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A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $11.23
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No wasted talent here!
Review: Wasted talent is the theme of the movie, and there was none in the making of this movie. It is a quintessential coming of age story, about how a young boy grows into a man, and the multitude of influences which try to pull him in the same direction, although the influences are polar opposites.

Chazz Palmenteri (the author of the stage play upon which the movie was based) portrays Sonny, the neighborhood mob guy. He befriends "C" the young son of a straight arrow bus driver (portrayed splendidly by De Niro, who also directs his first work admirably). Word has it that the young De Niro was discovered frolicking on Coney Island, and he is wonderfully cast as young Bobby's son.

Both want the best for this child, both give him their advice (strikingly similar) and their love. Each of the men has no respect for the other, because of the path they have respectively chosen. From each, the boy learns about respect, responsibility, love and violence. Because of both of these two opposites, he becomes a man. A great soundtrack helps MAKE this movie. Nothing could be more perfect than The Flamingoes "I Only Have Eyes For You" when the young New York Romeo & Juliet meet, or "Baby I Need Your Lovin" when they date. The music sets the mood like no other movie I can recall in recent memory.

A great movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Forget about the 'Godfather'...this movie is way much better
Review: Forget about what critics say about the 'Godfather' being the best mob film ever... this story beats them all, including 'Goodfellas'. I still don't understand why 'A Bronx Tale' is so underrated. This movie should have won an Oscar, it's great, it's awesome... and it gives you an important lesson about love and life... and it's not just blood and violence like most mob flicks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I loved this movie
Review: I am a Bronx girl, and although I am not of the Italian echnic group, I am nevertheless Italian at heart, and Italian in much of my way of thinking.

I still believe that not the entire filming of this movie was made in Astoria. The shots around the church had without a doubt, to have been Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Arthur Avenue, since I have gone to weddings there. Yes, Robert DeNiro did a superb job of directing this film about life in the Bronx in the early to late 1960's, because there was the added advantage of Mr. DeNiro being a Bronx native himself.

As a viewer, and as a reviewer, I was able to come away from this film with equal respect for Lorenzo and for Sonny. Lorenzo was the hard working family man with the Italian practicalmindedness, and Italian knowing when it came to every day life. Yes, Sonny was the head mobster of the Belmont section of the Bronx that one did not dare to cross. However, he without a doubt was the strong father figure for young C because had C not become close to Sonny, he might have become close to the local wise guys his own age, and met with their extreme inevitable.

However, I am not inclined to agree with the part where C makes a date with the young African-American girl, and attempts to meet her in her surroundings, and attempts to bring her into his neighborhood. My disagreement with this part is not from a racial prejudice perspectice, but this was the late 1960's, and racial unrest was running very strong at that particular time. I came from the Highbridge section of the Bronx, and there was an Italian enclave along with the Irish, Jewish and Scandinavian ones, but there was not a little Italy in Highbridge per se, and there were several racial incidents there at that time which had reached the media. Therefore, the part whereby C dates and romances Jane, the African-American girl, and it is accepted by Sonny, I find it to be rather far-fetched for the late 1960's.

I truly appreciated all the local color with the pisanos sitting around on their wooden chairs out on the street and shooting the breeze. The place where C used to sneak off before going up to his apartment with his parents was referred to as a bar. But the vision of an Irish bar, and an Itanlan bar differs. The Italian bar is more like a clubhouse, whereby the pisanos meet to have coffee, and discuss important business. The local fruit merchant who came around with his horse reminded me of Harry who came around Highbridge on his horse, and I can still hear him yelling 'peache, peache.' And, we were bratty little kids who would torment him at times. When I saw the young boys hitching onto the back of the crosstown bus across Fordham, it brought to mind the young boys who used to hitch on the back of the Ogden Avenue trolley cars. Johnny on the Pony was a game that I have not thought of in nearly 50 years. A story out of one of the neighborhoods of my brother-in-law is that he experienced breaking his arm with that game.

The connection with the mob was not as widespread in Highbridge as in the Belmont Avenue neighborhood, but in later years there were stories of isolated incidents, such as the local ice man. When another ice man was going to move into the neighborhood, he received word that if he did, he would be run out to the extreme. Therefore, our local ice man had no competitors in his business in Highbridge. If there was any Irish mafia, I was totally unaware of it, but there might have been only not as clearly defined as in Charlestown, Massachusetts with their code of silence.

Wow! This was a powerful movie for me. It brought back so many memories of the old neighborhood with families, extended families, and the team spirit with occasional hostility, but with a genuine respect for their families, and their surroundings in which they lived in the Bronx.

Mr. DeNiro, please direct more films.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: Let's get this straight right now. I only gave it 4 stars because giving it 5 stars would mean that it was up there with the reigning king of all gangster movies, Scarface (1983). With that out of the way, let me say that this is one of the most underappreciated films of the 90's. Commercially unsuccessful, this should have gotten much more praise and location in '93 when it was first introduced. It's a movie about a kid who's torn between his loving father and the most respected hood in the neighborhood, Sonny. Sounds pretty simple, but De Niro told this Bronx Tale with mastery and precision. I really hope De Niro considers directing more films in the near or distant future, cause like i said, he did a helluva job with this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An All-Time Classic
Review: To me this is one of the greatest movies of all time on many levels. Primarilly, the character development is extremely deep. Anyone watching this movie can understand the strengths and fears of Lorenzo, Sonny, Colegelo, as well as some of the more supporting players. Secondly, the story depicts race relations at a changing time in this country. It describes it without taking sides and showing lots of grey areas. Not just black and white. Thirdly, it shows the innerworkings of organized crime and how people in today's society are influenced by it. Finally, the conflict Cologelo experiences by being torn between two role models, his father and the neighborhood good fellow crime boss who acts like a fatherly figure, is the central theme and explored very well through each charactes eyes. Overall, this movie has nos wasted moments and will keep you hooked from start to finish.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Greatest Movie Of All Time
Review: The first time I ever saw A Bronx Tale I fell in love with it. It quickly became my favorite movie of all time. I go to West Virginia University and I made almost my entire floor watch it and all of them thanked me and said that it was one their favorites as well. De Niro proves that he can play more than a tough guy in this movie. I find myself reciting lines from this movie very often. I cannot wait to get it back from my friend to watch it again. Take an Italian's word for it, if you buy this movie, you will not be disappointed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: I thought that this was a truly great movie. De Niro did a wonderful job as director. I own this movie and have watched over 30 times. It is so very well written and the acting is great. All though Sonny is not a good person, I still cry when he dies. The only part of this movie I dis-like is the language. Before buying the video, I saw it on t.v. where it is edited. I think the language really takes away from the movie even if that is how they talked then. But overall this is a movie not to be missed!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent.
Review: De Niro's got a real gift for directing; I wish he'd do it more often.

This is a moving story about a son's conflict between the two men he looks up to. I particularly like the fact that the gangster isn't all bad, and the father's not a saint.

Beautifully-crafted, flesh-and-blood characters. If you like movies about real people, you'll love this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the great ones.
Review: This movie is definitely in my top five of all-time, maybe top three. It is, in my opinion, perhaps Robert DeNiro's best performance- and that is saying a LOT! He is very believable as Calogero's hard-working father (Lorenzo)- one who just wants to teach his son the "right thing" to do, even when it is confusing. DeNiro also directed the movie. Chazz Palmintieri does a great job as Sonny, the neighborhood Mob boss who tries to steer Calogero away from the streets and keep him in school. These two men have different methods, but both seem to genuinely have Calogero's best interests at heart. The rest of the cast is fun, and the "guys"- such as Eddie Mush and Jimmy Whispers- are colorful and provide laughs, as well as a good background for the film. (Sopranos fans will recognize Lorenzo's wife as Charmaine Bucco, Artie's wife!) All in all, a masterpiece of a film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Two men with the best intentions from oppisite sides
Review: I saw this video many times and I lived the format of this movie with one execption, we did not have any conflict with blacks from our town. We hung together and raise some hell tgether. In the end it was tragic the way C's friends died because of their blind hatred and stupidy. That was truly a waste of talent


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