My films are often characterized by the lack of women present in them, except for this last one [Once Upon a Time in America].

I always fish out antique ideas, very old ideas.

It's difficult to find new solicitations, new expressions. But this is talking about filmmaking. Cinema.

I've tried to consider stories that I have read, making them into films, but they would turn out unnatural. If a producer wants that, he should call other people. Not me.

The American public is a very specialized public.

You see in Once Upon a Time in the West the whole film moves around her [Claudia Cardinale]. If you take her out, there's no more film. She's the central motor of the entire happening.

I think that men of my generation - not me in particular - are among the most fortunate men in the universe.