at a town that has been abandoned by its citizens because of the war. Tuco helps Blondie escape and they set out for the cemetery. They are stopped by the Union army which is fighting for a bridge. The Confederates are on the other bank of the river, and every day the two armies fight on the bridge a pointless battle. The Union commander is so disgusted by the endless battle that he is drunk all the time.
Tuco tells Blondie that the cemetery is on the other side of the river: they have to cross the deadly bridge.
To avoid being arrested, Tuco and Blondie pretend that they want to enlist.
The commander let them witness another battle. The commander is wounded and about to die.
Blondie and Tuco blow up the bridge. The operation is so dangerous that Tuco
offers to tell Blondie the name of the cemetery if Blondie tells him the name of the grave. So they now both both location and tomb. Blondie tells him that the grave is the grave of an Arch Stanton.
After the bridge is blown up, the commander dies smiling. Tuco takes advantage
of the situation and rides alone to the cemetery and starts digging
Arch Stanton's grave. Blondie arrives and forces Tuco to keep digging.
Then Angel Eyes arrives and points his gun at both. But then it turns out that
the grave only contains a skeleton. Blondie admits that he lied and offers
a way to settle their dispute: he writes the correct name on a stone and places it in the middle and whoever wins the duel will get it and get the gold.
It's a different duel though because there are three, not two, fighters.
Each one has to kill two people and therefore has to decide whom to shoot first.
Eventually, they shoot, and Blondie kills Angel Eyes. Tuco's gun doesn't shoot at all, and Blondie confesses that he removed the bullets from it.
Blondie shows Tuco that he didn't write any name on the stone and
reveals that the gold is buried in the grave marked "Unknown" next to
Arch Stanton's.
This time they find the gold, but only Blondie has a loaded gun and so he can
force Tuco to hang himself on the cross of the grave. Blondie calmly leaves on
his horse, taking
only half of the gold and leaving the rest for Tuco,
while Tuco balances himself on the cross trying not to fall, which would kill him.
Tuco begs in vain for mercy, but Blondie disappears in the distance. Just when Tuco is about to succumb, Blondie reappears and shoots the noose. Tuco is alive
and has the gold, but curses Blondie, who doesn't even look at him and simply
disappears for good.
Lento ed estenuante, scontata la trama. In questi trilogia Leone
degrada progressivamente il linguaggio hollywoodiano, distillando un puro spettacolo popolare, puntando
soprattutto sulla suspense e sulla pirotecnica acrobatica degli scontri a fuoco.
Once Upon A Time In The West/ C'Era Una Volta Il West (1968), scritto
da Leone e Sergio Donati (soggetto di Dario Argento e Bernardo Bertolucci),
è un omaggio invece agli
archetipi americani, persino barocco e allucinato nella sua ricognizione del
mito, prolisso e inverosimile nell'inseguire
una trama che vorrebbe condensare tutto lo scibile western.
Ogni singola inquadratura (protratta in maniera estenuante) diventa un gesto
mitologico. Ogni singolo personaggio viene presentato come se si trattasse
di Ulisse in persona.
Eppure il tono malinconico dell'intero film non potrebbe essere meno "mitico".
Questo film e` il triste addio di Leone alla civilta` del Far West: i "tipi"
del vecchio western vengono sconfitti dai "tipi" della nuova civilta` della
Frontiera, che sta aprendo strade ferrate e costruendo citta`.
I tipi del vecchio western non hanno un futuro e, in un certo senso, vogliono
morire. La loro battaglia contro i tipi della nuova civilta` e` in realta`
solo pro forma: si limitano a ripetere la loro leggenda, senza essere
particolarmente convinti, per la stessa ragione per cui respirano e mangiano.
La loro fine e` ineluttabile. E proprio questa "ineluttabilita`" e` il tema
centrale del film. Non sono i buoni a vincere, sono i cattivi a perdere. Perche'
non hanno piu` scelta.
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Three bandits enter the office of a station-master
(wind, silence, the deserto in the background), lock him up, chase the wife
and wait. A feather of smoke in the distance announces that the train is coming.
A man gets off from the other side of the train and starts playing the harmonica. When the train leaves, the duel erupts: the three bandits are killed,
the traveler is only wounded.
A man shoots at the birds, helped by his little son.
They return to the farmhouse, where the man's daughter has been preparing
a big meal. The man is a widow, he is sure of getting rich and is getting
re-married. The bride is traveling
on the same train, and his elder son is about to go and meet her at the station.
Suddenly, someone starts shooting at the family and kills all of them,
except the child. Five men, led by Frank (Henry Fonda), come out of the bushes
and face the child. Frank pulls out the gun and shoots the child in cold blood.
The bride, Jill, does not find anyone waiting for her at the station and wanders
through a picturesque crowd of former black slaves and Indians.
She walks to the dusty pioneer town and gets a ride on a carriage from an old
man. They ride through the camp of the railway workers, who are laying the
railway tracks in the desert, and stop at a saloon. Outside people die in
a shoot out. A convict, still handcuffed, enters the saloon, and sees the
man with the harmonica.
He uses the harmonica-man's gun to break his handcuffs. His friends (his name
is Cheyenne) come
to meet him (they are late for the shoot-out) and the harmonica-man seems
interested in their long coats (the same ones that his attackers were
wearing).
The bride resumes her journey in the old man's carriage and they finally
reach the farm, where a funeral service is already being held for the slain
family.
Nobody knows why they were killed, but everybody knows who did it: the men
with the long coats, the men of Cheyenne.
The bride refuses to go back to the village and decides to stay at the farm.
In the middle of the night, the harmonica-man tortures a man to find out the
truth. He thinks that Cheyenne is innocent of that crime and that Frank did it:
that's why Frank was not at the station to meet him in person.
Jill, alone in the farm, is not afraid, even if she knows that someone is still
around and she has to wait for sunrise with a gun in her hand.
In the morning Cheyenne and his men show up
Frank meets the crippled railway tycoon who lives in a luxury train and dreams
of reaching the Pacific. Frank works for him, but the tycoon did not order him
to kill the family, only to scare them.
Cheyenne does not want to harm Jill, in fact he admires her.
Jill is a former prostitute from New Orleans, and Cheyenne is is the son of
a whore.
Jill has not found any money in the house and is ready to leave, but the
harmonica-man shows up in the barn and tells her to stay.
They are spied by two groups of men: Frank's men, who attack and are killed
by the harmonica-man, and Cheyenne's men, who were ready to intervene but
are shocked to see the harmonica-man take care of it himself.
Jill sends Frank a message: she knows he's the killer and wants to "negotiate"
with him. By following the messenger, the harmonica-man finds out where Frank
hides: the tycoon's train.
The harmonica-man climbs on the train of the tycoon, but Frank sees him
and captures him. Frank does not know the harmonica-man, but the harmonica-man
names people who have been murdered by Frank, like someone who has been sent
to avenge their deaths. Frank doesn't see that Cheyenne is hiding under the
train and leaves to find the woman. It doesn't take long before Cheyenne kills
all of Frank's men, frees the harmonica-man and faces the tycoon.
In the meantime, Jill found out what her dead husband did with his money: he
had ordered lumber and other construction material for some major project.
Nobody knows what he wanted to build, but Jill can guess: a whole town,
built around a station. He had the vision for a whole new town, and spent
all his money to build it. That is the very reason he had bought that land
in the first place: there was no other way for the railway to go. He had
guess right. He knew he would be rich.
The harmonica-man guesses the same, and explains it to Cheyenne.
The tycoon is now ready to pay for the land: he knows that his health does not
give him much time and he is obsessed with reaching the ocean before he dies.
But nothing can stop Frank.
Frank kidnaps Jill. Jill knows that Frank killed her husband but lets him
make love to her and enjoys it. She seems crazier about him than he about her.
In fact, she looks like a nymphomaniac.
Frank is seduced into marrying her and taking over her property.
A whore is a whore.
At the auction of Jill's property Frank's men keep people from bidding,
but the harmonica-man shows up with a gun and... Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a
wanted man and the harmonica-man is paying for Jill's property with the
reward. But Cheyenne is freed right away by his pals.
Frank confronts the harmonica-man in the saloon, but he still refuses to
tell him his name: he keeps listing names of people murdered by Frank
(his consciousness?). Frank offers him one dollar for Jill's property.
His men have surrounded the saloon, but they are not after the harmonica-man:
they have been paid by the tycoon to kill Frank.
The harmonica-man saves his life: together they kill all of them.
Then the harmonica-man lets Frank go. But now Frank is a finished man:
all of his men are dead and his old boss wants him dead.
Frank returns to the train to find all of his men slaughtered (by Cheyenne's
men?)
The railroad tycoon is crawling in the desert towards a pool of water,
crying and dying (and hearing ocean waves in his mind).
Frank pulls the trigger, but then changes his mind. The cripple dies as
Frank walks away.
Jill has moved back to the farm. Cheyenne rides in to pay a visit to Jill.
He is clearly in love with her. He tells her she should bring tea to the
workers.
Outside, the harmonica-man is waiting.
Frank is riding towards the farm, past the railroad workers.
Frank and his nemesis fight the last duel.
As they stare at each other, the harmonica-man remembers: he was a young boy
in a mission
when Frank's gang hauled his brother on top of his shoulders and put
a rope around his neck, waiting for the boy to collapse and for his brother
to die. Frank, amused, put a harmonica in his mouth.
He really is a man with no name for Frank.
The harmonica-man wins the duel. Frank's last words are "who are you"?
The man with no name puts the harmonica in his mouth.
Seeing that the winner is the harmonica-man, Jill smiles.
The harmonica-man and Cheyenne ride away. Past the railway workers, Cheyenne
collapses: he has been wounded by the tycoon and has been bleeding to death
all the time. He killed himself to go pay his respects to Jill.
Th train brings more workers. And Jill goes out to bring them tea.
Civilization goes on.
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If English is your first language and you could translate my old Italian texts, please contact me.
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Giù la Testa/ Duck you Sucker (1971) ambienta all'epoca della
Rivoluzione Messicana le avventure di due banditi dinamitardi rapiti dal mito di Pancho Villa, uno dei
quali tradisce l'altro ma poi paga con la vita.
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Once Upon A Time in America (1984)
is an epic and hallucinated film,
a four-hour visual and narrative tour de force that tells half a century
of social history camouflaged under the format of the gangster movie.
A woman enters a room, lifts the sheets of the bed and sees bullet holes
drawing the shape of a body. There are gangsters in the room and they
ask her where "he" is hiding. She refuses to answer and is shot dead.
Elsewhere, gangsters are torturing a man.
He, Noodle (Robert DeNiro), the middle-aged man the gangsters want, is in the back of a
Chinese movie theater, doped up on opium.
While a phone rings in the background,
a flashback shows the police taking pictures of three corpses in a rainy night.
He, Noodles, is watching the scene, petrified.
The prohibition is over and people celebrate.
The gangsters enter the Chinese movie theater and his Chinese friends help
Noodles escape in the alley. Noodles finds the man who has been tortured.
Then walks to the station, withdraws a bag from a locker and buys a ticket
for the first bus out of the city.
Then changes his mind, rents a car and drive to the bar run by an old friend,
who hasn't seen him in many years. Noodles tells him that "they" found him
and summoned them back to the city.
And tells him that he never took the money, that someone else did: they are
talking about something that happened 35 years before.
The picture on the wall is of his friend's sister, who, he tells Noodles,
is now a star.
He remembers, as a boy, spying on her and being madly in love with her.
He grew up in that Jewish neighborhood and used to hang out with three friends:
Max, Cockeye, Patsy.
They formed a gang, led by the eldest, Max.
Beaten by the other gang on the block, they made a deal with the mob to help
them against the coast guard. They stored the money in a briefcase and lock
it in a locker: they gave the key to their friend.
They were still celebrating when the rival gang attacked them and killed the
youngest of them. Noodles stabbed the killer to death, but was then arrested
by the police.
Back to the present, a doomed middle-aged man, Noodles visits a cemetery
where three tombs bear the names of his three friends, all dead the same
year. Then walks to the station, opens the locker and takes the briefcase
full of banknotes.
When he was finally released from jail twelve years later, Noodles rejoined
Max's gang.
Max was on his way to become a powerful boss of the organized crime during the
Prohibition.
He met again the girl of his dreams, Deborah, who was on her way to become
famous.
Max accepted a job from the Mafia to pull off a diamond heist and then
kill the gangsters who would come to buy the diamonds (Noodles and the others
killed all of them). During the job, Noodles raped a stupid clerk, Carol.
Noodles, disturbed by Max's ambitions, drove the car straight into the
river.
At a cocktail party they met again Carol, the dumb girl of the diamond heist,
who had a good memory of the rape but mistaked Max for Noodles and became
his girlfriend.
Noodles had a romantic date with Deborah, but she told him that she was on her way
to Hollywood. Desperate, Noodles raped her.
One day the Prohibition was repealed and good old days of the mob were over.
Despite Noodles' objections, Max was planning to rob the Federal Reserve.
Noodles thought it was a suicidal job and decided to turn Max in.
But Max, Cockey and Patsy were killed, and Noodles had to live for the
rest of his life with the sense of guilt.
Back to the present, Noodles visits Deborah. He has been invited to a party
by an important politician and has found out that Deborah is his lover.
Deborah refuses to tell him why the politician wants to see him but begs
him to go away. Then he shows him the politician's son, who bears his name...
probably his own, the fruit of his rape.
Noodles goes to the party and meets the politician: it is Max. He survived
the shoot-out. His political career is about to be destroyed, and he wants
Noodles to be the one who kills him. Noodles refuses. As he leaves, Noodles
witnesses the brutal murder of Max (his body thrown in the grinding machine
of a garbage truck).
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