from bluray.com
The Bologna Cinematheque, through its prestigious L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, is going to fully restore Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America and add 40 minutes of original footage to its 229-minute running time. There is no information about a Blu-ray release, in Italy or elsewhere.

This extended version, commissioned after Leone's children acquired Italian rights to the film, is being supervised by the film's original sound editor and will be screened in 2012 at film festivals and possibly in theaters.

Wasn't this one of those movies where no dialogue was recorded on set, and was dubbed in later? I'd def go to see it, but i hope the dubbing doesn't sound as bad as the Good The Bad and the Ugly extended edition

I believe that's standard operating procedure in the Italian film industry.

No. Leone shot Once Upon a Time in America with sync sound.

Ah. I thought i remember reading on imdb, that like some 2 or 3 deleted footage exists but most of it is only in itallian

I can't say I predicted this but this is why I held off on the Blu-ray release.

Great news, hopefully the new footage fills in some of the noticeable gaps in the picture.

Holy shit! That's amazing.

It was all shot in English, not Italian. And not all of it was shot in Italy. Much was shot in New York and Canada, among other places (like New Jersey and Florida). It was a U.S.-Italian co-production.

Would love to see this on the big screen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Up...ime_in_America

The original shooting-script, completed in October 1981 after many delays and a writers' strike that happened between April and July of that year, was 317 pages in length. At the end of filming, Leone had about 8 to 10 hours' worth of footage. With his editor, Nino Baragli, Leone trimmed this down to about almost 6 hours, and he originally wanted to release the film in two movies with three-hour parts. The producers refused (partly due to the commercial and critical failure of Bertolucci's two-part Novecento) and Leone was forced to further shorten the length of his film, resulting in a completed (i.e. scored, dubbed, edited, etc.) film of 229 minutes.

So what exactly is this "40 minutes longer" version based on? Was there at one point a cut of the film that Leone did that was 269 minutes long, or is this just "hey look, we found 40 minutes of footage, let's throw it back in"? In the Wikipedia description, there doesn't seem to be any mention of a cut of that length between the 6 hour version and the 229 minute version.

Leone's cut isn't the cut we have. It was the Cannes cut. Good but that middle part is just missing something and you can tell. It's pretty well known.

I know. I'm wondering specifically what this new 269 minute cut is based on.

Gimme some time to find the post. I've mentioned on here several times about Leone's daughter at some point getting it done...I think I even put in as to wtf was cut.

and i found this on imdb (which is prob what Leone's daughter is trying to restore)
While the 229-minute version is touted as the definite version of the film, Sergio Leone wanted the film to have a running time of 250-265 minutes. The 229-minute version left out 45 minutes that Leone considered essential on the cutting room floor, including: further explanation of the mob/labor relationship, Noodles meeting Carol in the 1968, and a good deal of footage featuring Noodles's relationship with Eve.

Thanks for the info, Rypro.

Interested in reading your post as well, Solid Snake - I really don't know much about what happened behind the scenes besides the vague summary from Wikipedia.

I just ordered this Blu-ray two days ago. Unbelievable.

Premiering at Cannes this year:

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/in-conte...iere-at-cannes

Very exciting news. I do not own it yet, been waiting for this version.

I love this movie but there is no way I could sit through 4 1/2 hour movie in a theater.

Surely some people must remember the way it was originally released in America. More than a third of the 229 minute version was cut out and the rest put together in chronological order at 139 minutes, destroying the entire structure of the film. It was a total disaster.

My wife and I saw it in the theater. A few months later they released the (at the time) correct version and we saw that too and it was a masterpiece.

It is one of my favorite films of all time and I can't wait to see the entire 269 minute version.

That's why you have this :

That still wouldn't help.

I remember when movies around 135 minutes or longer often got intermissions...those were the days!

I am excited about this. This is a great film (in its 229 minute run time). I've never watched the 139 minute version and have no desire to.

Great direction, great score by Mr. Morricone, and a great performance by DeNiro (not as showstopping as some of his others, but great all the same). The scene between him and McGovern in her dressing room toward the end is the heart of the movie for me; so much unspoken regret hovering around all of their words.

Having the intermission is great. It makes the whole thing into kind of an event. You talk about what you saw and wonder what's coming up. I think it's pretty fun.


And after reading the history of the film: suits, why are they always empty?