A Bronx Tale (15)

Brilliant mob film from Robert De Niro, out on Blu-ray Monday 18th!

A Bronx Tale (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

It’s a tragic truth that Robert De Niro’s rich and enthralling directorial debut A Bronx Tale is one of the lesser seen gangster pictures.  Upon release in 1993 it sorely under-performed at the box office (having Jurassic Park to compete with), and has since fallen behind such titans as Goodfellas and The Godfather as far as must-see mafia movies go.  This month’s welcome Blu-ray re-release is a chance to right this wrong, and put this mighty work back where it belongs with the best of the best.

We meet Bronx-dwelling Italian American Calogero at the age of nine.  He’s a typical school kid, memorising baseball trivia and testing his parents’ boundaries.  He develops a curiosity for local mob boss Sonny, who hangs out on the corner of his street, and he tries to sneak peaks at him at the bar next door, which his parents have deemed strictly out of bounds.  De Niro plays Calogero’s father Lorenzo, a hardworking and honest ‘stand up guy’, to use the vernacular.  When his son’s fascination with the gangster develops into a father-son-like relationship, Lorenzo becomes all the more protective, which in turn drives Calogero further away from him.  Sonny even gives the boy a new name, ‘C’, and soon C finds himself earning more than his father by running seemingly harmless errands for his new mentor.

As a director De Niro simultaneously pays homage to Martin Scorsese, from who he clearly learnt so much, and sets himself apart as something new and different.  He takes Scorsese’s energetic and wild style but gives it a twist, removing the darkness and injecting a child-like playfulness, perfectly suited to a story told from a child’s point of view.  As well as playing Sonny, Chazz Palminteri adapted the script from his own play, which premiered in 1990 to critical acclaim.  The story offers an unusual and refreshing perspective on the often over-glamourised world of mobster life, with C struggling to figure out whether Sonny is the tough guy and his father the sucker, or vice versa.

The soundtrack gives A Bronx Tale extra heart and soul; a dizzying selection of Doo-wop and rock n’ roll making the film every bit as operatic and exhilarating as any of Scorsese’s.  The cinematography is authentic and beautiful, and with a couple of small exceptions the performances are more than worthy.  The conclusion, featuring an apt cameo played to wise-guy perfection, is just the cherry on top of a really scrumptious celluloid cake.

If you’re a gangster flicks junky, or fancy a game of ‘spot the Sopranos actor’, then you can’t miss this film.  The script is elegant in structure, sparkling in dialogue and heartfelt in message, leaving very little to criticise amongst the riches to recommend.  Now if that’s not an offer you can’t refuse I don’t know what is.

Blu-ray extras: Making of, Trailer