Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie Review

""People don’t love him. They fear him. There’s a difference."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 30, 2023

A glimpse at A Bronx Tale's cover art suggests a film in the vein of Goodfellas. Instead, Robert De Niro's directorial debut is a quiet, slowburn drama in which a father vies for the future of his son against the temptations of a would-be father figure, a local mob boss played by Chazz Palminteri (whose 1989 autobiographical one-man-play of the same name serves as the source for De Niro's screen adaptation). More than a coming- of-age tug of war for a kid's soul, though, A Bronx Tale is also an examination of racial tensions in the 1960s and '70s, an infestation of casual violence on the streets of New York, a community's struggles to get by in the shadow of rampant crime, and the class warfare that punctuated the era. The screenplay -- by De Niro and Palminteri -- shows some age and arguably too much of a fondness for genre stylizations, but it hardly matters. This is a tense, at-times riveting walk into a world long forgotten, where boys only had a handful of options on their way to manhood; one that would render them honorable but powerless, another that would grant them access to freedom and wealth but at great cost.

'A Bronx Tale' focuses on Calogero Anello (played by Francis Capra as a 9-year-old boy and Lillo Brancato Jr. as a 17-year old teenager), a young Italian-American growing up on the inner city streets of New York. Set in the culturally volatile 1960s and '70s, Calogero finds himself torn between the allure of the local mob boss, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri), and the values instilled in him by his hardworking father, Lorenzo (Robert De Niro). As Calogero navigates the complexities of his world, he learns valuable lessons about love, integrity, identity, race, adulthood and the importance of making his own decisions. The film also stars Taral Hicks, Kathrine Narducci, Alfred Sauchelli Jr., Frank Pietrangolare, Domenick Lombardozzi, Clem Caserta, Robert D'Andrea, Eddie Montanaro, and a brief appearance by Joe Pesci.

I had a bit of a hard time latching onto Calogero when Brancato first stepped into the young man's shoes. Though a dead ringer for De Niro, Brancato plays the part as too much of a blank slate. At first at least. De Niro is terrific as always, and both his command of a scene and his hardened ease begins to seep into the teen's performance. The further Calogero pulls away from his father, the more Brancato finds his cadence and, subsequently, the more Calogero comes alive on screen. He's never quite granted the agency I longed for -- he tends to ricochet from event to event, rather than making significant choices that lead him along his own path -- but in some ways, it matches the stoic resolve of De Niro's bus driver, making for another uncanny resemblance between the two. The older actors hold the helm, with Palminteri in particular selling the gravitational pull of a man who charts his own course. It's little wonder Calogero is so drawn to Sonny, and Lorenzo's anxiety and frustration at his son's increasing distance is palpable. I could have done without the boy's ragtag gang of would-be gangster pals, but his attraction to a young black woman certainly brings the racial prejudices of the mid-20th century to the forefront. I'm not sure it all meshes as well as De Niro and Palminteri intend (it occasionally feels a tad manufactured) but it holds its own as a B-plot.

The real strength of the film is De Niro's Bronx. The city is a living, breathing organism of men and women who keep their heads down, trying to eek out a trouble-free existence and build a future for their children, and a group of opportunists willing to fight, maim and kill to take or keep what's theirs. The streets are teeming with activity, sewer grates vent steam, people dart every which way to the next busy shop, buses and cars weave past, and gangsters stalk through the fields of common-folk looking for their next score. Wide-eyed boys stand on the sidewalks and sit on door stoops, dreaming of being mobsters flush with cash. Girls hurry by so as not to earn the attention of cat-calling men. Hard-working fathers worry over their sons. Mothers rush out of their homes to bring kids in before dinner. And, of course, guns are drawn. Bar fights erupt. Money is earned. Molotovs are tossed. Storefronts burn. Funerals are held. While Calogero and Lorenzo hold us at arm's length, De Niro's Bronx invites us in and offers a full tour. It elevates a good movie just shy of greatness, and allows the central actors to wrap their performances around authenticity rather than a set or stage. By the time Calogero's adolescence reaches its height and a decision is demanded, A Bronx Tale has subtly and effectively dug its way into its audience's consciousness, asking tough moral questions and leaving us with the desire to find our own answers.

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Bronx Tale certainly looks better here than it ever has thanks to a remarkable 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer. However, there is an asterisk to that statement; not one everyone will agree is a problem but one I found to be distracting one too many times. Sony's remaster of the original elements grants Reynaldo Villalobos's photography new life, yes. But a bit of heavy-handedness adds an air of slight artificiality to the proceedings. It's not always noticeable. I suspect most will question my judgement and wonder what I'm even talking about. But there's a weight and heaviness to black levels that render nighttime scenes much too dark and shadows much too inky and absorbing; a slickness that sits atop any and all softness, suggesting a more aggressive use of noise reduction than Sony typically utilizes (grain is present and consistent but has obviously been generated after the fact); and minor, infrequent edge halos creep into the image from time to time. Does any of this amount to a huge detriment? No. It merely knocks the remaster and subsequent presentation down a peg.

Otherwise, the Blu-ray release of A Bronx Tale has a lot to offer. Colors are striking and lifelike, with warm fleshtones and consistent contrast. Detail is quite good too, especially in close-ups. While establishing shots struggle with the aforementioned artificiality, tighter shots boast a much more filmic appearance, with refined textures, crisp definition and decent delineation. There also aren't any signs of print damage, scratches or specks, grain irregularities, banding or artifacting, and the black crush present in a number of shadows traces back to the elements' remastering, not the Blu-ray encode. All told, without the opportunity to compare the original cinematography to the 2023 remastered presentation, it's hard to determine exactly how much change all of this represents and how much of a hinderance the issues I mentioned actually are. So let me fall back on what most people will see: a complete, mostly successful overhaul of a 1993 film that allows fans to experience De Niro's coming of age drama closer to how it was meant to be seen than at any point since its theatrical release.

A Bronx Tale Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Bronx Tale's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track offers a solid revitalization of its original elements as well, minus some of the artificiality concerns I had with the video presentation. Voices are largely clean and clear, with only a handful of lines marred by ADRing or other inconsistencies. Prioritization is quite good, as are directional effects and channel pans, which are accurate and smooth. The rear speakers inject a convincing busyness into the streetlife of the Bronx, with bustling crowds, cooing pigeons, warbling consumers and the sputtering motors of off-screen traffic. Gunshots are a bit tinny, as is par for the cinematic age, but bar brawls and sidewalk clashes inject more weight and oomph into the mix. Low-end output is more than adequate, though it isn't quite as assertive as it is in other Sony catalog titles. However, more often than not, A Bronx Tale is a more nuanced character study that elevates conversation and contemplation over chaos and more frequent brass tacks. Bottom line? Fans of the film will be pleased with its lossless audio track.

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

• Revisiting a Bronx Tale: Robert De Niro (HD, 15 minutes) - De Niro sits for a newly recorded retrospective interview, touching on everything from balancing his directing and acting roles to developing the story visually on screen, casting and working with the young actors, the film's importance today, production challenges and more.

• Revisiting a Bronx Tale: Chazz Palminteri (HD, 46 minutes) - A much longer, newly recorded retrospective interview, this time with Palminteri, who delves into the process of penning and refining the script, dealing with the difficulties of autobiographical adaptation, his work with the other cast, the story's prevalent themes, tapping into his childhood, retaining a sense of truth to the fiction, and more.

• Making Of (SD, 7 minute) - An archive featurette ported over from the previously released DVD.

• Theatrical Trailer

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

A Bronx Tale was a nice little surprise. Having never seen it, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the quieter, more introspective coming of age drama I found was a relief that stands farther apart from its genre brethren than it could have in the hands of other filmmakers. De Niro and Palminteri's performances are particularly strong, and the story has a growing sense of inevitability that left me genuinely sad and thoughtful. Sony's Blu-ray release is an easy one to recommend as well, although it does contend with a problem or two. Its video presentation borders on greatness (but struggles with a bit of artificiality), its lossless audio is notably good and its supplemental package, while a bit smaller than I'd like, offers an hour of new interviews. This one comes recommended.