Sergio Leoni utlised aspects of the thriller genre in Once upon a time in America (1984)

Leoni makes clear use of thriller aspects in the film Once upon a time in America of which I shall be exploring in this case study.

    The first signifiers of the thriller genre in the film are aural sound. The audience hear the sequence of footsteps, the door opening and the song "God bless America", Leoni chose to use "God bless America"  to show irony, as a way of critising America and the "American Dream", and within minutes of the film beginning we establish Leoni was implying that America is not what is seems when Eve is shot dead and another character is brutally attacked by the police.The sequence of non-diegetic sounds instantly creates anticipation for the audience as we wonder who is making the noise. When the character Eve opens the door we can instantly tell the genre of the film by the Noir lighting; the noir lighting has been used to shadow and obscure the characters creating a mysterious effect, but in this particular shot above it implies that Eve as a character could be obscure not as innocent as we assume. This is another thriller convention used in the film; the idea of Femme Fatale. Eves entrance means she is the first character we see; she is wearing pearls, she has her nails painted red indicating danger and is wearing a ring. She is beautifully groomed and her glamour is evident which show clear aspects of Femme Fatale. Her name "Eve" refers to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. In the story Eve tempted Adam into eating the forbidden fruit resulting in them being thrown out of the idyllic land, much like Femme Fatales lead foolish men into danger. Also her name refers to "evening" which is a generic time of day in thriller films as its dusk falls, and danger is most likely to occur. These references imply that the character Eve is not as innocent as she appears and can lead men into danger. Also she fits the Femme Fatale genre as she is a gangsters mole and as she is killed it relates back to the idea that devient woman needed to be tamed.

      This is another shot from the film, the camera pans out as she pulls off the bed covers to reveal several gun shots in the bed. When she removes all the covers we realise that the holes form the shape of a body resembling the marks made by police to show where the person was found dead. Leoni has purposely used this to signify danger and to foreshadow what will happen minutes later.  

 This is an image of the Femme Fatale after having been "tamed". Leoni has also used specific camera shots and angles which are often used in thrillers. In this still Eve is lying at the bottom of the screen, joined with the arch way which takes up two thirds of the screen, the image is framed and our eyes are drawn to the three men in generic costumes. The light on the left hand side acts as a metaphor of Eve; beautiful, fragile, luminious but also easily extinguished as we see when one of the police men turn the light off.

      The following scene is named "opium visions", it begins with the same police men brutally beating up a man, who we later find out is a friend of Noodles- the main character. Fincher has used many close up shots in this scene to show the emotion of fear and to show the extreme pain the man is facing. The use of violence and death within the opening is a way that Leoni has established the film as a thriller, it demonstrates the corruption within the society at the time however when linked with the time changes within the film Leoni could be suggesting that the corruption still exists nowadays. Therefore he has used this technique to show that America was not and is not what it seems. 

    Leoni then cuts to the main character Noodles in an opium den/brothel. Noodles could almost be considered as an antihero as he possesses some hero like qualities however is flawed as he smokes opium, is unmarried however lives with a woman and is infact a gangster; the anti-hero is a common character in thrillers and in this case has been used by Leoni again to show the corruption within society. Noodles hears the ringing of telephone, this acts technically as a sound-bridge as it anticipates the past that Noodles sees in his vision. Leoni has chosen to make use of the sound-bridge as it creates tension, the audience become inpatient as it is considered an annoyance.

      Noodles remembers what would have been December 5, 1933- the end of prohibition, he sees three of his friends lying dead underneath covers on a wet street. The still to the left is a typical thriller style shot and the use of corpses instantly evokes the thriller genre. Leoni has chosen make obvious use of  chiarcoscuro lighting again refering to nightmares and surrealism, also the reflection of light on the wet road creates a visually pleasing contrast. Noodles later sees himself phoning the police which is where the ringing of the phone came from. The ringing of the phone is a frustrating, irritating noise and sets up a tense atmosphere. As well as this it links the police to the crime and death revealing the crooked society at the time.   

Other aspect of the thriller genre within the film

Sergio Leoni has chosen to use the extremely generic This is a worms eye shot showing the generic use of an old style lift shaft. As it is a worms eye shot the lift seems menacing as though it could fall down at anytime, it also suggests entrapment as we see four walls which are coming down on us.