Broken Hearted

Noodles, out of prison and resumed his mobster life with his pal Max (played by James Woods) now is flying high. He cannot forget his love for Deborah and finally was able to get her to accept to a night out, filmed at the fabulous hotel Excelsior in Venice, Italy. The film's leitmotif "Amapola" returns in this scene. You heard this song in the previous blog. That was a jazzy version played on the gramophone while this is a string version. Amapola was a favorite song for many opera singers, and Leone adopted it in his movie after hearing it in the film Carnal Knowledge.

In case you do not know this movie, Deborah may have loved Noodles but she did not approve of Noodles' relationship with the mob. With that background, you may better understand her attitude during the dinner date. Her decision to leave the next morning did not go down well with Noodles and that lead to a despicable scene in the movie that marked Noodles' life forever. With that background, you will appreciate Noodles' behavior in my upcoming third and last clip of this great movie. He was devastated and sought to forget.

You ought to rent or buy this movie to watch it multiple times... Stay tuned for the next clip...