A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 4, 2018

Robert De Niro's "A Bronx Tale" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian label Via Vision Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and archival featurette. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The kid

Robert De Niro made his directorial debut with this film in 1993. It is based on a play by Chazz Palminteri which channels a lot of the classic themes that defined Marty Scorsese’s big gangster films.

It is the early 1960s and the location is a colorful Italian neighborhood in the Bronx where some people work hard to make ends meet and some people have other people making money for them. Calogero (Francis Capra) is only nine years old but is already convinced that he has seen enough to conclude that local gangster Sonny (Palminteri) is a legend. But this isn’t what his father, Lorenzo (De Niro), thinks of Sonny, which is why he routinely warns him not to visit the nearby bar where all the wise guys and their buddies like to hang out. For a while Calogero stays out of trouble but on a sunny afternoon fate decides to intervene and changes his life forever. It happens after the boy sees Sonny emptying his gun in another man’s head but later on refuses to identify him as the killer before a couple of jaded detectives. From this day forward Calogero becomes Sonny’s darling and everyone in the neighborhood begins treating him as if he is his son.

A decade later Calogero (Lillo Brancato) is already in an open father-son relationship with Sonny and he teaches him how to judge people and their intentions so that when it counts the most he always makes the right choices. His father isn’t happy that his soon isn’t turning like him but isn’t shocked that the boy does not see him as a role model. After all, he is just a bus driver earning a minimum wage.

While hanging with Sonny and his goons and a few troublemakers from his class, Calogero meets Jane (Taral Hicks), a beautiful black girl from a nearby neighborhood. They instantly connect and attempt to start a relationship, but a series of ugly events push them apart and in the process force Calogero to begin reevaluating the way he has been living his life. Then more violence and chaos confirm that he should have never ignored his father’s lessons.

For the most part A Bronx Tale has the right period vibe, but the story it tells feels like a never-ending collection of corny situations of the type that over the years Scorsese’s classic crime films introduced in vastly superior ways. From young Calogero’s evolving fascination with Sonny to the violent confrontations between local and foreign ‘rivals’ to the supposedly profound street lessons that boys growing up in tough neighborhoods learn, it is just the same old material but with a few slightly rearranged nuances.

Calogero’s narration is also scripted with the obvious intent to provide the film with the weight of a big urban epic, but instead quite successfully erodes the authenticity of the drama and in the process creates some really awkward contrasts. Elsewhere there is such an obvious disconnect between Sonny’s calm and wise but random lessons and his slow-motion violent outbursts that it seems like Palminteri plays two completely different characters. Also, the entire segment where Calogero realizes that he is attracted to Jane and then their relationship is tested is loaded with such quick and bizarre character transformations that the messages about tolerance and acceptance instantly become incredibly suspicious.

The film has a cracking soundtrack with classic tracks by The Moody Blues (“Nights in White Satin”), Frank Sinatra (“That’s Life”), The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“All Along the Watchtower”), and Dean Martin (“Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”), amongst others.

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert De Niro's A Bronx Tale arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment.

The release is sourced from an old master with some serious issues. For example, the entire film has a very harsh digital appearance that was likely introduced by a preset sharpening. A lot of the backgrounds routinely lose substantial amount of detail, and even during close-ups it is frequently very obvious that fine nuances are indeed lost. The larger panoramic shots can also look incredibly thick, and if you have a bigger screen you are likely to see a variety of different digital anomalies that collapse detail and completely destabilize fluidity (you can see examples in screencaptures #6 and 9). Colors are stable, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that a proper new master will deliver better saturation and expanded ranges of healthy nuances because this is another area where limitations are easy to spot. Image stability is very good. All in all, the current master really isn't good enough to produce a pleasing organic presentation of the film, so my guess is that at some point in the future work will be done to deliver something vastly superior. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

At some point the audio was almost certainly remixed because separation and overall balance are excellent. Dynamic movement is equally pleasing and as a result there are quite a few sequences the audio produces quite a punch. The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow.

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NOTE: All of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray release are perfectly playable on North American Blu-ray players, including the PS3.

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for A Bronx Tale. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Making of Featurette - an archival featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film and clips from interviews. In English, not subtitled. (7 min, 480/60i).

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The heavy shadows of Martin Scorsese's classic crime dramas are all over Robert De Niro's directorial debut, A Bronx Tale, and as soon as one begins to compare these films it very quickly becomes obvious that the iconic director is a far better storyteller and stylist. This recent release comes from Australian label Via Vision Entertainment and is Region-Free, but is sourced from an old master with some quite obvious issues. If you want it in your collection I would suggest that you look for a sale, but I have to speculate that at some point in the future the entire film will be redone and the end result will be vastly superior.