US Cinema - 'Once Upon a Time in America' - Part 2 Quiz

Answer: Harry Grey

The leading role, that of David 'Noodles' Aaronson, is based on the life of the former prohibition era gangster turned police informant, Herschel Goldberg. Goldberg adopted the pseudonym Harry Grey in order to protect himself and his family from any reprisals by the crime syndicates that he had written about in the novel.

Herschel 'Harry' Goldberg was born in 1901 in either Odessa or Kiev, in what was then Russia, his family emigrating to the United States in 1905. This novel, believed to have been written whilst Goldberg was incarcerated in prison, was published in 1952.

Although most of Grey's novels could be considered best-sellers, 'The Hoods' was by far the most successful of them. Prior to filming, Leone and Grey had met on a number of occasions and those scenes that were set in the bar owned by Moe Gelly as an adult were based on the bar in which the director and Grey had met on order to discuss ideas for the film. Harry Grey passed away during October 1980; his cause of death was undisclosed.

Answer: The receipt of a mysterious invitation.

Fat Moe had received the same letter some months prior to Aaronson; the letter had been sent out by a nearby synagogue to request that families claim the remains of any loved ones from a cemetery that was due to be developed. However, Aaronson considered the letter to be a warning from those who had wished to kill him some 30 years earlier.

He believed that they had always known where he had been hiding and that this letter was a warning that his return to New York would have serious consequences for him.

Answer: Mausoleum

Aaronson visited the mausoleum in which the deceased gang members were supposedly interred. Whilst contemplating, he had noticed a locker key hanging from a hook fixed to a plaque on the wall. The plaque stated that the mausoleum had been erected by Aaronson, which came as something of a surprise to him. Aaronson later traced the related locker and inside he had found a leather suitcase packed with a huge quantity of one hundred dollar bills and a note which read 'advance payment for your next job'.

Answer: False

As the gang drove away from the scene of the killings, Aaronson asked Max why he hadn't been told that the plan had been to kill the Detroit hoods from the very start. Max explained that he had agreed to eliminate the Detroit gangsters as a personal favour to Frankie Manoldi. Max and Aaronson had a brief but tense conversation; it was inconceivable that Aaronson would ever harm his friend Max.

"Today they ask us to get rid of Joe; tomorrow they ask me to get rid of you," said Aaronson pointing at Max. "Is that OK with you? 'Cause it's not OK with me!" Aaronson continued.
After a period of thoughtful silence Max said to Aaronson, "Wanna to go for a swim?"
Aaronson nodded, "Yeah, let's go for a swim" as he accelerated the car along the pier and crashed through the rails at its end!

Answer: Jimmy 'Clean Hands' O'Donnell

Jimmy Conway O'Donnell, known as 'Clean Hands' because of his absolute refusal to be bribed or intimidated, was a trades union leader whose members were in dispute with their employers. Chicken Joe and an accomplice had abducted O'Donnell and taken him to an industrial unit where they had strapped him to a table and doused him in gasoline. O'Donnell, who had still refused to call off the strike, was about to be burned alive when Max and the gang arrived and bargained for O'Donnell's life; they had also abducted Chicken Joe's boss earlier in the evening.

"This country is still growing up. Certain diseases it's better to have while you're still young," said Max to the petrol soaked O'Donnell. "You boys ain't a mild case of the measles, you're the plague!" retorted O'Donnell angrily before he screwed up his shirt and threw it at Chicken Joe's boss.

Answer: They both died under suspicious circumstances.

As witnesses in the case that had become known as the Bailey Scandal, both men were high on the criminal underworld's hit list. The first to have met his mysterious end was Under Secretary for Commerce Thomas Finney, who had died after plunging from his office on the 15th floor of an office building.

The second to die, District Attorney James Lister, was killed instantly in a blast as he had climbed into a car belonging to Secretary Bailey during a visit to his Long Island residence.

Answer: Nowhere; it had been disposed of.

Goldberg informed his accomplices that he had lost the switch list. He had probably ditched it with his doctor's coat after they had left the maternity ward. Patsy remembered that the boys' numbers were even and that the girls' numbers were odd. Not knowing what to do next, the gang decided to just pick a number, eventually settling on the number '8'!

Answer: False

It was Aaronson who accompanied Deborah on the date. It was at the conclusion of this scene that once again Aaronson's animal instincts were aroused. After Aaronson had declared his love for Deborah, she informed him that she had to leave for Hollywood the following morning and wanted to tell him this news face to face; Aaronson had appeared calm at this news but kept his emotions hidden from her.

Whilst they were travelling back to the city, Deborah kissed Aaronson who responded; however he read the situation wrongly and when Deborah attempted to stop him going any further he savagely raped her in the back of their car.

Answer: A throne

The chair in which Max was sitting had been a gift to a Pope as opposed to an actual papal throne. Bemused by this, Aaronson asked, "What's this?"
"A throne, a gift to a Pope" responded Max adding, "It cost me eight hundred bucks."
"It's from the 17th century," added his lover, Carol.
"So, what are you doing with it?" asked Aaronson.
"I'm sitting in it," said Max, an almost imperceptible grin flashing across his lips.

Answer: Gheorghe Zamfir

Zamfir is a Romanian composer, musician and former conductor. He was born in Gaiesti, Romania on 6th April 1941 and began playing the Pan Flute, also known as Pan Pipes, at the age of 14 years, although he had originally wished to become an accordion player. Zamfir began his recording career in 1966 with an album of self penned compositions played in an authentic Romanian folk style and he has, during the past five decades or so, sold over 120 million records.

In addition to providing the haunting pipe music featured in 'Once Upon a Time in America', Zamfir has also contributed music which has featured in the films 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', 'Kill Bill Vol. 1' and 'The Karate Kid'.

Answer: Crazy

It is revealed in the story that Max's father had died in a mental institution and that Max was terrified of meeting this same fate. There are a small number of occasions during the story in which Max's erratic behaviour manifests itself but none more so than on the two occasions in which Aaronson referred to him as 'crazy'!

Answer: By raiding the Federal Reserve Bank

After the repeal of the Volstead Act had been announced, Max had an idea that would maintain their standard of living once their primary source of income had come to an end - a robbery at the Federal Reserve Bank. On their return from Florida, Carol and Aaronson discussed Max's plan to execute the robbery. Aaronson concluded that Max's plan would be suicide and decided to give the police a tip-off about a liquor run that the gang were about to embark upon in an attempt to get himself and his friends arrested and imprisoned. Aaronson did not join his friends on the fateful night and, unfortunately, the entire gang were killed by the police when Max opened fire on them... Or were they?

Answer: Cleopatra

"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety."

So read the poster advertising the play in which she was performing, a production of 'Anthony and Cleopatra'. In this scene, a poster clearly showing Deborah's face can be seen on the wall in her dressing room. Deborah pleaded with Aaronson not to attend the reception but to leave through the door to the rear of her dressing room, never to return. Suddenly, a voice at the dressing room door threw Deborah into a panic. It was her son, David, whom she asked to wait outside. As Aaronson left he saw David and realised, at that moment, that he knew exactly who Secretary Bailey was... His childhood friend Maximilian Bercowicz.

Answer: A concealed passage

Secretary Bailey was due to appear before a Senate Committee investigating charges of corruption, contract fraud, mafia involvement in government business and the misuse of the Transport Workers Union pension fund. The relationship that had began all those years ago between Max and James O'Donnell had continued long after Aaronson had left for Buffalo. Secretary Bailey had been certain that his associates were to have him killed in order to prevent him from testifying against them. Bailey demanded that his old friend Aaronson should kill him and that this was what the money in the suitcase had been payment for. To Bailey's dismay, Aaronson refused to do as he had been asked and left the house through the hidden passage.

Answer: Crushed inside a refuse disposal truck

As Aaronson made his way onto the boulevard outside Secretary Bailey's home, he noticed a huge black refuse truck; as he walked past the vehicle its engine started. Aaronson continued walking onto a grass verge but, looking back, saw a figure passing through the gates.

As the truck began to move forward, the figure, still walking alongside, disappeared as the vehicle continued forward. As the truck passed, Aaronson noticed that the figure had disappeared and assumed that Bailey had thrown himself into the dumpster's mechanism to his gruesome death.