A Bronx Tale
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Movie Reviews of A Bronx Tale
Movie Review: The saddest thing in life is wasted talent
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a touching coming of age film and a great mobster flick, all rolled into one. But it can be hard to find on DVD. Allow me to provide some clarifications and recommendations.
A Bronx Tale ===> This is the long out of print HBO release from 1998. With the real-life Calogero (Lillo Brancato) currently serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery-turned-murder, it is unlikely that a major studio will market a re-release any time soon.
A Bronx Tale (Amazon.com Exclusive) ===> This is available here on Amazon, but be advised it is an "on demand" DVD-R.
A Bronx Tale [Region 2] ===> This is the Region 2 release. Amazon does not specify it in the Product Descriptions, but this is the Optimum release from the UK. It is excellent, and includes a "Making Of" featurette. Probably best to buy it directly from Amazon UK, as I did. (See link in Comments section below.) You will need a Region-Free DVD Player to enjoy this, but many U.S.-sold players can handle it by entering a simple code. See, for example, my review of the Philips DVP5990.
Obviously there is no Blu-ray. However, you can still buy new copies on VHS! (Bronx Tale [VHS])
Enough with the tech specs. A Bronx Tale was Chazz Palminteri's screenplay, based on his own life. It was his first major film role; he has worked consistently in Hollywood ever since. I attended Chazz's one-man show last year and he was just as powerful, alone on the stage. This film was also De Niro's directorial debut. Nice touch by Bobby D and willingness to be only the third most important role. Great, great period soundtrack.
Sadly, the life of crime which the young on-screen character barely avoids was unavoidable for the real-life actor. Thus my use of the line from the film as my review title. Life imitates art, such a waste.
Movie Review: Simply Put, One Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Based on Chazz Paliminteri's autobiographical one-man play, "A Bronx Tale" is an impressive coming-of-age story about a young man, Calogero, or "C," as he is called, growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the Bronx during the racially turbulent Sixties. The boy is torn between the ethical standards set by his scrupulously honest bus driver father, Lorenzo, and the flashy appeal of "Sonny," the charismatic local crime boss. When Calogero, as a mere child, witnesses Sonny shoot and kill a man in a street dispute and refuses to pick him out of a hastily organized lineup moments later, Sonny takes the boy under his wing, much to the displeasure of his father. In his own way, Sonny is looking out for the young man's best interests. He is both paternal and protective, urging C to stop hanging out with his troublemaking friends, and emphasizing the importance of a good education. He also tutors young Calogero in the ways of the street. "That way," says C, "I'll be twice as smart as everyone else." Eventually there is a heated confrontation between the boy's father and the gangster, but the lure of Sonny's lifestyle - a flashy red Cadillac, women, nice clothes, "respect" - is too strong for the youngster to resist. There is an interesting assortment of supporting characters - Eddie Mush (the unluckiest gambler in the world), Tony Toupee (so called because of his ill-fitting hairpiece), Frankie Coffee Cake (whose acne-scarred face reminded everyone of a Drake's coffee cake) - and a host of others who apparently made an indelible impression on the young Palminteri. There are several memorable scenes - the humorous antics during a basement craps game; the invasion of Sonny's bar by a gang of bikers, to their regret; Sonny's advising his protege on dating etiquette. Robert De Niro, in his directorial debut, plays Lorenzo, but it is Chazz Palminteri's Sonny who dominates the film throughout. The ending is sad, poignant, and touching, but of course I won't go into that here on the assumption that you haven't seen this movie. As a lay person I'm unable to intelligently critique the technical aspects of any film, but I can state in all honesty that this is one movie I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.Movie Review: Mob tale of a different kind
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're used to seeing Robert Deniro as the tough guy gangster then get ready for a change. In this film Deniro is just a working stiff trying to raise his kid the right way. His son however, is fascinated by one of the local mob bosses (Chazz Palminteri). In this story set in the Bronx (circa 1960's) Lorenzo Anello (De Niro) desparately tries to keep his son Calogero on the straight and narrow. He tries to explain that the guy who gets up and goes to work every morning is the tough guy, not the guy who takes what others have by force.
Lillo Brancato who plays the 17 year old son is quite the find here. This was his acting debut and he has gone on to do other films since. Originally, this was a one man play written by Palminteri and the story is based on the events of his youth.
Eventually, the mob boss, who can't afford to trust anyone, turns on Calogero even though he loves the boy like a son. It is then that the teenager understands that his father told him the truth. Later in the film though, Calogero's life is saved because of the mobster. When Calogero goes to find his friend and thank him, things take a turn for the worse.
This is Deniro's directorial debut. Who knows better how to direct a gangster film then someone that's been in some of the best crime dramas of all time. Yes, he still has much to learn but still and all, it's a fine effort. Deniro made excellent use of the music of the day. Especially memorable is the bar scene where the gansters beat up a motorcycle gang and during the fight you can hear "The 10 Commandments of Love" playing over the visuals.
As with most gangster films, there is a lot of foul language and violence here but no nudity or sex.
This should be part of your collection if you are a fan of the genre.
Movie Review: Entertaining though revisiting an old country
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a good film about the Bronx, about Little Italy in New York, race relations in the 60s and many other things, indeed. Yet the film seems to be a country revisited several times. The new element is the point of view that is adopted here, that of a kid who is growing from 8 to 17 and is the witness of the law of the neighborhood and how this law is imposed by some group of self appointed people who impose security and guarantee it then. In this case it is an Italian boss, and on the other side it is the Blacks, and no detail is given. What makes this film interesting is how the son sees the world and how he comes to accepting this or that idea, from his father or the local neighborhood boss. We see his personality growing, his independence blooming, at times without knowing it, his reason and moderation expanding at times against his own feelings and convictions. You add girls to that and then accidents on the road of social peace and you may have some real drama in which you discover the real value of this man, or even your father, who did not hate this or that or anyone in particular but rather tried, at times awkwardly to protect you. There are a few funny elements here and there, more dramatic elements now and then, but a lot of pathos all the time. Entertaining with good actors who are very well directed.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Movie Review: A Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Bronx Tale" is an extremely well done movie with terrific acting and an excellent script. It depicted the life of a young Italian boy growing with such consideration and sensitivity. It showed that life is not a dichotomy of good vs. bad, but that life is continium of many different perspectives. A lot of critics disliked the Jane-Calogero plot, but I really liked it and I thought it added another dimension to the movie. Their union showed that Lorenzo, depicted as the "good" guy, has his flaws. In contrast, Sonny, who is depicted as the "bad" guy, shows his wisdom beyond the times (after all, this was set in the late 1960's when interracial union was still very much frowned upon).
And I also thought the awkwardness of Jane and Calogero's courtship was also well done, whether intentionally or not by Mr. De Niro and the actors, Taral Hicks and Lillo Brancato Jr. These are two sixteen year olds with not much dating experience afterall. Everything from the uneasiness of their conversations to thier kissing was very realistic and should be given credit.
One thing that I wish could have been explored more but wasn't is more background on Sonny and Lorenzo's feud. The movie alluded to some bad blood between the two men but was never fully explored.
But maybe what is left out of the movie is what makes it so great.
All in all, I give this movie five stars. Excellent directorial debut by Robert De Niro.