Claire is...

FILM 1202: ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

TRIVIA: Sergio Leone had refused the offer to direct The Godfather (1972), an opportunity he deeply regretted. This may have partly inspired him to try a gangster film; Leone has also notably used the flashback technique pioneered in The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Noodles.

When filming was completed, the footage ran to a total of 8-10 hours. Director Sergio Leone and editor Nino Baragli trimmed the footage to around 6 hours, with the plan of releasing the film as two three-hour movies. The producers refused this idea and Leone had to further cut the film down to 3 hours 49 minutes.

Robert De Niro suggested that James Woods wear a set of perfect, bright white teeth to demonstrate Secretary Bailey's wealth and vanity. The producers balked at the cost, so De Niro paid for them himself.

This was Jennifer Connelly's first feature film role.

This was Sergio Leone's final film.

The phone rings a total of 24 times near the beginning of the movie.

Sergio Leone based the film's visual style on the paintings of artists Reginald Marsh, Edward Hopper, and Norman Rockwell and Edgar Degas (for Deborah's dancing scenes) and the photographs of Jacob Riis (for the 1922 sequences).

By 1980, Sergio Leone spoke of casting Paul Newman as old Noodles and Tom Berenger as young Noodles; the role of Max going to Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel or John Malkovich; Liza Minnelli would be Deborah and Brooke Shields as young Deborah; and Claudia Cardinale would be Carol.

During the baby-switching scene, the music heard is "La gazza ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie"), a musical overture by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.