#Quentin/Hershell

[thesoulesscollection]

“I personally like it, but you do look silly like this.” Would work with with grumpy old men I think?

Since everything that's currently going on where I'm both stressed and depressed. I've decided to write about my grumpy old men from a request I've got a while ago to help me.  

Down Below is tame, mostly goofy besides some Implied body image issues and self esteem Issues. 

Inspired by this ask game by creativepromptsforwriting

Quentin wouldn't say he was up with recent fashion trends but he knew what was alright or what was truly ugly and to never be worn out in public.

"Hershell. As much as I do love you. This got to be the worst thing I've seen you pick out so far?"

So as he pulled out the said article of clothing in question from the rack where he can't help it to cringe. Very little was going for it to begin with but the single positive thing was it came in his size for once, cause in today's society they don't bother to glance your way. 

Quentin knew that very well. In the fashion industry nobody created for someone like him. For him to finally feel good or at the least be comfortable in his skin. 

"But you would look so good in it" However when he turned around to see Hershell, he gritted his teeth, realizing the other man was unaware of the obvious, "Please. For me?" 

Call him bitter to the extreme. He didn't really trust them. They often deliberately made their clothes too unseemly on his body, somehow set in making it his fault. So he's fine, dandy even in wearing what he has now.

"I know shopping isn't your favorite. It's not at all easy, I know that for sure myself but I think you deserve to look amazing. More than you do already" As if reading his mind, Hershell does lay off a little though keeps the shirt in hand. "It's up to you"  

Stiff, unsure on what to respond, Quentin is looking back at the shirt then up at the man, before inevitably tugging it from his grasp. 

"Oh. Give it to me. I'll try it out and show you it's horrendous" 

A low albeit surprised chuckle escapes from his partner. So used to his antics. "Uh huh. Go ahead. Be waiting here to see the final results" 

Midway in the sentence the dressing room door shuts closed behind Quentin who is sweating in the nerves alone. 

Why should he be so scared over such an item? 

It was a black Hawaiian button up shirt with small pineapples in the colors of neon pink, yellow and green. Once he slid it onto tense shoulders, he couldn't ignore the gut feeling within. Anxiously clawing at the fabric near his stomach, he should have chosen what was in his comfort zone but he didn’t as a thick headed, stubborn asshole. 

Finally Quentin shuffled out the dressing room, nearly five to seven minutes later swallowing his pride. 

Hershell is sitting in a spare seat, leant back, eyes up at the ceiling waiting for his return. 

"Here I am. Happy now" Quentin mumbles. 

Almost immediately Hershell's eyes snap to his then onto the shirt, "I personally like it, but you do look silly like this"

"Great. Just wonderful. I told you this is bullshit"

"I never said it's bad, Quincy. Nothing wrong in looking 'silly' rather you look cute. It suits you" Hersh cooes. His hands hovering over Quentin's sides. So tempted to give a gentle squeeze. "I must say this is my best choice. Floral, Hawaiian shirts do you well" 

"Despite it being ugly. Sure. It does" Quentin sarcastically remarks, rolling his eyes at the comment. 

"I gotta say you can rock anything if you put your mind in it" Chuckling, Hershell had bent down so he could plant a kiss on Quentin's lips. "You love it, don't you? Wear whatever to your heart's content, you big baby" 

Mildly confident Quentin did manage to pipe his opinion, equally as jokeful, "It's… Okay. I guess. Next time I'm going to pick out for you and you're not going to complain, got it? No matter what I pick" 

He will make sure to pick the most atrocious eye sore he can possibly find in this side of the country even if it kills him. "And we can wear it together on a date then. We can so be like those mushy couples who match outfits" 

"Don't even. So gross I can feel myself getting sick hearing such an idea" 

[wololo-01]

We are all so strong/hj 🫡

And Yeah them are all my favorite characters even though I never draw or talk about them, BUT STILL 😭

Original:

[32bitterra]

(June 22 - June 27 2023)

I drew some stuff. It's primarily the campers in crossover situations. More content under the cut.

I was going to draw more, but I got distracted thinking about Chloe stuck in Out of this Dimension. It was fun to draw Bobby with a different expression besides contempt. (Chloe's legs are intact. Pssh who would think that her legs were amputated and replaced with robot legs anyway?)

Also, did you know that Sasha is taller than Deoxys? You are now burdened with this knowledge.

[ambasingresident]

Happy Independence Day for the Filipinos in the THSC community (RAHHHHH 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭)

This drawing commemorates the BRAVE heroes of the Philippines. Drew most of the Government-affiliated characters as soldiers and officers of the First Philippine Republic (Philippine Revolutionary Army) celebrating their victory after a battle.

[the-irken-pony]

Hershel and Quentin for the ask bingo?

One is a dad to an insufferable man and the other is a babysitter for two alcoholics. They’d get along I think.

[bluebutlikenotalways]

Tfw...uh

[kingkenzieofmold]

My Resident Evil x The Henry Stickmin Collection Crossover Cast.

Feel free to disagree with me as I was trying to fill roles by who I would think would fit into whose role within the games! So feel free to disagree with me or say who you would rather cast! Enjoy my weird combinations of my biggest hyper fixations!<3

This is casting from Resident Evil: Zero to Resident Evil 4 as this was as far as I got in casting-

Resident Evil 0

Rebecca Chambers Cool Katie

Billy Coen Billy G.

Dr. James Marcus Dr. Vinschpinsilstien

Dr. William Birkin Right Hand Man

Dr. Albert Wesker Reginald Copperbottom

Captain Enrico Marini Terrance Suave

Resident Evil

Chris Redfield Rupert Price

Jill Valentine Dave Panpa

Barry Burton Johnny Panzer

Rebecca Chambers Cool Katie

Albert Wesker Reginald Copperbottom

Richard Aiken Randy Radman

Brad Vickers Chad Hansen

Enrico Marini Terrance Suave

Kenneth J. Sullivan Jaques Kensington

Joseph Frost Sir Willford IV

Forest Speyer Reynaldo the brute

Female Newscaster Alice Hamilton

Resident Evil 2 

Leon Scott Kennedy Henry Stickmin

Claire Redfield Ellie Rose

Ada Wong Earrings

Sherry Birkin Sven Svensson

William Birkin Right Hand Man

Annette Birkin Carol Cross

Brian Irons/Robert Kendo Mr. Macbeth

Marvin Branagh/Ben Bertolucci General Galeforce

Resident Evil 3

Jill Valentine Dave Panpa

Carlos Oliveira Jacob Rose

Nikolai Zinoviev Dmitri Johannes Petrov

Mikhail Viktor Grigori Olyat

Tyrell Patrick Kurt Dietrich

Nemesis CCC Robot

Resident Evil 4

Leon Scott Kennedy Henry Stickmin

Ashley Graham Victoria Grit

Ada Wong Earrings

Luis Serra Navarro Ted Adam

Ingrid Hunnigan Hat Girl

Ramón Salazar Captain H. J. Canterbury

Bitores Méndez Major Hershell Panzer

Jack Krauser Charles Calvin

Osmund Saddler Mayor Fredrickson

Merchant Mysterious Voyager

Mike Quentin Alabaster

[speedygoreman]

I had to scroll all the way back through my camera roll but. I FOUND IT

I kinda wish I would've made the spider on his chest shaped like a question mark or something like that

I really really love the idea of luke being able to tell off the radioactive spider for biting layton but also I'm not sure about him getting powers that late. It would mess with the timeline in a fucky wucky way, although it would certainly be very funny to have Luke figure out his mentor started doing vigilante superheroing.

Claire as Gwen Stacy. Obviously. You could technically also make Randall gwen but I wanted him to be Harry Osborn.

Idk about descole and don paolo. I guess descole could be mysterio power-wise but I just don't think that fits his CHARACTER. He's more of a doc ock to me. Don paolo isn't nearly showy enough to be mysterio, but the chameleon is also not him. He seems like more of a vulture to be honest.

Jameson's role could be filled by Chelmey, I guess? He's a bit grumpy and I can see him respecting layton but maybe not the spider-gentleman. Don't think he's as extreme as jameson though. Again not sure about how that works with the timeline.

Idk who the hell would be MJ. Either Angela or Brenda would make more sense as a collective group dynamics thing but it does NOT entirely make sense ship-wise. I think maybe Angela because she grew up with Hershel and Randall and is also more likely to be an actress than Brenda in my opinion.

Alphonse can be either flash thompson or eddie brock. Leaning towards flash.

Honestly Clark would probably fit as doc connors/the lizard but that dynamic is also drastically different again because of their ages. Most of these dynamics are heavily changed lmao.

Clive can be kingpin actually. It makes sense. Dimitri would then be our mysterio (who is working for kingpin apparently) because of that bullshit he pulled with the massive future London set and quentin beck's whole deal is he was a fuckin special effects guy.

Idk about Anton??? He can be sandman because I have no better idea than the fact that sandman has a daughter in the movie and isn't completely evil I guess. And that half-matches anton (katia' his granddaughter, plus he's not entirely evil) so congrats you're sand.

I think Emmy should be black cat because. It's obvious. But there will NOT be any sexual tension. It doesn't fit her (or their dynamic at all) and it always felt a little weird to me even with the original black cat?

Flora and luke get to be themselves because I have no idea what other roles they would be.

Grosky is kraven the hunter. There's no debate about this.

[thesoulesscollection]

“Too bad, you need to sleep here now. I can’t seem to sleep without you anymore.” I think would be cute with roseright 👉👈

I'm so sorry for allowing your request (and the many more) to wait for so long. I also thought you asked for Grumpy Old Men too but I must've accidentally got rid of it or you never asked.

Whoopsie but I do hope you don't mind both ships to make up for it.

Down below was the original request qnd the post (Here) creativepromptsforwriting on Tumblr

“I personally like it, but you do look silly like this.” Would work with grumpy old men I think?

“Too bad, you need to sleep here now. I can’t seem to sleep without you anymore.” I think would be cute with roseright 👉👈

RoseRight 

Right stood beside the edge of his bed, anxiously trying to pull himself together but winced a little at how embarrassed he felt about it. 

“You. You said you needed me?” 

The shame persists when a soft voice calls out, waiting for his response, yet curious on what it may be, her reason to be here. 

“Where do you want me to put them for you?” She tacks on. 

He sucks in a breath. For all his wants and desires had easily overpowered his logic. 

It was her. Ellie. 

The peculiar reason why he couldn't sleep. By the door she stood, holding close to her chest were thick blankets and soft pillows, and it was all that he needed for the night. 

He wants her for her comfort, for him to be sweetly wrapped up in her soft arms. A light in the darkness. As it'd begin to terrify him. 

“Yes, I do” He stiffly admits. “I've been struggling to sleep lately” 

Though he won't say it outloud. 

However concern is made obvious by her expression, and he doesn't like it, instead feeling guilty that she can be so worried about him. 

“Oh. What does that have to do with me though?”

“Everything” Right grumbles, flustered, motioning to her with his hand. 

“Excuse me?” Ellie tilts her head with a pouting frown. “I don't remember doing anything to you. I keep to my own lane like everyone else here” 

“That's it you hadn't done a thing” 

“What?” 

“Your entire existence drives me mad” 

The words left her to stare up at him as he comes to terms with what he spills in a moment of weakness. 

“Besides that, I know this is weird but can you stay the night with me” 

In the middle of the room, against the back wall, was a queen bed that can fit the two easily and have plenty of room for them to not be squished together. 

Though he wouldn't necessarily mind feeling her heat. 

“For the company” Yet he was quick to reassure after seeing her tense, “Only for a while. Nothing more” 

“How can I be so sure?” She asked in a tone Right couldn't detect whether it was meant to be accusatory or not as she tilted her head with a smirk. 

Right was going to open his mouth to say something, defend himself and his pride. Though Ellie swiftly beats him to the punch. In order to bring him down to earth with her. 

“Thought so, heh. I knew you liked me, didn't you” What she's doing is teasing him, the heat rises in his face. “What if I say no? What will you do then?” 

“Too bad, you need to sleep here now. I can’t seem to sleep without you anymore”

Although more blunt than he would've intended it, she snorted, amused, “Uh huh. So would you want me to cuddle up with you too? If you like, I can be the big spoon” 

Right rolls his eyes but smiles, taking a careful step closer. “Yes, that would be fine. Thank you” 

She grabs his hand. 

Grumpy Old Men (They're not old here but I wanted to write about their relationship's earlier years & mentions of kiddo Johnny) 

Quentin wasn't used to this style of outfit. 

“I couldn't say no to the kid. It would've hurt his feelings” He mumbles, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. The shirt was snug in certain areas, around his stomach yet wasn't uncomfortable. It was bearable. 

“He was so proud of himself. Saw it in the stores’ window and thought of you” 

When turning away from the mirror, he saw Hershell staring him up and down, puzzled just as well with the article of clothing.  

“Definitely your son. Neither one of you has a sense of fashion” 

Rolling his neck, Quentin took another glance at his reflection from the back this time. 

It was a bright Hawaiian button up shirt with a rainbow floral print. But his heart did swell a little at the sweet gesture from the kid. 

“I personally like it, but you do look silly like this” Hershell chuckled, motioning with grabby hands for the man to come closer. 

“Not saying it's bad. It's what I expect from a nine year old” 

“C'mon. You love it” 

Two large hands gently hold onto him, thumbs pushed into his hips, and rubs soothing circles. 

Hershell clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, “You do look nice. Really handsome” Slyly moving a hand up on Quentin's chest, fingers trailing across the buttons. 

“Thank you” He shrugs, still expressing uncertainty. “Don't know when I'll ever wear this” 

Now there's a mighty guilt in the sense he won't find the occasion or the drive to even wear it. 

Which made it worse that the kid had a strong admiration for him. Quentin had no idea as to why and it worried him a lot. 

“You'll find the best time for it so don't feel bad” A light nudge at his side was a reassurance to Quentin. “I can find a way to show this off for you” 

Exhaling exasperated, Quentin shrugs the man off. “Oh, you would, wouldn't you?” He eyes the man, returning the interest in the offer. 

Hershell took it up and leaned down to his level, soft lips met in a passionately deepened kiss. 

[catisteard]

@thesoulesscollection You did with with Hershell and Quentin to me

nothing will change your perspective on a character like someone who is batshit obsessed with them

[fuchsiablur]

doodle requests from twitter, starting with buckethat!

matthew norbet ^^

quentin alabaster (guess which duo idiots somehow got the number to his line)

coffee au dave panpa !

the tcw gang (which a slice of introspection on dave’s part)

johnny panzer and the pops

victoria grit x)

toppat leader henry stickmin

right hand man

cocky sven

stickvin

triple threat having a gamer moment

aaAND that’s all folks!

[bluebutlikenotalways]

Kinda early Valentines thing based off of something I talked about with @thesoulesscollection

[dark-twist-fairytales]

For the ship game, please. Either Hershell x Galeforce or Hershell x Galeforce x Quentin?

Hershell x Galeforce x Quentin

Yes!

1. What made you ship it?

It's the perfect mix of sweet, salty, and savory. As individuals, you'd never expect it, but together? Man, they're amazing.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Dynamics, mostly. One that's a father, another that's been through a war (probably), and the last one being Done(TM) half the time.

3. Any unpopular opinions that you have about this ship?

Not exactly an unpopular opinion, rather just an opinion, they'd all treat Johnny like he's their child. I mean, Hershell is Johnny's father, but the other two? Yeah, they'll do random get-togethers or bring Johnny lunch during his shifts.

--

As for the individuals of Hershell X Quentin, Hershell X Galeforce, and Galeforce X Quentin: All of those stay the same of 'I ship them'. They all have their charms on their own.

[filmmaker-henry]

Hershell or Hubert, what's the most funniest or adorable thing you know about Quentin?

"Whenever he gets really tired, he'll end up making.. Pretty much like a nest around him. Especially if he can't find me or Hubert. Like a bird, it's adorable." Hershell said.

"The funniest thing for me has to be when he's set with younger pilots that think flying a helicopter is like GTA. He'll ramble about it, saying they'd be more of a hazard than a help. The way he talks about it, in passive-aggressive or pure aggressive insults." Hubert chuckled.

[princesskeda]

not to bombard you with asks but i have 2 questionsL first, i'm rereading the heirs & there's lots i'm realizing for the first time... but i've always thought of tobias being a mix of quentin trembley from gravity falls and remus lupin from harry potter. did either of those characters influence him, or is it pure coincidence?? either way i love it. and then when is the upload schedule for inheritance?

GURL FEEL FREE TO BOMBARD ME WITH ALL THE ASKS I LOVE THEM!

Im so glad you're rereading!! What things are you realizing? I'm so curious now...

hahahahahah! I can totally see that now! Nicki told me she wasn't thinking of those characters specifically when she was writing him, but I wouldn't put it past her subconscious to influence her in that direction lol. When she was writing him I pointed out that he reminded me a ton of Coran from Voltron, especially since his hair was originally red lol. We changed it to brown for that reason. Our subconscious has a mind of its own! (when I realized that Hershel's design looks a lot like a certain Hylian...) 

Oh yeah... I totally forgot to say. Sorry hahaha 

The update schedule for “Inheritance” is going to be once a week, either on Fridays or Saturdays depending on how busy we are. 

Thanks for the ask!! I always love hearing from you!! (also were you able to get your essay done?)

[aion-rsa]

Once Upon a Time in America Is a Movie That Can Never Be Too Long

https://ift.tt/3ECYv3k

Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America is as epic as The Godfather, gorier than Goodfellas, and as streetwise as Mean Streets. It tells a full history, from childhood to old age, street hustles to political suicides, community toilets to opium dens. The version which is right now available on Netflix has been amazingly restored by Italy’s Bologna Cinematheque L’Immagine Ritrovata lab. I don’t think I have ever seen the film so clear, and it is a perennial to me, as is The Godfather.

It’s true, even the most devoted gangster fan and cinephile doesn’t watch Once Upon a Time in America as often as The Godfather, and it’s got Robert De Niro at his most gangta. For one thing, Leone’s film has never been as accessible. It is not shown regularly on any kind of broadcast channel, and even the film’s own producers thought it was too long for people to sit through. Pop culture history makes it sound like Once Upon a Time in America had a short version that ran 10 hours and a long version that ran a week.

How Long is Too Long for Once Upon a Time in America?

The truth is, Leone did have up to 10 hours of finished cinematic material, which he cut down to six hours. He wanted to put it out in two parts, much like the initial saga of The Godfather was extended into a sequel. Leone’s original vision for the film was two 180-minute motion pictures which would be shown on consecutive days. After the initial run, he planned to edit the two parts down for a general release which would run as one four-hour and 29-minute film.

Film distributors convinced Leone to release a “Director’s Cut” feature at a running time of 3 hours and 49-minutes, with no intermission, which was the version shown at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival (Martin Scorsese led the push to restore the original version, which was shown at Cannes in 2012, though it’s still missing 18 minutes). This version caught on in Europe. But American audiences saw an even more butchered cut in 1984. The U.S. financial backers, The Ladd Company, founded by actor Alan Ladd’s son, cut 90 minutes from the already-edited film, bringing it to two hours and 19 minutes. But they also restructured the film, cutting the flashbacks-within-flashbacks to present the story chronologically.

This most affects the opening, which is an extended action sequence told with the expressionism of a silent film and the nihilism of post-war Italian neorealism. It is a bit of a jumble coming out of an opium dream. Noodles is on the run, behind in the game, and stoned out of mind. The flashbacks create a cognitive dissonance, and the audience experiences the freefall in a visceral way. By the time they land, it’s in the beginning of a story, which may all be an opium dream. The longer version did play at art cinemas in the U.S. Having seen both on their initial release, this writer preferred the long version of the crime classic, but will admit, they could have answered a phone in the opening sequence before it rang 30 times.

I’d Watch an 8-Hour “Making of” Documentary on This

The production of the film is worthy of a star-studded documentary itself. Leone devoted most of his adult life to getting it done. He turned down The Godfather to make it. Once Upon a Time in America is the final entry in Leone’s “Once Upon a Time” trilogy. It followed Once Upon a Time in the West (C’era Una Volta Il West) (1968), and Once Upon a Time in the Revolution, which came out in 1971 as Duck, You Sucker!. One of the first America drafts was written by Norman Mailer, the author of the novel The Naked and the Dead, and Marilyn: A Biography, the 1973 Marilyn Monroe biography which first speculated the Hollywood icon had been killed by the FBI and CIA. Leone told American Film magazine the novelist was not “not a writer for movies,” but wasn’t satisfied with a screenplay until the end of 1974.

Leone first became interested in making Once Upon a Time in America while making Once Upon a Time in the West. He came across the book The Hoods, which is described on its cover flap as “a notorious mob boss of the syndicate tells the full inside story of hired killing and crime operations.” Published in August 1952, it was very open about Jewish gangster life during the 1920s and ‘30s. It was written by Hershel “Noodles” Goldberg under the alias Harry Grey.

Goldberg also wrote the 1958 book, Portrait of a Mobster, about Jewish mob legend Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer. He wrote The Hoods while serving time in Sing Sing prison. Leone met with Grey in a New York City bar, according to Christopher Frayling’s 2012 book, Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death. The author was still in hiding from his former mob associates. The renowned Spaghetti Western director didn’t find a heroic figure like “Paul Muni in Scarface or James Cagney in The Public Enemy,” in the bar. Instead there was a poor man “with a machine gun in his hand and a Borsalino on his head.”

I’d watch a 12-Hour Version of the Original Cast of the Unmade Film

Leone began casting in 1975. When The Hoods begins, the leading characters are teenage criminals. Richard Dreyfuss was first cast as young Noodles. The older version of the character was to be played by James Cagney, who hadn’t made a film since Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three in 1961. He wouldn’t make another until 1984, the year Leone’s film was finally released, when he appeared in Miloš Forman’s Ragtime. That film also stars Elizabeth McGovern, who plays adult Deborah in Once Upon a Time in America. French actor Gerard Depardieu was cast as young Max, and the part would pass to veteran actor Jean Gabin, an icon of French gangster films.

This is true dream casting. Dreyfuss made his mob movie bones playing Baby Face Nelson in Dillinger (1973) and would go on to become an acting institution. Cagney was an acting legend, who began his career creating young gangster icons. Judging from the outstanding acting performances Leone got from Hollywood Golden Age actors like Henry Fonda, it would have been a masterwork.

Leone brought out unsuspected feats of greatness from veteran actors who had been subject to the rules of mainstream cinema. It would also be wonderful just to watch Cagney and Gabin create onscreen dynamite together. Meanwhile Gabin is probably best known as the lead in Jean Renoir’s 1937 antiwar masterpiece, La Grande Illusion. But that was also the year he played “The Prince of Plunder” in director Julien Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1937). That gangster-in-hiding title role established him firmly in French crime cinema, and it should be seen by any fan of Casablanca or Algiers. He also starred in Jacques Becker’s mob film Touchez pas au grisbi (Don’t Touch the Loot) (1954), and plays the capo of the Manalese crime family in director Henri Verneuil’s The Sicilian Clan (1969).

I would gleefully binge 10 hours of Gabin and Cagney rehearsing.

And I Could Watch the Final Cast All Weekend

I’d also binge rehearsals for the cast that ultimately wound up filming Once Upon a Time in America. Robert De Niro, as grown-up David “Noodles” Aaronson, was in his prime. He was already gangster film royalty, having played in The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), and as young Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Part II. His Jake La Motta took a career-killing dive for the mob in Raging Bull (1980). But while De Niro also proved he could play psychopaths like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976), that part was better filled by his co-star.

Read more

Movies

Why The Godfather Part IV Never Happened

By Don Kaye

Movies

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone Proves a Little Less is Infinitely More

By Tony Sokol

James Woods, who plays the adult Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz, created one of the most convincing sociopaths of crime cinema in The Onion Field (1979). He also brought one of the sleaziest characters in science fiction to David Cronenberg’s 1983 cult masterpiece, Videodrome. For gangster and crime film fans, De Niro and Woods together are like seeing Cagney work with Edward G. Robinson in Smart Money (1931), Humphrey Bogart in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and The Roaring Twenties (1939), or George Raft in Each Dawn I Die (1939).

While Joe Pesci’s crime boss Frankie Monaldi is so authentic in Once Upon a Time in America that it looks like he was picked out of a lineup, Burt Young’s performance as his brother Joe Monaldi is pure cinema verité. He almost makes you want to take a shower. The only relief comes from watching Treat Williams as a union leader who takes a bath.

Tuesday Weld, who plays Carol, is an icon of licentious cinema. She was Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play the title role in Lolita (1962), and the wildest orgy enthusiast in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). Weld started acting as a teenager in the 1956 jukebox musical Rock! Rock! Rock!, and brought more tension than Steve McQueen and Ann-Margret combined in the 1965 gambling classic, The Cincinnati Kid, which also starred Edward G. Robinson. Quentin Tarantino would probably be proud to recommend Weld’s filmography as a film binge subject.

Once Upon a Time in America also began production in 1980 but was scuttled by an Actor’s Strike. It would have seen Tom Berenger and Paul Newman playing the Noodles characters. For Max, Leone considered Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, John Malkovich, and John Belushi. Brooke Shields was set to play young Deborah, which went on to be Jennifer Connelly’s film debut. She would go on to play in Labyrinth (1986) with David Bowie, as well as to an acclaimed career as an adult in movies like Requiem for a Dream (2000) and win an Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind (2001).

What’s in a Bad Reputation?

The Godfather is briskly paced, relatable, and every sequence is perfectly framed. Had Once Upon a Time in America been split into two parts, as the director intended, it may have become just as iconic. Coppola saves the Corleone family backstory for the second film, where it sits comfortably as it mirrors one rise with another.

In today’s environment, where binge-watching is the norm, Once Upon a Time in America should be reevaluated on that basis. People are more accustomed to long-long form entertainment, because they have readily available short-form at their fingertips on apps like TikTok.  Alejandro Jodorowsky wanted to make a 10-hour adaptation of the science fiction novel Dune. He got the same blowback as Leone.

“Myself, I make an enormous project of a film that will not be a normal film, 14, 16, maybe 19 hours,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek while promoting his film Psychomagic. “Hollywood thought I was crazy. A picture [should be] one hour and half or two hours, no more. But now, with series television, you see eight chapters. The short pictures are dying, it’s not anymore necessary. We need to make a serious chapter, you know? Ten hours.”

Today, Jodorowsky’s Dune would be a Netflix miniseries–or at the very least two films, as enjoyed by director Denis Villeneuve. Once Upon a Time in America is far more watchable than its legend declares, and Leone was a filmmaker who should have been afforded his cut. “He was a real artist of industrial movies,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek. “You need to be very intelligent to do that, and he did it. The picture, all of his pictures, I love these pictures.”

I have watched The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II, The Godfather, Part III, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, the box set collectors’ edition of The Godfather Saga, and still have a recording of the first time the film ran with all the deleted scenes restored. I will watch them all again. But there is room for more than one Gangster Epic. Once Upon a Time in America’s reputation as a sloppy, overlong film is undeserved. It bears repeated viewing.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Once Upon a Time in America Is a Movie That Can Never Be Too Long appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3EGlwCw