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A man must stand up to the powerful gangster who is influencing his son.
Robert De Niro is my favorite actor in the business, bar-none. His recent work is nothing but "O.K", some bordering bad. His age has clearly caught up to him, yet I'm still intrigued each and every time I hear he'll be starring in an upcoming film. He's known for gangster roles such as Goodfellas, Casino, and Mean Streets to name a few. De Niro was probably the the greatest back in his hey day.
Here, he plays an overprotective father forced to stand up to the powerful gangster influencing, and befriending his son. Shot back in 1993, GoodFellas had already been out for some time, and a lot of the story elements here are copied. That happens to be one of my only complaints. The film starts out with a narration by De Niro's son, going into detail about how he loves the New York Yankees, and the fact that he watches Sonny, the mafia head all day long on the streets of New York, mimicking him and someday hoping to be like him. So, the narration aspect is a clear cut copy. Yes, narrating is done in many films, so it technically isn't stealing, but the way it's performed makes all the difference. Like GoodFellas, Ray Liotta narrates the whole duration, including the introductions of the members in his gang. For example: "His name was Jimmy Two Times. They called him that because he liked to say everything twice". I found that interesting and quite original when I first saw it in that movie. Unfortunately, De Niro had to implement it in this film, which happens to be his directorial debut. It seemed he was trying to make this too much like his previous work, and easily could've left that part out. Despite that, "Bronx" is a fine effort.
The cast is pretty good, no doubt. Not many big names, albeit Bobby and Chazz, but star power isn't the name of the game in this particular situation. You are mostly shown low level actors playing the young kids associated with Sonny's crew. It works well, impeccably acted.
Sonny is played by a very fine actor in Chazz Palminteri. He milks his role for all it's got, portraying the dangerous gangster to near perfection. His Mafioso character is quite different from most, as he's actually very relaxed, rarely using any force or murder to send messages. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was a normal citizen working an 8 hour job. Lorenzo (De Niro) is a long time bus driver, and it seems he really never intends to quit. I loved his character. You can still see some of his Mafia blood thrown in once or twice, which was a nice refreshing sight. He's very overprotective, hard working, and looks down on those who don't do real work for a living. Which brings us to the clash of him, and Sonny. Lorenzo numerous times tells his kid not to go near the bar, which of course, as a young and curious kid, makes him want to explore it even more. The bar, of course is Sonny's main hot spot, where him and his crew like to plant themselves most the time. From there, Sonny and the kid form a bond, father-son relationship type of deal. (They meet for a specific reason, but I won't give anything away). At one point, I was second-guessing myself over whether I should be hating, or loving Sonny, because he seems like such a genuine guy, despite some violent and disrespectful behavior that had me thinking otherwise. Anyway, the two continue to hang out. Sonny gives the kid advise, takes him everywhere, like he is indeed his kin. Lorenzo wants no part of this, and immediately steps in to fix matters. Will he get his son back from the ruthless gangster? Watch this movie and you'll find out.
A Bronx Tale is indeed a gangster picture, of course. But at the same time it really isn't. It most definitely focuses heavily on character depth, and each character has some what of a back-story to make them that much more believable. It's a three character narrative, mainly, making it pretty easy to watch, not having to think much. You may be expecting tons of violence, due to De Niro's reputation, and the storyline presented. In a way that's true. But it's equally countered with a powerful message about family, friendship, and morals, molding this picture into somewhat more of a drama. It is very intense, and some racial slurs, beat-downs, so forth are present. By the way, each and every scene that's shot containing violence, are brilliantly entertaining. overall, A Bronx Tale is an emotionally driven character study, that just happens to be coinciding with the mean streets of New York.
I was left satisfied, with a sense of happiness afterwards. The kind of happiness you get after viewing something that was worth your time and attention. De Niro's directorial debut isn't perfect, and it definitely is not as entertaining as most of his other material, but it works, and it's a fun ride. Fans of the genre, or De Niro will not be displeased.
7.5/10
