once upon a time in america, what was the original cut like?
 

I mean the 139 cut that came in american theaters in the 80's that tanked. was the movie structured diferently, what scene's did get cut out. and how old was jennifer conolly when the movie was made? or was that all a body double.

I only saw it one time in '86 but here's what I remembered:

-The movie starts with young Noodles peeping Deborah as she dances
-The scene with Max and Noodles blackmailing the cop was eliminated
-Sequence with Patsy chasing the gangster through the factory was gone
-Max and Noodles (With their girls) at the beach was gone (I think)
-I dont remember seeing the beating of Moe
-Deborah's last scene in the butchered version is when she leaves the train station. Her reunion with Noodles in the 60's was entirely gone.
-A lot of the 60's footage was removed. Including most of Treat Williams' scenes
-We first see "Secretary Bailey" when Noodles first sees him. Whereas in the complete cut, we first see "Bailey" when he looks out the window at his son. Oddly enough, the scene where he looks out the window was reversed in the butchered version. That shot was actually the 2nd to last scene of the movie.
-The movie concludes when Noodles leaves the Bailey estate. We hear a added gunshot assuming that Max shot himself.

It was all told in linear fashion.

I don't know how old Connelly was in the movie (Check her date at Imdb and do the math) And a body double was listed in the credits.

now as far as i understand, the butchered cut came because of a bad test screening, due to bad weather. is this correct. And IF Leone had the full 229 cut as the theatrical release, would it had done better at the box office.

If you listen to the commentary you'll hear some details. I heard it awhile back, but don't remember the specifics.

I didn't hear anything about bad weather and a test screening on the commentary.

I actually saw the butchered version when it was released in the theater. Horrible. I also saw the correct version when that was released later in 1984 and it was a masterpiece. But the damage had been done at the box office and the second version flopped also in spite of great reviews.

I'm not sure but I think the studio was just afraid of the length. More than a third was cut out and what was left was put in chronological order completely destroying the structure (and coherence) of the film.

Since Jennifer Connelly was born in December 1970 and the film was first released in early 1984, I'd figure she was about 12 when it was being filmed.