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''A Bronx Tale'' is a 1993 American
coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be ...
crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...
directed by and starring
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
in his directorial debut and produced by Jane Rosenthal, adapted from
Chazz Palminteri Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri (born May 15, 1952)
Chazzpalminteri.net. Retrieved on November 19, 2013.
is an American ...
's 1989 play of the same name. It tells the
coming of age story In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal ...
of an Italian-American boy, Calogero, who, after encountering a local Mafia boss, is torn between the temptations of organized crime and the values of his honest, hardworking father, as well as racial tensions in his community. The Broadway production was converted to film with limited changes, and starred Palminteri and De Niro. De Niro, who first viewed the play in Los Angeles in 1990, acquired the rights from Palminteri, intent on making the play his directorial debut. The duo then worked heavily together on the screenplay, with Palminteri aiming to retain many of the aspects of the original script, as it was based largely on his own childhood. Production began in 1991, and was funded in collaboration with De Niro's
TriBeCa Productions Tribeca Productions is an American film and television production company co-founded in 1989 by actor Robert De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca. History The production company was founded in 19 ...
and Savoy Pictures, as the first film released by each studio. ''A Bronx Tale'' premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
on September 14, 1993, and released in the United States on September 29, 1993. The film achieved limited commercial success, grossing over $17 million domestically. However, it fared much better with critics, who praised the performances of the leads, and launched Palminteri's acting career, while also helping De Niro gain acceptance as a director.


Plot

In 1960, Lorenzo works as an MTA bus driver in Belmont, a working-class Italian-American neighborhood in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
, with his wife Rosina and their nine-year-old son Calogero. Calogero becomes enamored with the criminal life and Mafia presence in his neighborhood, led by Sonny. One day, Calogero witnesses Sonny shooting and killing a man assaulting his friend. When Calogero chooses to keep quiet when questioned by NYPD detectives, Sonny takes a liking to him and gives him the nickname "C." Sonny's men offer Lorenzo a better paying job but, preferring a law-abiding life as a bus driver, he politely declines. Sonny befriends Calogero and introduces him to his crew. Calogero earns tips working in Sonny's bar and throwing dice, and is admonished by Lorenzo when he discovers the cash. Lorenzo returns the money to Sonny, and warns him to keep away from Calogero. Eight years later, a 17-year old Calogero has been visiting Sonny regularly without his father's knowledge. Calogero is also part of a gang of local Italian-American boys, which concerns Sonny. Later, Calogero meets a black girl, Jane, and they develop a tentative friendship. Despite the high level of racial tension and dislike between Italian-Americans and African-Americans in the neighborhood, Calogero arranges a date with Jane. He asks for advice from both his father and Sonny, with the latter lending Calogero his car. Later, Calogero's friends beat up black cyclists who ride through their neighborhood, despite Calogero's attempts to defend them. One of the cyclists turns out to be Jane's brother, and he mistakes Calogero for one of the assailants and accuses him of beating him up when he and Jane meet for their date. Calogero loses his temper over the accusation, and calls him a nigger, which he instantly regrets. Jane leaves with her brother. At home, Calogero is confronted by his father who had just seen him driving Sonny's car. An argument ensues and Calogero storms out. Shortly thereafter, Calogero is confronted by Sonny and his crew, who found a bomb on Sonny's car. Sonny confronts Calogero, and after the latter tearfully pleads his unwavering dedication to him, Sonny recognizes Calogero's innocence and allows him to leave. The black boys egg the Italian-American boys' usual spot in retaliation for the previous beating, and Calogero's friends make a plan to strike back using Molotov cocktails. They force Calogero to participate, but while on their way, Sonny stops their car and orders Calogero out. Calogero catches up with Jane, who tells him that her brother had later admitted that the boy who beat him up was not Calogero. Jane and Calogero make amends, but he suddenly remembers his friends' plans to attack Jane's neighborhood, and the two rush to stop them. During the attack, a black shopkeeper had thrown an unbroken Molotov cocktail back at the Italian-American boys' car which entered through the window igniting the other Molotov cocktails, resulting in an explosion that killed everyone inside. When Calogero and Jane arrive, they find the car engulfed in flames and the boys' dead bodies burned. Calogero leaves and rushes into Sonny's bar to thank him for saving his life, but among the crowd, an assailant shoots Sonny in the back of the head before Calogero can warn him. Calogero later learns that the assailant was the son of the man he witnessed Sonny kill eight years earlier. At Sonny's funeral, countless people come to pay their respects. When the crowd disperses, a lone man, Carmine, visits the funeral, claiming that Sonny once saved his life as well. Calogero does not recognize Carmine until he sees a scar on his forehead and realizes he was the man being assaulted whom Sonny had defended when he committed the murder. Carmine tells Calogero that he is filling in for Sonny in the neighborhood for the time being, and promises Calogero help should he ever need. Carmine leaves just as Lorenzo unexpectedly arrives to pay his respects to Sonny. Lorenzo thanks him for saving his son's life and admits that he had never hated him, but that he had resented him for making Calogero grow up so quickly. Calogero and his father walk home together as Calogero narrates the lessons he learned from his two mentors.


Cast

*
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
as Lorenzo *
Chazz Palminteri Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri (born May 15, 1952)
Chazzpalminteri.net. Retrieved on November 19, 2013.
is an American ...
as "Sonny" * Lillo Brancato, Jr. as Calogero (age 17) ** Francis Capra as Calogero (age 9) * Taral Hicks as Jane * Kathrine Narducci as Rosina * Clem Caserta as Jimmy "Whispers" * Frank Pietrangolare as Danny "K.O." * Joe Pesci as Carmine * Alfred Sauchelli Jr. as Bobby "Bars" * Robert D'Andrea as Tony "Toupee" * Eddie Montanaro as Eddie "Mush" * Fred Fischer as Joe "Jo Jo The Whale" * Dave Salerno as Frankie "Coffeecake" * Joe D'Onofrio as "Slick" (Age 17) * Louis Vanaria as Mario "Crazy Mario" * Domenick Lombardozzi as Nicky "Zero"


Production

The film is based on Chazz Palminteri's play original play of the same name, which was performed as a one-man show, being largely based on his own childhood, specifically the shooting Calogero witnesses as a child, as well as the occupation and name of his father. In 1990, at a performance of ''A Bronx Tale'',
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
met with Palminteri in his dressing room after having seen the show. De Niro told Palminteri, "This is one of the greatest one-man shows I've ever seen, if not the greatest ... This is a movie, this is an incredible movie." After acquiring the rights to create the film, with De Niro claiming the deal was made solely with a
gentlemen's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...
with Palminteri, the duo began crafting the screenplay. Prior to partnering with De Niro, Palminteri rejected several offers for the film's rights, including some as high as $1 million, due to not being granted the roles of primary screenwriter and Sonny, the gangster Calogero meets. De Niro met Palminteri's requirements on the condition that he be allowed to direct the film and play Lorenzo, Calogero's father, which Palminteri accepted.


Release


Theatrical

The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
on September 14, 1993. It was then released in the United States on September 29, 1993.


Home media

Sometime after the film's theatrical run, HBO released the movie on VHS, CD and in 1998 on DVD. The DVD is out of print, but in January 2010,
Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the U ...
released a DVD copy of the film exclusive to online retailer
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
.


Reception


Box office

''A Bronx Tale'' opened in 1,077 theaters, with an opening weekend gross of $3.7 million. It went on to make $17.3 million domestically.


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''A Bronx Tale'' sets itself apart from other coming-of-age dramas thanks to a solid script, a terrific cast, and director Robert De Niro's sensitive work behind the camera."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave it a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film four stars, calling it "very funny ndvery touching. It is filled with life and colorful characters and great lines of dialogue, and De Niro, in his debut as a director, finds the right notes as he moves from laughter to anger to tears
hile Hile ( ne, हिले) is a hill town located in the Eastern Part of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasa ...
retaining its values." In 2008, the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...
nominated this film for its Top 10 Gangster Films list.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bronx Tale, A 1993 crime drama films 1993 films American crime drama films American coming-of-age drama films Films about the American Mafia American gangster films Films about race and ethnicity American films based on plays Films directed by Robert De Niro Films set in the Bronx Films set in 1960 Films set in 1968 Films about interracial romance Films about racism Savoy Pictures films Belmont, Bronx Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey 1993 directorial debut films 1990s coming-of-age drama films Films about father–son relationships Films produced by Jon Kilik Films about Italian-American culture 1990s English-language films 1990s American films