A Bronx Tale 1993

I heard of this movie recently while listening to an interview with Chazz Palminteri. Palminteri was a struggling actor in Los Angeles in the 80's when he decided to pen a play that was loosely about his life growing up in the Bronx. He then started performing the play as a one-man show in California when movie companies took notice and wanted to purchase it from him. Not unlike Stallone and "Rocky", Palminteri would sell the film only if he could star in it. He turned down as much as $500k even though he was living hand to mouth. Now that is integrity. Anyway, De Niro happened to see the show and saw its brilliance. More importantly, he agreed that Palminteri was perfect for the the starring role while he would direct it himself.

The movie is about a boy that grows up in the Bronx in the shadow of made men. His father (De Niro) is a bus driver and a simple man and has a disdain for these men. But the boy is fascinated by Sonny (Palminteri), the mobster that pretty much has the run of that neighborhood. That fascination takes a twist when the boy sees Sonny kill another man in broad daylight in the street. The boy refuses to finger Sonny in a lineup and thus begins a weird relationship with the mobster.

What is interesting about this film is that it doesn't follow the traditional formula that you would normally see. I was sure that the boy would become a mobster himself and then have some kind of dramatic ending where either he would die or he would take Sonny's place. Instead, we're left with a fascinating movie that is about the choices that we make in life. Sonny takes on an interesting role as a surrogate father for the boy and his role is both heroic and tragic. Another fascinating theme to the movie was the "other side of the tracks" where blacks had taken over.

The acting in this film is superb. One would expect that De Niro would be playing the role of the strong mobster but actually it is Palminteri that got the nod. It was refreshing to see De Niro in a subtle and somewhat subdued character. I don't know why Palminteri doesn't get more lead roles - he was fantastic in his portrayal and he has been just as good in other roles as well (one of my favorites being the detective in The Usual Suspects).

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