A Bronx Tale

Directed by Robert De Niro

Tribeca

From the opening scenes of "A Bronx Tale," we know Robert De Niro's directorial debut will cover familiar territory. Nestled in an Italian community, the initial scene is set well by De Niro; while the sweet sounds of doo-wop bring us back into the early 60s, we see the neighborhood kids playing stickball and tapping fire hydrants and the neighborhood men congregating on every street corner. Unfortunately, "A Bronx Tale" offers no surprises, rarely venturing beyond the conventions of this well-known small-time gangster genre. Positioned before and behind the camera, perhaps Robert De Niro has attempted to do too much. He offers a tale both warm and moving, but ultimately unsatisfying.

The almost exlcusively male cast teems with diversity and reality, largely due to directorial influence. Preparing for this piece, De Niro combed the streets of the city looking to fill the roles for his large cast. The result is a mixture of experienced and first-time actors who bring life especially to the film's lighter scenes. Particularly impressive is Chazz Palminnteri as the gangster Sonny. Palminteri, who also wrote the one-man play on which the film is based, shines even among a myriad of terrific performers.

The film centers on Calogero (Francis Capra), a 9-year-old boy from the neighborhood who is fascinated by the mysterious goings-on at the Chez Bippy, the bar and social club downstairs from his apartment. The reigning neighborhood mobster, Sonny, runs the place and coordinates all of his illegal dealings there. Calogero and his friends often stand on the stoop next door and mimic Sonny's every move.

Calogero's father Lorenzo (De Niro) is a bus driver who has forbidden his son to have any contact with the shady characters downstairs. Along with teaching him all the important stats about the Yankees and Mickey Mantle, Lorenzo has tried to instill in his son solid sense of family and religion. His advice is essentially this: Working to provide for your family is right and admirable, so stay in school and use your talent.

Inevitably, Calogero and Sonny are drawn together when the boy sees Sonny bearing the gun after a "parking space dispute" ends up in murder. After Calogero refuses to name him to the police, he is slowly incorporated into the life and doings at Chez Bippy. Lorenzo wisely tells his son that he did a "good thing for a bad man," but warns him away. But after witnessing the glamour that encompasses Sonny's world, the rapidly aging youth insists, "The working man is a sucker."

The movie then jumps eight years ahead, after Calogero (now played by Lillo Brancato) is very involved in Sonny's mob, and Sonny has become a father figure to him. Of course their relationship causes considerable tension between Calogero and Lorenzo, but this section of the film moves onto another quite distinct subject: the escalating violence between the Black and Italian communities. Calogero now belongs to his own "social club" composed of the sameyouths who idolized Sonny and his fellow hoods.Unfortunately, Calogero's bigoted friends threatenhis interest in Jane, a beautiful young Blackwoman who just transfered to his school.

Despite the many engrossing performances, thefilm fails to overcome its structural problems.Although tongue-in-cheek humor counters much ofits sentimentality, the movie ultimatelyincorporates too many looming issues for it toescape cliche. At times the script just tries abit too hard: in an attempt to make Sonnydifferent from all the other mobsters in previousfilms, Palminteri has made Sonny a gangster who'sread Machiavelli in the joint and can now lectureabout the distinction between feared and hatedleaders. Unfortunately, the weak ending, whichtries to tie all the ends together in one fellswoop, does nothing to resurrect the film.

"A Bronx Tale" is worth a viewing just to seethe talented young Francis Capra and ChazzPalminteri in the much more solid first half ofthe film. And Joe Pesci's cameo signals that DeNiro has assembled all the requisite ingredientsfor a success. But his admirable attempt fails toenter the company of greats