Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786303029023 Format: Closed-captioned ISBN: 6303029027 Label: Hbo Home Video Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 1995-02-14 Running Time: 122 Studio: Hbo Home Video Theatrical Release Date: 1993-09-29
Chazz Palminteri wrote the script for this excellent story of an Italian American boy (Lillo Brancato) who grows up in the 1960s caught between the strong influences of his blue-collar, straight- arrow father (Robert De Niro) and a Mafia chieftain (Palminteri) who is his all-purpose mentor. De Niro makes his directorial debut with this production and, except for a little stiffness, does very well by the characters and their world. The story does not go precisely where one might expect it to go: Palminteri knows better than to force the central figure to choose between the two most important men in his life, and he doesn't fill time with stock drama about crime or family conflict. Joe Pesci makes an extremely effective and uncredited appearance at the end as a man who doesn't have to do more than speak softly to communicate how dangerous he is. --Tom Keogh
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: A course in phony nostalgia and phony morality Comment: I was greatly surprised to see how many stars this film recieved by viewers, it certainly does not deserve such applause. "A bronx tale" is basically a tale about a typical Italian american boy growing up in the 60's ,who is mentored by a mobster. This underworld figure demonstrates a set of morals and he cares deeply for "calogero", who later in his teenage years falls in love with a black girl. His mentor, played by Palimentieri, teaches him that true love is all that counts. The plot means well, but the acting is awful and the message is not believeable.
Never, ever, in the 1960's would a large number of whites, regardless of how they earned a living, demonstrate such understanding. The film has an agenda and the role of the mobsters are incidental to the central point, which is calogeros' eventual love for the girl. Lilo Brancato and the characters of his friends display an incredible lack for acting. The writing is bad and the characters stiff. It is known that Robert deniro only dates women of color, and although there is certainly nothing wrong with that, his desire and predilection seem to dictate the direction of this movie. It is not moving, but rather offensive. Italian americans are overwhelmingly portrayed as dopey , all of them having a cross dangling from their necks. No, I did not like this movie. I grew up in Queens during the 70's. I am an Italian american who grew up in an Italian neighborhood.I found this film reeking from steriotypical ideas of what New Yorkers were like. The writing was awful and I cant stress how bad the acting is. I also do not believe the movie was completely based on the play, it was rewritten to fit personal profiles. The movie was insulting and false. A figment of Deniros idea of entertainment. He should have stuck to playing roles where he does what he does best, curse and swear. Customer Rating: Summary: I Love This Movie Comment: My daughter and I watch A Bronx Tale at least twice a week. I have loved this movie every since I first saw it on AMC. Chazz Palaminteri and Robert De Niro both did great jobs, as well as all of the other actors. Robert De Niro plays a bus driver named Lorenzo Anello. He and his wife Rosini and their nine year-old son, Calogero are living in the bronx. Calogero is fascinated by mobster, Sonny, who is a fixture in their neighborhood. Lorenzo is trying to keep his son away from people like Sonny, but the young boy ignores his dad and befriends Sonny. Calogero witnesses Sonny doing something that he refuses to admit to the police. A bond is thereby created between the young boy and the mobster.
I like how Sonny teaches his young friend, Calogero, who he gives the nick-name of "C" to not try and live the same life that he is living. He tells him to stay in school, stay away from bad company, and know who your real friends are. Calogero loves his father, who is also teaching him to be respectful and hardworking, but he also looks up to Sonny, and picks up a lot of "street smarts" along the way. Customer Rating: Summary: "We asked you to leave, now yooz can't leave," Comment: "You open the car door for her and then you walk around the back of the car to see whether or not she unlocks the car door for you, that's how you tell whether or not she's a good girl." That may not be the exact quote, but you get the gist. If you didn't know that was the world's perfect litmus test before seeing the movie, you have the most amazing ah ha moment when you first here it explained in the movie. And when you start to think about it, that's when you remember, he's right. This a great movie! Customer Rating: Summary: Amazing! Comment: This is one of my all time favorite movies! My friend made me watch it and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I read the back of the case and thought it just wasn't my kind of movie. Totally wrong! This movie is pretty much amazing!!! Now all my friends have watched it and not one can say they didn't enjoy it. Watch it! I swear you'll like it! Customer Rating: Summary: A Bronx Tale Comment: Adapted from a one-man show written and performed by Palminteri, De Niro's directorial debut resembles another coming-of-age New York mafia drama: "Goodfellas." But "Tale" is more nostalgic and less brutal than Scorsese's film, telling the simple story of a teen whose respect for his father's principles conflicts with the allure of a gangster's swaggering charm. Anchored by two excellent performances from De Niro and Palminteri, the film examines issues like family bonds and loyalty in the context of the socially turbulent '60s, when racism and xenophobia were rife--all underscored by C's fledgling romance with a black girl (Taral Hicks). De Niro has a real feel for period details, too, which gives additional lift to this absorbing character study.
