It was entirely predictable thatRobert De Niro, who has beendirected by Martin Scorsese in 10 filmsover 50 years, would transfer what he’d learned to a directorial career of his own. De Niro made his feature directorial debut with the 1993 coming-of-age crime drama filmA Bronx Tale, in which he plays Lorenzo, a working-class Italian-American family man who becomes increasingly concerned about his son’s relationship with a local Mafia bossin the Bronxthroughout the 1960s.A Bronx Taledevelops this conflict through the eyes of the son, Calogero, who becomes increasingly torn over his loyalties to the two distinctly polarized father figures in his life.
Instead of imitating Scorsese withA Bronx Tale, De Niro was entirely faithful to its autobiographical source material. As a director, De Niro put a lot of ambition and imagination intoA Bronx Tale, which evokes a poignant sense of nostalgia within its Bronx neighborhood setting without romanticizing the brutal realities of organized crime.A Bronx Taleis fundamentally the story of a boy who is loved by two men, both of whom desperately want the boy to have a better life than they’ve had, for very different reasons.
‘A Bronx Tale’ Is Based on a True Story
A Bronx Taleis based on the 1989 autobiographical one-man play of the same name by star and writer Chazz Palminteri, who plays mobster Sonny in the film. Just asSylvester Stallone refused to sellthe script forRockyunless he could play the titular character in the firstRockyfilm, Palminteri, whose birth name is Calogero, insisted on being allowed to play Sonny in the film adaptation ofA Bronx Tale. This was heartily agreed to by Robert De Niro, who, after watching a 1990 performance of the play and being mesmerized by Palminteri’s performance, expressed a passionate desire to direct the film.
Palminteri’s autobiographical connection toA Bronx Taleis evident in the film’s inciting scene, in which nine-year-old Calogero, much like nine-year-old Palminteri, watches local mobster Sonny shoot and kill a man in their Bronx neighborhood.In the aftermath of the killing, Calogero lies to the police when asked to identify Sonny as the shooter. This provokes a conflicted reaction from Calogero’s father, De Niro’s Lorenzo, as while Lorenzo desperately wants Calogero to avoid the criminal lifestyle, he validates Calogero’s lie. On the street, he tells Calogero that he did the right thing for a bad man. Inside their modest apartment, Lorenzo tells Calogero that there are things in life that one must do, even if they aren’t morally right.
This sense of moral ambiguity instills in Calogero a deep sense of confusion that forms the basis of his relationship with Sonny, who becomes Calogero’s surrogate father, much to Lorenzo’s dismay. Beyond the bond of trust that’s engendered by Calogero’s refusal to rat on Sonny, Calogero and Sonny grow to love and trust each other. Instead of framing the conflict between Lorenzo and Sonny around the specter of potential violence, De Niro presents this as a clashing of beliefs and ideas, between one man who believes that the working man is a hero, and another who believes that he’s a sucker.
‘A Bronx Tale’ Highlights Robert De Niro’s Generosity as Actor and Director
InA Bronx Tale, De Niro’s sturdy but uncomplicated performance as Lorenzo serves to facilitate the film’s central relationship between Lorenzo’s son, Calogero, and mobster Sonny, played by Chazz Palminteri, who was virtually unknown as an actor before being cast inA Bronx Tale, which launched Palminteri to screen stardom.
While De Niro’s star billing inA Bronx Talewas undoubtedly necessary for the purpose of getting the film financed, given Palminteri’s unknown status,De Niro’s presence, as actor and director, never upstages the central pair. De Niro’s performance as Lorenzo represents a symbol of hard work and honesty, through which Calogero encounters an escalating moral dilemma in terms of having to choose between his father’s honest path and the seductive though dangerous lifestyle of Sonny, who nonetheless recognizes the dangers of his criminal world and doesn’t want Calogero to follow in his footsteps.
De Niro Missed His Calling as a Director
The enduring appeal ofA Bronx Taleis perhaps most evident in terms of how many ofthe film’s lessons and quoteshave become entrenched within the public consciousness. In one of the film’s many memorable scenes, Lorenzo tells Calogero that the saddest thing in the world is wasted talent. The theme of wasted talent inA Bronx Talealso applies to Robert De Niro, aswhile he proved himself to be an excellent director withA Bronx Tale, his interest in directing fizzled out afterward. De Niro’s only other feature directorial credit is the 2006 spy filmThe Good Shepherd, which confirmed his solid directorial grasp despite receiving a mixed commercial and critical response.
Just as actor Charles Laughton directed a masterpiece with the 1955 thriller filmThe Night of the Hunter, only to subsequently stop directing because of the film’s negative initial reception,De Niro was reportedly discouraged from transitioning to directing because of the relatively disappointing box-office performance ofA Bronx Tale, which grossed just over $17 million at the box office against a $10 million production cost. This is a shame, because just as De Niro deserves to rank highly on the list ofactors who became great directors,A Bronx Tale, which currently holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating, deserves to be regarded as one of the best films of its era.
A Bronx Tale
