A Bronx Tale
For the Broadway play see A Bronx Tale (play).
A Bronx Tale is a 1993 film set in New York City during the turbulent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, and follows a young man as his path in life is guided by two father figures, played by De Niro and Chazz Palminteri.
It was written by Palminteri, based partially upon his childhood.
Plot
The movie opens in 1960 with Lorenzo Anello's (Robert De Niro) son Calogero (Francis Capra) witnessing a murder committed by the local Mafia boss, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri). Calogero starts visiting Sonny and his crew regularly in the bar downstairs, much to the dismay of his father, a hard-working bus driver struggling to make ends meet.
Eight years later, in 1968, Calogero (now played by Lillo Brancato Jr.) has grown into a young man. He will eventually have to make the choice between his two mentors.
He also pursues an interracial relationship with a black girl named Jane Williams (Taral Hicks), and he has to cope with this while being in the company of racist friends who coincidentally attack the girl's brother and his friends, and who later plan to raid a black neighborhood.
The film contains several violent scenes, including a savage beating of a biker gang by the Mafia to the tune "The 10 Commandments Of Love" by The Moonglows, and Calogero's friends' tragically botched incursion into the black neighborhood.
Settings and filming locations
A Bronx Tale was filmed in three New York City neighborhoods. Though set entirely in the Bronx, only one of these locations was actually in that borough.
The Fordham neighborhood in which Cologero lives was actually filmed in Astoria, Queens; the black neighborhood said to be on and around Webster Avenue was actually filmed at East 15th Street and Gravesend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; finally, the scene set on the Bronx's City Island was actually filmed in that location.
Sources
Palminteri adapted the screenplay from his one-man show of the same name. Palminteri would not sell the rights to his story unless he could write the screenplay and was guaranteed the role of Sonny.
At one point he was offered one million dollars, but refused because his conditions were not met.