Word: gangsterisms
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...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...
...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...
...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...
...films in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. After making his way through sex comedies and slapstick, he settled on action films as his genre of choice. But more than that, he came to dominate the genre and all of Hong Kong film. "A Better Tomorrow," his 1986 gangster film, remains the biggest money maker in Hong Kong cinema history...
...gangster world only provides a colorful background for the characters. I'm more interested in bringing out the spirit of the characters not the background. I'm not interested in the gangsters at all. I hope the audience can see that. I don't want to mislead the audience with all the violence...