Speaking Of Jennifer Connelly: Once Upon A Time In America, 1984

Jennifer was mentioned in a recent group KV email that referred to How To Make It In America from Alexandra

Hi David I was expecting you to post the episode that took place in KV and you did not disappoint. I actually saved it on my DVR I do not remember if I already told you that I was friends with the mother of one of the writers on that show. He is Rob Weiss and he is listed as executive producer, but I believe he writes for that show and Entourage. We were living in Brooklyn on Stratford Road. Also a friend of a friend who visited in that group was Jennifer Connelly (age 2) and her mother. Jennifer's mother and I had a mutual friend. Funny how a couple of Brooklyn kids went on to Hollywood.

about Once Upon A Time In America Below, three 2007 posts with clips from Once Upon A Time In America part 1 part 2 part 3

Once Upon A Time In America 3

This was shot in DUMBO (Down Underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and the arch is the mirror of the one near Knickerbocker Village on Pike and Cherry. There is a noticeable film booboo- a housing project high rise is noticeable in the Manhattan horizon at the 50 second mark.
"The plot follows Noodles and his gang as they first meet Max Bercovitz (Rusty Jacobs), then become an independent operation under his and Noodles' joint leadership. Important subplots include the maintenance of gang funds in a suitcase stored in a railroad station locker (a crucial plot detail), Noodles' fruitless flirtation with Deborah (Jennifer Connelly), a local girl who aspires to be a dancer and actress and the gang's relationship with Deborah's brother, Fat Moe (Mike Monetti). The childhood sequence ultimately ends in tragedy as Bugsy, furious over the boys' success independent of him, shoots Dominic. Noodles retaliates by stabbing Bugsy to death with a switchblade, along with a police officer who intervenes, and is sentenced to twelve years in prison."

Once Upon A Time In America 2

A very realistic view of what the LES (Orchard, Hester area) must have looked in the early 1900's. Did you notice the brand of knishes sold and their price?
"In the aftermath of the 1933 deaths of Noodles' friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye following a shootout with the police, Noodles, pursued by the Mafia, takes refuge in an opium den. While in hiding he reminisces about his childhood in 1920s New York. The subsequent 1921 sequence shows young Noodles' (Scott Tiler) struggles as a poor street punk in the Jewish ghetto of the Lower East Side. His gang consists of Patrick "Patsy" Goldberg (Brian Bloom), Phillip "Cockeye" Stein (Adrian Curran), and Dominic (Noah Moazezi), whose last name isn't given. The neighborhood's criminal endeavors are controlled by local hoodlum Bugsy (James Russo), who has a gang of his own."

Once Upon A Time In America 1

from Wikipedia:
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 crime film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime. The film explores childhood friendships, loss, broken relationships, and the appearance of mobsters in American society.
The film is made up of two extended flashback sequences (in 1921 and 1933, respectively), along with a framing device set in 1968. Summoned back to New York after thirty five years in hiding, David "Noodles" Aaronson is forced to confront his past as he searches for the person who tracked him down.
The movie begins and ends in 1933, with Noodles hiding out in a Cjinatown opium den from Syndicate hitmen. Since the last shot of the movie is of Noodles in a smiling, opium-soaked high, some (as mentioned above) interpret the film to have been a drug-induced fantasy or dream, with Noodles remembering his past and envisioning the future. In his commentary for the DVD, film historian and critic Richard Schickel states that opium users often report vivid dreams and that these visions have a tendency to explore the user's past and future. In the documentary "A Fistful of Sergio Leone", it is reported that Leone himself hinted at this theory to a cinemagoer who had just seen the movie.