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.