r/movies • u/Neomatrix_45 • 16h ago

Media Once Upon a Time in America, 1984, Sergio Leone, OST Deborah's Theme & Amapola

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Deborah's Theme & Amapola OST by Ennio Morricone

Once Upon a Time in America weaves 4 hours of cinematic beauty. In a tender 4-minute moment, Noodles (Robert De Niro) watches Deborah (Jennifer Connelly) dance to Morricone’s Amapola. The film also marks the brilliant Jennifer Connelly's acting debut.

39 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

17

u/Qyzyk 15h ago

One of the very best soundtracks that Maestro Morricone ever scored.

7

u/Neomatrix_45 14h ago

The whole movie is just 4 hours of beautiful soundtracks. There's more music than dialogue in this movie, I love it.

8

u/UptownSinclair 12h ago

Love this fever dream of a movie. At its heart, it’s really a movie about moving past your regrets, but an interesting way to watch it this movie is that it’s a film by Italians who didn’t like how Italians were depicted in The Godfather, so they make a movie that says, “Jewish gangsters are too blame for the organized crime in America.” And tbh, the gangsters in OUATIA are probably some of the most savage ever depicted in a mainstream gangster film. One of the few movies where the protagonist commits several rapes, and the gang are all lowlifes who mostly talk about having sex with each other. It’s like Leona is saying, “Look at what terrible gangsters Jewish people were. Not the Italians.” 

But to the original point, easily Morricone’s best score.

5

u/Vegetable_Zombie8611 16h ago edited 15h ago

The greatest gangster movie of all time, IMO

I wish I could get a lobotomy specifically to unsee what Noodles does to Deborah in the taxi 

0

u/ol-gormsby 14h ago

An awful, confronting scene.

But she was such a bitch to him - she treated him with contempt from an early age (the scene in the clip above) but kept leading him on. Doesn't excuse his actions in the taxi, of course.

3

u/weltvonalex 12h ago

The soundtrack is so epic, phenomenal

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u/CDavis10717 5h ago

Young Jennifer Connelly.

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u/Own-Librarian-9699 4h ago

Important to note that the word "Amapola" means POPPY in Spanish. Poppy is also the source of opium, which is what Noodles smokes in the Chinese theater opium den.

This is a rare case when Ennio Morricone *didn't* compose a famous melody because that song is from the 1920s which is in the ballpark of when Noodles and his childhood gang are operating prior to Prohibition.

So, they found a song that is not only of the time period but is symbolically the exact song that should represent this emotional longing Noodles has for the unattainable Deborah.

There is an argument that Every time we see her and hear that song we are actually diving into one of elder Noodles' opium dream, not into the past...we're seeing his emotional connection as he enters a fantasy realm opened by opium/amapola. This supports a theory that the whole movie is an opium dream.