Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993 TAG: 9310050092
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Is it a big ego trip? Or just a natural progression?
Does talent on screen necessarily translate to talent off screen?
In some cases, it does. Clint Eastwood is an obvious example. But other times, the jump isn't so successful. Jack Nicholson, a great actor, hasn't had much luck as a director.
So, now another great actor, Robert De Niro, takes his turn in the director's chair with "A Bronx Tale."
For his directing debut, De Niro returns to the familiar streets of New York, the place of some of his most memorable performances as an actor, and he turns in a solid first feature.
He has a compelling story to work with, about a boy growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the Bronx who struggles with the good influences of his honest, working-class father and the bad influences of the neighborhood mobster.
The story, written by Chazz Palminteri, has the ring of authenticity, and De Niro's directing stays true to the spirit of the boy's struggle, and life within his ethnic New York neighborhood.
The setting is 1960 and 1968, when the boy, Calogero, is 9 years old, and later 17 years old. De Niro plays the boy's righteous father, Lorenzo, a city bus driver. Palminteri takes on the role of Sonny, the neighborhood's top thug. DeNiro, Palminteri and the two Calogero's, Francis Capra and Lillo Brancato, all turn in sound performances here.
After witnessing Sonny shoot a man, young Calogero endears himself to Sonny by not ratting on him to the cops.
Much to his father's dismay, Sonny then takes Calogero under his wing. He gives him the nickname, "C," because he can't pronounce Calogero, and introduces him to the ways of the street.
He also meets a rich cast of Sonny supporters: Jo Jo The Whale, whose shadow once killed a dog; Coffeecake, whose face has the complexion of a coffeecake; and Jimmy Whispers, who only talks in whispers, among others.
It is an appealing world to both the 9-year-old and 17-year-old Calogero.
But Sonny is a hood with a heart. He looks out for Calogero, preaches the virtue of getting an education and dissuades him from the life of a wiseguy.
Still, Lorenzo doesn't like the friendship. "People don't love him. They fear him. There's a difference," he tells his son.
"A Bronx Tale" isn't a perfect film. The ending probably wraps things up a little too neat and tidy. And a whole subplot about racial tensions in the neighborhood and an interracial romance for Calogero, although connected to the story, distracts somewhat from the film's main focus.
\ The Bronx Tale: ***
A Savoy Pictures release showing at Valley View Mall 6. Rated R for violence.
by CNB