"Crime, passion and lust for power."
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld
Once Upon a Time in America — Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
I like the stink of the streets.
Context
His reply during the confrontation in which Max mocks him for being unable to outgrow the neighborhood.
Meaning
The clearest statement of Noodles' refusal of Max's ambition. He is not repenting and not aspiring — he is claiming the gutter as his home, which is both his integrity and his prison.
You'll be carrying the stink of the streets with you for the rest of your life!
Context
Spoken to Noodles as the partnership fractures over how far the gang should go.
Meaning
Max's contempt is also a prophecy, and it lands on both of them. The line crystallizes the film's central split: one man believes the past can be escaped, the other knows it cannot.
We've never liked each other. We put up with each other for Max.
Context
Carol speaking with Noodles about the truth of their long, uncomfortable association.
Meaning
A single line that strips the romance out of the gang's mythology. Everything in this world, including affection, was held together by Max — which is exactly why his choices detonate every relationship in the film.
Take the money and run, Noodles. What's keeping you here?
Context
Fat Moe, the last surviving link to the old neighborhood, urging Noodles to walk away rather than pursue the summons that has drawn him back.
Meaning
The question the whole film answers with silence. Noodles stays because leaving would require him to admit what happened, and the past is the only thing he still owns.
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