The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.
A Bronx Tale weaves the story of Sonny, C and Lorenzo. Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) is the a powerful Mafioso of an Italian neighborhood at the Bronx. He becomes the big man for a boy named Calogero (Francis Capra) after the boy witnessed a shooting between Sonny and a local hoodlum but saves Sonny from the cops with his false witness. It is the starting point of a lasting bond between Sonny and C. Calogero's father Lorenzo (Robert De Niro), who is a bus driver, however, disapproves of this relationship. C grows up under the wing of both men, torn between his own natural honesty and his fascination with Sonny. C's neighborhood cronies get involved in theft, use of guns, and racial fights. When C falls for an African American girl, things don't get any easier. C's leap to manhood is marked by tragedy, but also by his recognition of the many faces of love.
A Bronx Tale is quite a powerful and moving film, wonderfully small and quite intricate with a charming simplicity. The story of this movie is based on Chazz Palminteri's real life experiences. And Robert De Niro does a brilliant job in capturing every element of the Bronx of the 1960's, from the great opening sequence where singers are sweetly singing doo-wop on the streets to the racial tension on those very same streets.
Palminteri refuses to typecast Sonny's character as a "saint", rather he portrays Sonny as a man of various shades. Sonny was a nice guy in the core, but he still has the heart of a gangster. In one of his great monologues, he explains how he'd rather be feared than loved. We get to see Sonny's dark side which compels him to act tough, sometimes willingly and sometimes unwillingly. And then again we have the scene where we can see Sonny playing crap and asking everyone he thought would give him a bad luck to get in the bathroom. It was a hilarious scene and here we see a different aspect of Sonny's character. On the other hand, De Niro's character is very bold, unimpressive yet quite effective. He plays the father who is concerned with his son's well being and is just your normal flat character.
But this movie is not about De Niro, 'cause Palminteri goes all the way to steal the show.
Honestly, anyone would have made this gangster movie and turned it into a clichĂŠd gang flick but De Niro made it with heart and wit. That's what made A Bronx Tale different.
[Image courtesy: Fanpop]
