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

Producing films was a distraction for me for which I payed dearly.

In my childhood, America was like a religion. Then, real-life Americans abruptly entered my life - in jeeps - and upset all my dreams.

Charlie Chaplin, too, through spectacle, contraband certain ideas, put them through, ideas that even today are not being expressed by great statesmen and politicians.

It is hard to do a film that wants to say something because, unfortunately, most everything has been said.

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

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.