Summary

A Bronx Tale, a forgotten gem, is a must-watch with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and 30th anniversary celebration in 2023.
The film stands out with a unique emotional narrative and quotable lines, blending drama and comedy in a refreshing way.
Backed by a strong creative partnership between De Niro and Palminteri, the movie offers a masterful storytelling experience.

When discussing the greatest gangster films of all time, the usual suspects tend to make the list: The Godfather Part I and II, Goodfellas, The Departed, The Untouchables. But there’s one gangster movie that often goes overlooked: A Bronx Tale. It’s the forgotten masterpiece of the gangster genre, an underrated mob movie that deserves to be ranked among the best.

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Don’t believe us? A Bronx Tale holds a 97% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Even its audience score of 93% is impressive. A Bronx Tale just celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023, making this the perfect time to look back and recount everything that makes this underrated film so great.

A Unique Story That Sets It Apart

A Bronx Tale started out as a stage play and a one-man show, written and performed by the then-unknown Chazz Palminteri. A struggling actor who was just fired from his job as a nightclub bouncer, Palminteri crafted A Bronx Tale with the hopes of breathing life into his nonexistent career. And it miraculously worked. The stage play, which was based on Palminteri’s own childhood in the Bronx, was a success that attracted the attention of several Hollywood studios.

And how could it not? A Bronx Tale follows a young man named Calogero, who’s caught between the influence of two very different men: his everyman father, Lorenzo, and the neighborhood gangster that Calogero idolizes, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri).

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Most gangster films are violent tales, where mobsters are the main characters and their criminal lifestyles are the story’s focus. But in A Bronx Tale, the criminal element takes a backseat to its emotional coming-of-age story. It’s not about the gangsters and the violent paths they choose. In fact, it’s the opposite; A Bronx Tale focuses instead on the diverging path that lies before an impressionable young man.

Sure, the movie has moments of violence. But its violence feels purposeful and necessary in order to progress the story, not like the gratuitous violence that we see in a Scorsese or Tarantino film. A Bronx Tale also offers a brutal but honest look at racism, a subject that most gangster films shy away from. All these elements come together to make A Bronx Tale stand apart from its peers.

It’s Packed with Quotable Lines

Like all great movies, A Bronx Tale is packed with quotable lines. After locking a rowdy and disrespectful biker gang inside a bar, Sonny hits the bikers with this badass, spine-tingling line: “Now yous can’t leave.” You know sh*t is going down the second these words leave his mouth.

There’s also the scene where a young Calogero is playing craps and, in order to keep him focused on the game, Sonny banishes several unlucky gangsters to the bathroom, out of Calogero’s sight. “Put him in the bathroom!” he shouts hilariously.

And then, of course, there’s this gem, which captures the whole theme of the film: “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” If you’re a fan of A Bronx Tale, then these words are likely etched into your mind, alongside quotes from other gangster classics like The Godfather and Scarface.

The Perfect Blend of Drama and Comedy

A Bronx Tale is a tragedy that laments the poor choices we make in life and the talents that we let go to waste. But the movie also features a dose of comedy to balance out its dramatic story. Sonny’s pearls of wisdom are usually intertwined with funny lines, like, “You’re only allowed three great women in your lifetime..Me? I had my three when I was 16. That happens. What are you gonna do?”

The gangsters’ nicknames and the explanations behind them are laugh-out-loud funny, like Jo Jo the Whale, Frankie Coffeecake, and Mush. And the aforementioned scene, where ruthless gangsters are exiled into a dingy bathroom, might just be the funniest scene of any gangster movie. A Bronx Tale contains just the right amount of comedy to keep you entertained, but not too much where you forget that you’re watching a drama.

Backed by a Strong Creative Partnership

More often than not, you can’t have a great gangster film without Robert De Niro. Case in point: The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Casino, The Untouchables — and also A Bronx Tale. As the story goes, an excited De Niro approached Palminteri after watching his one-man show and offered to adapt his stage play into a movie.

The two men laid out their terms: Palminteri would be the primary screenwriter and play Sonny (every other studio had rejected these requirements), while De Niro would serve as the film’s director (he had never directed before) and portray Lorenzo. Both men agreed to these terms, each one taking a gamble on the other. And it paid off.

De Niro leads a stellar cast of now iconic gangster actors, including Palminteri and Kathrine Narducci. Even Joe Pesci makes a cameo in the film. It’s refreshing to see De Niro going against typecast and playing the morally good character rather than the gangster. With A Bronx Tale, De Niro offers a strong directorial debut that, at times, feels like you’re watching a Scorsese gangster film.

You have a main character who’s narrating the story, just like in Casino and Gangs of New York, and the film’s 1960s doo-wop soundtrack and mob nicknames could easily belong in Goodfellas. But at its core, A Bronx Tale is just a simple story that’s told masterfully well, thanks to De Niro and Palminteri ‘s creative partnership.