Jewish childhood friends, Noodles and Max, forge and test their bond through love, lust, greed, betrayal, loss, separation, revenge and fear as they rise to become powerful and ruthless mobsters in New York. Robert de Niro and James Woods return to the big screen in a digitally restored and expanded version coordinated by Martin Scorsese and the family of Sergio Leone.

Leone's legendary and final masterpiece celebrates its 40th anniversary since the world premiere of the 3:49 version out of competition at Cannes in 1984. The Italian director was fascinated by the semi-autobiographical book 'The Hoods', written in prison by former gangster Hershel 'Noodles' Goldberg under the pseudonym Harry Grey. Leone dreamed of creating a Mafia saga in the vein of "The Godfather" and leaving his own legacy, similar to that of Francis Ford Coppola. An early 6-hour version was to be shown in two films, but Leone agreed to shorten it and approved the Cannes version. American producers released two alternative versions: chronological (2:19) and television (3:10). Leone died of a heart attack in 1989 and never saw this final version (4:17), which restored key scenes thought to be lost. It is the closest version (premiered at Cannes 2012) to the one Sergio Leone intended.