Those words are universal in A Bronx Tale(1992), the debut feature by Robert De Niro (one of the greatest actors of his and of all times - Raging Bull,Taxi Driver) written by Chazz Palimentri based on his own play of the same name.
A gangster movie? Yes. But not the usual mafia, mobs, police, undercover cops stuff. This one is very personal and very different and very intimate and above all a prayer without ever pretending to be one.
The year is 1961. The place is Bronx(one of the five boroughs of NYC). The time in the neighborhood is turbulent with the cold war, racial discrimination, brotherhood. Lorenzo (Robert De Niro), a middle aged Italian-American working class public bus driver has a young impressionable eight-nine year old boy Calegero. He lives with his Italian-American wife in a Bronx apartment. Lorenzo is the everyday common man. He slugs it day in and day out on the job for a better future for his family and his boy, and does with a smile. He is responsible, honest, sincere and is a very proud father. Calegero looks up to him and Lorenzo makes sure he does by choice and not by force. Lorenzo takes him to the ball games, talks about them, talks about dreams, ambition, talent, gives him a ride in his bus around the neighborhood whenever possible.
So it's all one small happy family. Not quite, not quite. Lorenzo fears all that he is doing for his young son might be undone if Calegero is sucked into the world of Sonny(Chazz Palimentri) - the local don, whose den - a bar is by the turn of Lorenzo's apartment. Lorenzo and his wife try to make sure their son doesn't stray onto the other side. Too small to be aware of Sonny's background, Calegero and his young turks play before the basement of his apartment and they see Sonny and his henchmen all the time. As Lorenzo feared, Calegero is mightily impressed with Sonny, how he doesn't have to wait in the queue like everyone to get things done. He tries to watch him, imitate him, attract his attention all the time. He says "people use five fingers... Sonny uses three". But Sonny doesn't notice him.
Then the moment arrives. Right before Calegero eyes, Sonny's profession unravels. Sonny shoots a guy dead on the street in broad daylight over a parking tiff. The cops come and ask Calegero to identify the men they have caught of which Sonny is one. The young one along with his father see each man. But Calegero doesn't identify Sonny.
Calegero feels bad he saved a guilty man. Lorenzo tells him sometimes things like that has to be done to save oneself. He doesn't know his son did what he did because he likes Sonny and Sonny knows this. From that moment, Sonny befriends Calegero, calls him Si(ironically the Italian word for yes), gives him money, uses him as goodluck in his gambling inside the bar, becomes a pseudo father to him and he is different to Si compared to others. He knows he owes Si his life. He always tells Si never to leave school, makes sure he never spills the filth of his business before him. Si loves his new found life, loves Sonny, loves the things his friendship of Sonny has got him.
Lorenzo watches helpelssly as his son he believes is pulled away from him. In a terrific scene he reasons with his young son about Sonny. Si says Sonny is more cool than any other ball player and that the people love him as a hero. Lorenzo, in tears, says that's not love, that's fear and Sonny is not to be trusted and his money is venemous. He says the working man like himself are the real heroes. They are the ones that are really loved and respected. He asks Calegero if Sonny could gain such love by working like him. Both of stand their ground but Lorenzo keeps trying to hold onto his son, still calling him Calegero though everyone calls him Si. He says to his son he would understand all this when he grows up.
Time passes by and the year is 1969. Si, going to his twenties, has grown up in the shadow of Sonny who has become more powerful in the neighborhood. Lorenzo, still with his family in the same apartment, still the bus driver, still calling his son Calegero, can't take the fact that his son is destroying his life with his own hands by hanging out with his friends and Sonny.
Meanwhile Sonny who has watched Si grow up before his own eyes tells him to stay away from his young friends for his own good. Si doesn't quite understand it. Si falls for a African American girl, Jane, in his racially tense locality. He tells his father about it but doesn't get much of a response from him. He tells Sonny about it. Sonny encourages him to take her out on a date in his amazing convertible. He tells him how to judge a woman by her talk and walk. Si is overwhelmed. But his friends beat up the Afro-American boys and Jane's brother is one of them. His date goes awry. He returns the car to Sonny and walks away hurt. Sonny finds something strange in the car and pulls him Si. Sonny, paranoid, thinks Si screwed him up and beats him to know the truth. Si tells him the truth is he did nothing.
That moment opens Si's eyes to the difference between Lorenzo, his own father and Sonny, his pseudo father. The former would never give him up even if Si didn't do a thing for him and the latter would never trust him even if Si did all for him. His fanstasy world of himself and Sonny is broken. Sonny himself tells Si scenes later, he still loves him, cares for him but the only one he can trust is himself in his business. Si breaks away from Sonny.
In the climatic portions, Si's friends are out to do some real damage to their Afro-American cousins. They take him in. At that moment, Sonny like always pulls him out and tells him to stay away. His friends die in a car blast. Si thanks his lucky stars and goes to thank Sonny for his saving his life being flushed down the toilet, when Sonny's profession gets the better of him. Si now realises how Sonny's profession can pay one and also can make one pay.
Si's makes a tearful farewell to Sonny. Even Lorenzo comes to pay respect. He confesses he never hated Sonny but he was angry at him because he made his son grow up so fast. The movie ends with Calegero reciting the lines of the article title and what he has learnt from the two most important people in his life to accept people for what they are and to love unconditionally.
Being himself a part of so many gangster pics, I expected Robert De Niro's movie to be bloody violent. The movie has blood but its not violent. It really is something to have someone look after you so dearly as Lorenzo and Sonny do. Lorenzo's lines to console his son were the most touching. Though simple yet mighty powerful. "Its ok son... come on son... no problem son... we can do this son... don worry son... don't lose it son... i am with you son... i love u son...". Wish people can use such simple words to comfort others rather than giving long speeches which happens very often in the reel world and not so often in the real world.The film brings alive the era of the 60's. Robert De Niro underplays so much that we can literally see our fathers in Lorenzo. Chazz plays Sonny with style but shows his ruthless side when pushed. The boy and the man who play Calegero/Si are perfect displaying the right amount of innocence, vullnerability and the right heart.
The movie shows how the youth can be so impressionable, how they can be easy targets and is like a prayer to all the young turks not to throw away their precious lives.
Till next time - movies, movies and movies...
A gangster movie? Yes. But not the usual mafia, mobs, police, undercover cops stuff. This one is very personal and very different and very intimate and above all a prayer without ever pretending to be one.
The year is 1961. The place is Bronx(one of the five boroughs of NYC). The time in the neighborhood is turbulent with the cold war, racial discrimination, brotherhood. Lorenzo (Robert De Niro), a middle aged Italian-American working class public bus driver has a young impressionable eight-nine year old boy Calegero. He lives with his Italian-American wife in a Bronx apartment. Lorenzo is the everyday common man. He slugs it day in and day out on the job for a better future for his family and his boy, and does with a smile. He is responsible, honest, sincere and is a very proud father. Calegero looks up to him and Lorenzo makes sure he does by choice and not by force. Lorenzo takes him to the ball games, talks about them, talks about dreams, ambition, talent, gives him a ride in his bus around the neighborhood whenever possible.
So it's all one small happy family. Not quite, not quite. Lorenzo fears all that he is doing for his young son might be undone if Calegero is sucked into the world of Sonny(Chazz Palimentri) - the local don, whose den - a bar is by the turn of Lorenzo's apartment. Lorenzo and his wife try to make sure their son doesn't stray onto the other side. Too small to be aware of Sonny's background, Calegero and his young turks play before the basement of his apartment and they see Sonny and his henchmen all the time. As Lorenzo feared, Calegero is mightily impressed with Sonny, how he doesn't have to wait in the queue like everyone to get things done. He tries to watch him, imitate him, attract his attention all the time. He says "people use five fingers... Sonny uses three". But Sonny doesn't notice him.
Then the moment arrives. Right before Calegero eyes, Sonny's profession unravels. Sonny shoots a guy dead on the street in broad daylight over a parking tiff. The cops come and ask Calegero to identify the men they have caught of which Sonny is one. The young one along with his father see each man. But Calegero doesn't identify Sonny.
Calegero feels bad he saved a guilty man. Lorenzo tells him sometimes things like that has to be done to save oneself. He doesn't know his son did what he did because he likes Sonny and Sonny knows this. From that moment, Sonny befriends Calegero, calls him Si(ironically the Italian word for yes), gives him money, uses him as goodluck in his gambling inside the bar, becomes a pseudo father to him and he is different to Si compared to others. He knows he owes Si his life. He always tells Si never to leave school, makes sure he never spills the filth of his business before him. Si loves his new found life, loves Sonny, loves the things his friendship of Sonny has got him.
Lorenzo watches helpelssly as his son he believes is pulled away from him. In a terrific scene he reasons with his young son about Sonny. Si says Sonny is more cool than any other ball player and that the people love him as a hero. Lorenzo, in tears, says that's not love, that's fear and Sonny is not to be trusted and his money is venemous. He says the working man like himself are the real heroes. They are the ones that are really loved and respected. He asks Calegero if Sonny could gain such love by working like him. Both of stand their ground but Lorenzo keeps trying to hold onto his son, still calling him Calegero though everyone calls him Si. He says to his son he would understand all this when he grows up.
Time passes by and the year is 1969. Si, going to his twenties, has grown up in the shadow of Sonny who has become more powerful in the neighborhood. Lorenzo, still with his family in the same apartment, still the bus driver, still calling his son Calegero, can't take the fact that his son is destroying his life with his own hands by hanging out with his friends and Sonny.
Meanwhile Sonny who has watched Si grow up before his own eyes tells him to stay away from his young friends for his own good. Si doesn't quite understand it. Si falls for a African American girl, Jane, in his racially tense locality. He tells his father about it but doesn't get much of a response from him. He tells Sonny about it. Sonny encourages him to take her out on a date in his amazing convertible. He tells him how to judge a woman by her talk and walk. Si is overwhelmed. But his friends beat up the Afro-American boys and Jane's brother is one of them. His date goes awry. He returns the car to Sonny and walks away hurt. Sonny finds something strange in the car and pulls him Si. Sonny, paranoid, thinks Si screwed him up and beats him to know the truth. Si tells him the truth is he did nothing.
That moment opens Si's eyes to the difference between Lorenzo, his own father and Sonny, his pseudo father. The former would never give him up even if Si didn't do a thing for him and the latter would never trust him even if Si did all for him. His fanstasy world of himself and Sonny is broken. Sonny himself tells Si scenes later, he still loves him, cares for him but the only one he can trust is himself in his business. Si breaks away from Sonny.
In the climatic portions, Si's friends are out to do some real damage to their Afro-American cousins. They take him in. At that moment, Sonny like always pulls him out and tells him to stay away. His friends die in a car blast. Si thanks his lucky stars and goes to thank Sonny for his saving his life being flushed down the toilet, when Sonny's profession gets the better of him. Si now realises how Sonny's profession can pay one and also can make one pay.
Si's makes a tearful farewell to Sonny. Even Lorenzo comes to pay respect. He confesses he never hated Sonny but he was angry at him because he made his son grow up so fast. The movie ends with Calegero reciting the lines of the article title and what he has learnt from the two most important people in his life to accept people for what they are and to love unconditionally.
Being himself a part of so many gangster pics, I expected Robert De Niro's movie to be bloody violent. The movie has blood but its not violent. It really is something to have someone look after you so dearly as Lorenzo and Sonny do. Lorenzo's lines to console his son were the most touching. Though simple yet mighty powerful. "Its ok son... come on son... no problem son... we can do this son... don worry son... don't lose it son... i am with you son... i love u son...". Wish people can use such simple words to comfort others rather than giving long speeches which happens very often in the reel world and not so often in the real world.The film brings alive the era of the 60's. Robert De Niro underplays so much that we can literally see our fathers in Lorenzo. Chazz plays Sonny with style but shows his ruthless side when pushed. The boy and the man who play Calegero/Si are perfect displaying the right amount of innocence, vullnerability and the right heart.
The movie shows how the youth can be so impressionable, how they can be easy targets and is like a prayer to all the young turks not to throw away their precious lives.
Till next time - movies, movies and movies...
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