A Bronx Tale

Adapted by The Usual Suspects's Chazz Palminteri from his own play, this is an intelligent portrait of a time (the 1960s) and place (New York's Little Italy) that eschews some of the more extravagant sweeps of Martin Scorsese, probably cinema's most famous chronicler of Italian-American life. Goodness is a hard quality to depict without sentimentality, yet Robert De Niro manages to convey it well, as a bus driver whose impressionable young son is attracted to a sharp-dressing local gangster (played by Palminteri). Lillo Brancato gives a good account of the confused teenager, but it's De Niro's sense of place and pace (this was his directorial debut) and Palminteri's autobiographical insights into the neighbourhood that make this such a compelling picture.

"...GOODFELLAS with heart, A BRONX TALE represents a wonderfully vivid snapshot of a colorful place and time, as well as a very satisfying directorial debut by Robert De Niro..."