Callogero Anello is a 9-year old child living in the Bronx - notorious for gangster bars, racist people and aggressive nature. Callogero witnesses a shooting in the street involving local bid shot gangster, Sonny (Chazz Palimentri), but refuses to grass him to the police. Sonny grows fond of the child and begins to teach him how things are conducted on streets. Callogrino's father (Robert DeNiro) is a working man, and wants his child to grow up and make his money honestly, and does not want him to mix with Sonny. Despite his father's disapproval, for eight years continues to see Sonny, and learn a 'street' education from. Despite being a gangster, Sonny loves Callegrino and teaches him that being a gangster is too risky and dangerous. However Callegrino misinterprets Sonny's message, and still gets involved with racist fights with his friends, and things get worse when he falls in love with a black girl. A story in the Bronx, as a child grows up with two eductions, one from school and one from the street, and as the child grows closer to a gangster, he begins to grow away from his family.
AMAZON.COM REVIEWS FOR A BRONX TALE (1993): Chazz Palminteri wrote the script for this excellent story ofan Italian American boy (Lillo Brancato) who grows up in the 1960scaught between the strong influences of his blue-collar, straight-arrow father (Robert De Niro) and a Mafia chieftain (Palminteri) whois his all-purpose mentor. De Niro makes his directorial debut withthis production and, except for a little stiffness, does very well bythe characters and their world. The story does not go precisely whereone might expect it to go: Palminteri knows better than to force thecentral figure to choose between the two most important men in hislife, and he doesn't fill time with stock drama about crime or familyconflict. Joe Pesci makes an extremely effective and uncreditedappearance at the end as a man who doesn't have to do more than speaksoftly to communicate how dangerous he is. The DVD release contains thetheatrical trailer and optional French and Spanishsoundtracks. --Tom Keogh
AWARDS FOR A BRONX TALE (1993):
- Casting Society of America, USA
1994
Nominated
Artios
Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama
Ellen Chenoweth
- Sant Jordi Awards
1996
Won
Sant Jordi
Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero)
Chazz Palminteri
Also for The Usual Suspects (1995) and Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
- Young Artist Awards
1994
Nominated
Young Artist Award
Best Youth Actor Co-Starring in a Motion Picture Drama
Francis Capra