A Bronx Tale [RSC Film Club 32]

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

This month's category, chosen by @djw180 was play adaptations with the winning film being @omarcomin71's selection of A Bronx Tale.  

The directorial debut of Robert De Niro, A Bronx Tale is based on the 1989 autobiographical play of the same name, which was a one man show by Chazz Palminteri, who also adapted the play for the screen.  The film is a coming of age story where the young Calogero (Francis Capra/Lillo Brancato, Jr. as child and teen Calogero respectively) is torn between his father Lorenzo (De Niro) and local gangster Sonny (Palminteri).  

This is another film club choice that I haven't seen yet so there's not much more I can say.  I'm really looking forward to checking this out, not just because I like a good New York crime film, but because I've never seen a film directed by De Niro and it will be interesting to see if his talents as an actor translate when he's behind the camera.  

the saddest thing in life is wasted talent

[Sinister 2,583]

GREAT movie.

Sadly Mr. Brancato ditched his movie career for a criminal career/drug habit and ended up in prison.

[djw180 7,006]

Based on the semi-autobiographical play by Chaz Palminteri, this is the story of Calogero, an Italian American living growing up in the Bronx area of 1960s New York. As boy he admires the local crime boss, Sony, and despite the efforts of his bus driver father Lorenzo to keep him away from the Mafia, he starts to work for them. Most of the film takes place when Cologero is 17 and as well as the Father – Son vs Gangster - Son relationship the film also includes his budding relationship with Jane, an African American girl from a neighbouring district, and the issues with respect to racism that brings up.

For me this was OK, but never really gripped me. I didn't find Lillo Brancato playing the central character of the teenage Calogero, nor Taral Hicks as Jane, that good. Some of their scenes seemed a bit wooden to me. He seemed to be doing his best attempt at a de Nero impression a lot of the time, though to be fair he does look like what you could imagine a teenage de Nero looked like. The support though is good from de Nero, Chaz Palminteri and a nice cameo from Joe Pesci at the end.

The story also just seemed to not go very far. I was left asking a few 'what happens next with …. ?' type of questions. What happened with Jane? Did their families come round or try to keep them apart? What happened to Calogero after Sony's death at the end? Did he stay involved with the mafia or did his father's influence dominate? Maybe because we know it's semi-autobiographical we are supposed to just assume he became an actor? Also I wasn't really sure who Sony really was. He acts tough, does what he thinks he should, including murder, to keep the peace in the neighbourhood, but we never see that much in the way of the sort of crime that the mafia make their money from. So who exactly was he?

Overall I give this one 6/10

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

We are constantly told throughout the duration of A Bronx Tale that there is nothing sadder than wasted talent, which is ironic considering the film is the very embodiment of that statement, and it is only because of a few bright spots that it doesn't fall right into mediocrity.  

The debut film for Robert De Niro as director, it was adapted by Chazz Palminteri from his one man show.  The film stars Lillo Brancato as Calogero, a teenager with two opposing male role models in his life, his hardworking bus driver father (De Niro) and the local mob boss Sonny (Palminteri).  Calogero goes from worshipping his father, riding proudly with him on his bus route to being fascinated by Sonny after seeing him kill a man, lying to the police about it allowing him to walk free.  He grows up under Sonny's wing, learning to love him as a father, following his advice which eventually saves his life, but his own advice couldn't save Sonny.

One of the strengths of this film is the script.  Being based on his own life, Palminteri manages to infuse his script with a real nostalgia and love for a place in time.  It also feels true, no one acts out of character and the film never switches things up, it stays its course.  Because of this it also feels safe and conventional.  Maybe a few risks were needed.  De Niro and Palminteri are both good in this film, De Niro, playing against type as the stoic blue collar working man, keeps his character just on the edge of lawfulness.  You can see his struggle to do things the right way, not only for himself but for his family.  Palminteri, in the role you would expect De Niro to play, is quiet and measured.  Like De Niro he plays it close to the edge, but the edge he's close to is violence.  One of my favourite lines in the film is when, after a biker gang refuses to leave his bar, he locks the door and tells them “now you can't leave”.  In that moment you can see why he's in charge.  The best scenes in the film are the confrontations between the two men.  

The rest of the performances vary in quality.  Brancato, who is the spitting image of a young De Niro (probably the main reason he was cast), can hold his own against the other younger members of the cast, and I liked his voiceover, but when he's in a scene with Palminteri or De Niro he really falls short.  What really drags the film down is the performance of Taral Hicks as Calogero's Black love interest, Jane.  She is very wooden with a stilted delivery and I just couldn't buy anything she was saying.  This is also because the parts of the film that deal with the racial tensions between the Italian and Black communities are very underdeveloped.  Palminteri probably covered this in greater detail in his one man play, but in a two hour film it really isn't given the time that it needs.  

As a director De Niro plays it very safe.  There is very little flair or originality in his direction, and when he does try it just doesn't work (the scene that comes to mind is when the neighbourhood kids are harassing the elderly fruit seller and we get a load of uncomfortable POV shots).  The rest seems to come from Scorsese.  The voiceover by the young protagonist and the scene where all of the different gangsters are introduced in the bar (it's Tony Toupee, there's Joey the Whale etc) is straight from Goodfellas, and the fight scene with the bikers is a copy of the barroom brawl in Mean Streets.  The soundtrack, a mix of soul and rock, is also straight from the Scorsese playbook.  De Niro just doesn't seem to have any interest in actually directing (he has only directed one other film since, The Good Shepherd from 2006) and just took the job because he wanted a role in the film.  

I feel more could have been made of the theatrical roots of the story.  The main street where most of the action takes placed could have been made to look more stagey, like the Skid Row set from Little Shop of Horrors, instead of a voiceover maybe have Calogero appear in shot addressing the audience.  This could have made for a more engaging and unique experience rather than the dime a dozen gangster film which we got in its place.  This is better than your average gangster film, but only just, and will probably be remembered as being a great actors directorial debut rather than a good film in it's own right.  

On 7/18/2021 at 8:41 PM, djw180 said:

Also I wasn't really sure who Sony really was. He acts tough, does what he thinks he should, including murder, to keep the peace in the neighbourhood, but we never see that much in the way of the sort of crime that the mafia make their money from. So who exactly was he?

I attributed the softening of his character to the fact that the story is told by Calogero, and he doesn't want to see Sonny as the ruthless cold-hearted killer that he probably is.  

[Con 5,719]

A Bronx Tale (1993)

I can be in the Bronx in 45 minutes by train. So seeing the Fordham Rd/Pelham Parkway destination signs on the bus really took me back to when I was sixteen, jumping on the Metro-North and getting off at Fordham Rd in the Bronx and going clothes shopping. I haven't been there in over a decade and me and the boys used to go every other weekend. I can still see the "Alexander's" store. It's amazing how an image can open up so many memories, I almost paused the film to reminisce.

I had watched this several times in the past but this time I watched it with review intent so I noticed things I hadn't thought about during previous viewings. Let's begin with the good stuff. One of the positive new things I noticed was just how much this film is set outdoors. Yes, there are plenty of indoor scenes but the majority of the film is shot outdoors and I think that added so much organically to the setting making us feel as if we were really there during those decades. I felt the production design did a strong job of transporting us while not oversaturating the sets with era props. I really loved seeing Carmine (Joe Pesci) in the last act. I had forgotten he was in the film briefly.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Sonny (Chazz Palminteri), C (Lilo Brancato), and Lorenzo (Robert DeNiro). I grew up in an environment where wannabe guys like Sonny sold drugs outside and I was raised by a single mother, and it was easy to be drawn to the bad guys in the neighborhood who owned all the toys I only dreamed of, the expensive car, the clothes, all the sneakers, and the ability to draw women in with materialism. The problem I had was that I could not see the risk-reward being worth it. No matter how much these guys flashed, eventually they would end up in jail or become addicted to the sh*t they were selling. There were a few guys that knew I was different from everyone else, you know, I used my head. I wasn't about bringing attention to myself and I could tell they wanted to train me to do what they do. But I was lucky to have met the girl of my dreams around that time and I will always thank her for saving me from possibly falling into that trap. I hope someday I get to tell her just how much she saved me. I still experienced jail but it wasn't for selling drugs or gang b*nging. There was one guy I was locked up with that had a picture of his Lexus on his wall. I asked him where the car was while he was incarcerated and he said his aunt was driving it while he was locked up. I will never forget his delusion and how even being in that jail, he had learned nothing. All he cared about was getting out, getting his car back and continuing the behavior that put him in lock down in the first place. It was pretty sad. Me, I didn't put up a damn thing on those walls, I wasn't planning on making that place home. So I felt the allure C felt for the lifestyle was valid and accurate. I enjoyed the tension between Sonny and Lorenzo, especially the scene after Sonny finds the bomb in his car. Their tension is so thick and so damn compelling because, yes, Sonny does seem to care for C, but Lorenzo is his dad and that fatherly love is what gives those scenes serious power.  Also credit to the team in charge of the boys crashing and burning. That was one of my favorite scenes because it looked very real. Great stunt work and execution.

The line: "From that day on, I never felt the same about the Yankees again." just had me laughing because I had that happen to me about eight years ago with my fave football team. I was like, why do i care so much? It's time to stop. lol. 

The love interest element was interesting and I enjoyed the implications of Sonny and Jane's (Taral Hicks) relationship in both racially volatile and sensitive neighborhoods. One of my biggest laughs came when C asks Jane if she can make "sauce". Everyone knows that an Italian woman is not ready to get married until she can make a kick *ss sauce. I liked the conflict that arises during the bicycle attack scene but I must say that the reconciliation was a bit watered down and the fact that C using the N word is not addressed by either party was a letdown. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to shed light on the why C even used the word. Yes, he was emotional but that is no excuse and he could have explained that it came from his environment and not from inside him. Sadder is the notion that maybe Jane was used to hearing the slur and it was normal. One thing that surprised me during this viewing was Lorenzo's reaction to C implying he would date outside his race. There was Lorenzo preaching intelligence and understanding and wasting talent, but he still held some inner prejudice. I felt that was pretty solid because here is Lorenzo telling his kid to stay out of trouble cause he could get hurt hanging with the mafiosos and the one girl that could pull C away from the dangerous lifestyle is a girl that could get C beat up or even killed if her neighborhood doesn't approve. I know that's true from experience, you see in high school I began talking to this girl and I began getting notes in my locker telling me to stay away from her. LMFAO. I guess when her and I started making out in the hallways, it became proof that their threats didn't work. Oh how I must have been secretly hated in high school. hahaha

Either way I guess I should get into some of the negatives. 

I thought the acting was pretty good by the principal actors and only felt two performances were a bit mediocre. One was Rosina (Kathrine Narducci) as the wife, I felt the only time she was compelling was when she was displaying greed. One thing I had never shared before about this movie is how  I always felt that Rosina enabled "C" to be in the bar helping Sonny.....you know,  the old "mom take these $200, don't tell dad". The other actor that I felt was borderline terrible was Mush (Eddie Montanero), I know he was there for comic relief but I could see the actor acting and that is never good. Perhaps the schtick was used to often because I cringed at the horse race scene and come to think of it, they should have replaced that scene with one of Rosina being caught with a piece of jewelry and Lorenzo confronting her about sending their son the wrong message. 

Something I noticed for the first time was the pacing in some scenes, I don't know, it might have come from the editing but I felt there was missing dialogue in some places as "beats" appear to fast forward. Maybe it was just me. The only scene I had a problem with was the line-up scene. I thought it was so unrealistic on many levels. First there is no way they have the kid pick out the shooter on the streets like that. The cops have to protect the witness and parading a young C on the street like that was so unrealistic even for that time period. Here is also where that pacing seemed off, we see the parking space altercation and C goes upstairs and what seems like 30 seconds later, the cops are knocking at their door wanting to talk to the young C. How did all that happen so fast? These are the mafiosos that are feared in the neighborhood and no one would talk. On top of that, why was Sonny still on the scene? I know it's a minor thing and the film being two hours, I can see why they rushed it in some places but that police response just seemed to come to quickly for my taste. A personal negative was having to hear the N word. I grew up in a neighborhood that encouraged the use of the altered version or street version, "n*gga".  I used that word daily while conversating with my black neighbors. They saw me as one of them and they even greeted me with the word. For us in the street that altered version is safe to use if people know you, but just because I had a pass didn't mean I would use it around people I just met. The version I never heard was the one used in the film...the N word that really conveys hatred. So whenever I hear that version of it, I f*cking cringe my brain out. But I appreciate the filmmakers for leaving the word in as that's the way it was.....and still is for some people. And yes, C gets treated poorly in the black neighborhood but nothing that is said to him made me cringe more than hearing the N word said by C and his friends. 

Final Verdict...4/5.... I really loved the messages conveyed in this story, from acceptance to not wasting your talent doing sh*t the less intelligent find a home in. But I also disliked the Diet Goodfellas feel to it mainly because I felt it pulls the punches in for C. He is mostly unscathed throughout the film and most of his conflicts come from his father's disapproval of him looking up to Sonny. I just never felt the stakes were that high for C, and actually felt pretty safe for him because he had fatherly love and gangsta love. I really think this film deserves a 3/5 but I'm giving it a 4/5 because I think it gives a mostly accurate portrayal of the time and space this is set in. Watching the neighborhood around the Italians change in the story was fantastic. About a year ago during one of the BLM movements, I remember speaking with an NYC Italian old-timer and he said to me, "my neighborhood changed after desegregation in America and people were upset. But we forget that we did something similar when we arrived here and desegregated the neighborhoods we moved into. The Irish did not want us on their sidewalks and we heard the slurs they called us. So what goes around comes around. Never forget that, fella."  This film would make an excellent Father's Day watch, I bet.  I had a friend that used to say, "The working man is a sucker" as he sold his drugs unscathed because he didn't have to really worry about cops randomly pulling over someone from his ethnicity. He probably thought he never got caught because he was so smart. And yes, he was quick to put down the guy selling the same sh*t on the street. He thought he was different from those guys but he wasn't. He was just lucky not to fit the profile. Well it's been 20+ years and if you are wondering if he is now living like Pablo Escobar, well I hate to disappoint you, all those years of his "the working man is a sucker", he forgot that we get old and what we contribute to social security is what helps us when we are old and decrepit. So instead of being on the verge of retirement plans, a person of his advanced age is doing manual labor. The thing about life is that no matter how much you plan or how much abundance you have, life could have other plans. Hopefully life had other plans for C in his movie world. 

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Con

[Sinister 2,583]

Sonny driving all the way to the restaurant in reverse is great.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,295]

10 hours ago, Sinister said:

Sonny driving all the way to the restaurant in reverse is great.

He has a load of great character moments like that throughout like that, locking the bikers in the bar and I really liked his advice to Calogero about knowing if a girl is one of the great ones by seeing if she leans over to unlock the door for you.  Probably my favourite character in the film.

[pete_95973 4,386]

10 hours ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

He has a load of great character moments like that throughout like that, locking the bikers in the bar and I really liked his advice to Calogero about knowing if a girl is one of the great ones by seeing if she leans over to unlock the door for you.  Probably my favourite character in the film.

Now yous can't leave...

Edited August 6, 2021 by pete_95973

[Con 5,719]

In the early 2000’s, Joe Pantoliano a.k.a. Ralphie from the Sopranos. Him and a few of his actor buddies invested in an Asian fusion restaurant in my town. Joey Pants as we called him, was coming to buy cigars from us anytime he was going to hang out at his  restaurant and he became one of our regulars. 
One night he invited the owners of my workplace  and myself to have dinner with him, Andy Garcia, and Chazz Palminteri. 
Sadly, it was during the time when my father in law was diagnosed with dementia and I had to attend to him that evening. So I had to forfeit the dinner. I could’ve had photos with Chazz!  Never got that amazing invite again. The restaurant closed two years later. Joey Pants quit smoking cigars and haven’t heard from him ever since. True story. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Con