The Pain of Wasted Talent: Review of A Bronx Tale (1993)

Synopsis of A Bronx Tale (1993)

I like to think of A Bronx Tale (1993) as a mafia movie with a soul; a coming together of two different spheres of life in the person of Calogero Anello. The inciting incident of the movie kicks off on a sunny day in 1960. Young Calogero ( Francis Capra)- while sitting on his stoop- witnesses his idol, the Mafia Boss, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) shoot a man over what seems to be a fight about a parking space. Sonny looks the young boy dead in the eye, as if willing him to erase all memory of what he had just witnessed. Calogero’s father, Lorenzo (Robert De Niro) immediately frisks him into the house shortly before the police arrive.

Unfortunately, the police believe the boy knows something. They line up a couple of suspects and ask young Calogero to identify who the shooter was. In Belmont, the worst thing you could be was a rat. By adhering to the code of silence, Calogero not only proved he was going to be a man of substance but also showed that true Italian blood ran in his veins. This singular action earns him Sonny’s affection.

Impressed by Calogero’s actions, Sonny offers Lorenzo a job “dropping numbers” for a weekly pay of $150. Ever the upstanding man, Lorenzo turns it down. Though he and his child saved Sonny, he wants nothing further to do with him. Unlike his father, Calogero is enamored by Sonny and wants everything to do with him. Sonny treating him like an adult and the preferential treatment everyone gives him because of Sonny makes the relationship more appealing. Thanks to Sonny, Calogero becomes “C” and Sonny his surrogate father. Calogero starts working in Sonny’s bar and earns money throwing dice and serving drinks. Lorenzo discovers the $600 Calogero earned working for Sonny and returns it despite Calogero’s pleas. Lorenzo warns Sonny to stay away from his son and reiterates to Calogero the strength of a working man.

Eight years later, C is 17 now, and closer than ever to Sonny. His father is not thrilled about this, but he treats the situation with grudging resignation. Sonny tells C that to be a complete man, he…