A BRONX TALE (1993) **1/2 Robert De Niro directin' hisself, a Chazz Palminteri script, the Bronx, even Joe Pesci shows up in a gangstah movie....? Fuhgettabahdit! The streets feel very real but De Niro isn't even a wise guy. That's something of a disappointment, but he makes a helluva soulful father bus driver, and his scenes with young son Francis Capra are spectacularly great. Dat Capra, he's gonna be somebody. So De Niro's perfect on screen, as is so often the case. As a director, he doesn't imitate Scorsese so much as not move too far away from him. Much of the film feels like a pleasant echo of Goodfellas (particularly as he introduces the characters from the bar-but how else ya gonna do it, eh?), and De Niro's technique isn't a lot different (nearly constant soundtrack, and mellow tunes during violent scenes in particular). De Niro also makes the directorial debut mistake of being willfully didactic to the point where it retards the flow of the story. On the other hand, Palminteri's character develops (don't say blossoms) nicely before the slow lens, with a voyeur's eye insight into a man who doesn't reveal much to the world at large. It would be entirely wrong to say the film lacks guts-the depiction of racism on both sides of the color line is right, needs to be said, but its important messages could have been delivered without rubbing our noses in them, like a mobster or something.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films home
go back home, or send me email
no more reviews! I want to buy your novel!