| A Bronx Tale | | Cast : | Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri | | Director : | Robert De Niro | | Studio : | Hbo Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | September 29, 1993 | | DVD Released Date : | February 03, 2004 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 09, 2005 | | Summary | Mob Rules... | Content
 | Calogero is very close to his working class father. He also looks up to Sonny (Chazz Palminteri), a local thug. But, after witnessing a murder at Sonny's hand, he is left in conflict. He becomes the child of two extreme fathers each with different ideas for their offspring's future.
A BRONX TALE is an impressive directorial debut for star Robert DeNiro who presents this story in a place he is comfortable, in a world often defined by Martin Scorcese (GOODFELLAS). Period music is used to help re-create the Bronx, New York in the 1960s. That same music also supports the conflicts involving race relations that appear late in the film.
After he refuses to finger Sonny to the police, Calogero, or "C", is taken in by the guys. With names like JoJo the Whale, Frankie Coffeecake, Eddie Mush, Jimmie Whispers and Tony Toupee, they force C to grow up too quickly. Like any child he makes good and bad decisions. Based on a one-man play written and performed by Palminteri, the story spreads a little thin but remains cohesive.
The story does start to lose ground when C begins cross-racial dating. Too much pressure is put on the teens, especially the amateurish Jane, and the film briefly falls on its back, marred by wooden dialogue and ridiculous conclusions.
There was a time when DeNiro was a reclusive actor but around the time of this film, the prolific guy we now see replaced him. His performance here is respectful on both sides of the camera. This was an early DVD release so only offers a trailer as bonus features and the video transfer is muddy in the darker scenes.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 14, 2005 | | Summary | It takes death to learn how to live | Content
| Robert de Niro dared to mix several layers of universal myth and he served it on the rocks. Romeo and Juliet with an Italian, what's more white, who falls in love with a black girl who lives not nextdoor but rather next-neighborhood, with an unspecified and unsignaled no-trespassing line between the two neighborhoods. West Side Story with a bar in its center and bands of young rogues, whites on one side and blacks on the other side. The Godfather too is not very far, even if it is on a smaller scale. A Sicilian protects his neighborhood against dangerous outsiders and looks after daily problems to keep the police out of them. He is going to be the unofficial godfather of a young boy who does not tell the police what he knows about a murder that happened just under his nose. And there we have the famous situation for a boy to be divided between his real father and his godfather. Divided allegiances. The voice of your blood versus the voice of your mind or your soul. What happens when the son gets entangled in some silly situation and gets redressed by both his real father and his godfather, especially when his real father wants to confront the godfather for the hard redressing he just gave his son, and this godfather refuses the confrontation, and he is on his way to salvage the son, like some piece of expensive property, from a doomed adventure that has absolutely no common sense in it. Hard when the real father is rather against a black girl friend and the godfather is rather for it if it is love and nothing but love, and he gives him some advice how to check if it is a real love affair. But nothing is eternal and the past always catches up with a vengeance. How can you speak the truth when it is too late and you never had the courage to speak it before the lethal accident ? It's hard to speak to a corpse but if he is your godfather, speaking to him will necessarily bring something good, because this godfather is very close to God at this very moment, bargaining some favor for his godson in exchange of some years in Purgatory or even in Hell. Only godfathers know we can bargain with God. This vision of society cannot work if you do not have in your mind the concept of a protector of some type, the protector of the neighborhood, the protector of the child, the protector of life, the protector against any kind of danger coming from outside (be sure Hell's Angels are not exactly welcome on this block), etc. Some will say this is feudal or medieval, but it sure is comfortable and reassuring to know their is a strong tree against which you can lean.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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| Rating | | | Date | July 14, 2005 | | Summary | The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. | Content
| A Bronx Tale is a story written by Chazz Palminteri and is Robert Deniro's directorial debut made from HBO. The movie starts off as a boy named Calgero played by Francis Capra, who was 9 years old and lives in Bronx, New York. His father Lorenzo played by Robert Deniro was a bus driver who has integrity and is proud of being the working class man providing love and support for his family. Calgero was a big fan of Mickey Mantle and will go to the Yankee games with his father everyday. Sonny played by Chazz Palminteri was a neighborhood crime boss, who was a very respected man, but feared by many people. Calgero will see Sonny every day and idolize him. Then one day, Calgero witnessed two men fighting in front of his house and saw Sonny pull a gun and shooting directly to one of the men. Police came by Calgero's apartment and questioned him about the shooting. Calgero went downstairs and had to point at the men that committed the crime. He didn't snitch on anybody and Sonny was impressed by Calgero that he started talking to him and Calgero started hanging out with him. When Calgero was getting money from Sonny, his father found 600 dollars in his room and got upset with Calgero. Lorenzo confronted Sonny and told him to stay away from his son. Lorenzo had to make Calgero understand that people don't love Sonny and that they fear him. A big difference. Eight years later, Calgero played by Lillo Brancin was 17 years of age and continued to hang out with Sonny. Sonny has become a father figure to him and has been looking out for him. In this story, there was a lot of racial attention between the blacks and the Italians. Calgero's friends were very racist toward the blacks. Calgero falls in love with a black woman named Jane. Calgero was planning to go on a date with her when things went bad. Jane's brother was one of the guys that got beat up by Calgero's friends. Calgero was trying to help him from getting beat up, but Jane's brother took it out on him. Eventually, everything was a misunderstanding and Jane's brother told her the truth about Calgero helping him out. Calgero's friends were plotting to throw bottle flames in the black neighborhood. Calgero was pulled out of the car by Sonny. One of the flame bottles was thrown in the car and Calgero's friends got killed. Calgero was gonna thank Sonny, but something from the past came back and haunted Sonny. Calgero finally learned from his father that the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. This movie was a believable fable with a perfect cast, a great screenplay by Chazz Palminteri and a great directorial job from one fine actor Mr. Robert Deniro. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | Good directorial debut! | Content
| This picture works out as a real modern fable. And this atmosphere is maintained all along the story through the eyes of a simple child who observes both universes: two opposite visions about the life. His father is a honest man who works hard to survive driving a bus and Chaz Palmitieri a charismatic mobster who bets and plays hard in his domains, a violent man who is captivated by this boy in a clear allusion to his frustrated paternity and the inability to establish himself as a normal husband. Somehow he assumes to Calogero as a protégée.
The time comes and others problems will appear when Calogero is in love with a black teenager. The racial issue will be other tension element in this well built movie that seems improving through the years.
De Niro made a honest and convincing tale about the options in the life: easy money or hard work.
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| Rating | | | Date | April 19, 2005 | | Summary | One of my all-time favorites! | Content
| Chazz P out did himself with this script and Robert Deniro out did himself with directing it! The emotions are tangible! It's a superb coming of age picture! The cast is perfection, the music choices are stellar and even the cinematography is top-notch. For me this picture blurred the line between right and wrong and it had me feeling empathetic toward the "bad" guy (Sonny), yet I was also rooting for C's father (Deniro) because he resisted the road that many others took and worked to gain respect via hard work! It was a war of home and streets, of hard work and the gangster life and C's was caught in the middle, learning from the both ends! I also was rooting for C and Jane's relationship to blossom! Even though it was forbidden, I found something sweet and refreshing in their love scenes! That they were willing to love during such turbulent times shows that indeed she was one of the "great ones"!
But I suppose that is what a great flick does..when it is done right, it has you torn! I own this movie on DVD and I still pull it out to watch quite often..and whenever it is on cable or tv, I can't force myself to turn the channel, even though I've seen it 1000 times, or so...it's pure nostalgia for me! Love it! |
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