Live Blogging Sergio Leone

I remember waaayyy back in the day when people said this old bearded man playing the train ticket seller was Sergio Leone. LOL.

Supposedly this is 1968 but everyone’s dressed like it’s 1983.

PG Cooper bitching about this kid eating the cupcake, but this n-gga bought the cupcake so he could have sex with the neighborhood prostitute. Little homie over here chose food over skanking ass pussy. Nothing wrong with that. PG Cooper is like Fake News. Character assassinating this poor kid.

It wouldn’t be a Leone movie if our heroes didn’t get beat up by a gang.

Watching this movie now, it’s a shame Williamsburg has turned into a hipster paradise. I love the cityscape of that whole section.

Yeah. That “extended scene” wasn’t needed at all. Going from the key to the luggage to the frisbee is WAY more effective than breaking up the action so Noodles can chat with that blonde lady.

Another “extended scene” in the Old Man Noodles section. The image quality wasn’t as horrendous but the scene didn’t need to be resurrected.

Fourth “extended scene” is Noodles hiring a prostitute after the rape scene. PG Cooper made a big fuss about this scene but it breaks the action of the rape scene going into Deborah getting on the train to leave town.

Alright. So I guess this a good time to talk about “the plot” and PG Cooper’s hot take on the movie.

So, obviously, we know Noodles was set-up. Max wanted to take the business to the next level but Noodles is a constant obstacle. This was established all the way back in the childhood scenes. So they do this whole “let’s pretend we’re robbing a bank and fake our death in the gunfire” scheme to make Noodles feel guilty and run away.

On one hand, if the Old Man Noodles section are true, it follows the plot logic. On the other hand, is there an argument to make for Max NOT killing Noodles. The guy added nothing and they weren’t really friends. That’s where the Opium Dream theory gains strength. The movie isn’t really about the relationship between Noodles & Max. It’s more about Noodles, this Jewish kid from the ghetto, getting in over his head in organized crime and feeling guilty about it. The childhood scene where the boy dies adds fuel to that theory.

So really, I think this movie is less about “gangster deconstruction” and more about a regretful guy in the midst of his opium fever dream.

The final “extended scene” is Max & Jimmy discussing the current state of affairs. I guess this scene is “important” to fill in some gaps in the story and I guess I can see where PG Cooper is coming from with this whole story being canon instead of an opium dream.

But honestly...

This movie has become the Blade Runner of mafia movies. There’s so many versions of this fucking movie that I don’t know if it even matters. This is like the 4th version of this movie that I’ve watched and the only thing all four of them had in common is the childhood section.

Supposedly, Leone wanted to make two movies. So the REAL Leone version is the mafia version of IT. One movie about the kids and one movie about the adults.

It’s honestly the only thing that makes sense to me.

If you actually break down the plot/story , it doesn’t make sense in any of the versions you watch. That’s why the Opium Dream is such a popular theory. If you watch the movie as an emotional experience, it’s great, but if you start to focus on the plot/story it’s like, “.... what?”

That’s why I think the longer this movie gets the worse it is, cause all you’re doing is adding more plot/story to a movie that was supposed to be two movies.

I enjoy the 2003 version, I think that’s the version I’d recommend to most people. You don’t have to watch this “extended version”. But the 90’s version with the opium ending is probably the best version of this movie.

Montreal Crew?! They shot this in Canada? Well, Happy Canada Day, PG Cooper.