"A Bronx Tale" with Robert DeNiro and Chazz Palminteri (1993)

This is one of my favorite Robert DeNiro films. It was his first effort at directing a film, and is a poignant look at growing up in New York City during the 1960’s. Each neighborhood had its own fiefdom, usually composed of someone who was “connected” to the “mob” in some way. That person functioned as a sort of “peacekeeper” in his neighborhood, settling disputes and also collecting a fee from any illegal activities that might be going on in the area.  For the most part this system worked to everyone’s advantage, but every now and again, paths were crossed, and drama ensued. That is the story told in this remarkable film written originally as a play by Chazz Palminteri, who also wrote the screenplay for this movie, in which he plays the lead character of Sonny, the neighborhood “boss”.

Sonny runs things from the Chez Bippi, a bar located on the corner of 187^th Street in the Fordham Road section of the Bronx. This bar is the local hangout for the mob, a place where they can gather and feel comfortable. It is a separate world within a world, where working class people live and hold real jobs.  When Calogero , the 9 year old son of a local bus driver named Lorenzo Anello, played by Robert DeNiro, witnesses a gangland related shooting outside the bar; these two worlds collide in a very unexpected way.

After the shooting, Lorenzo quickly hauls his kid off the street to avoid being questioned by the police. When the child is forced to look over the suspects, he does the “right thing” by not telling the truth; or, as his father puts it, “You did a good thing for a bad man.” This confuses his son, who has grown to idolize Sonny, which in turn forms a division between father and son. When Sonny offers Lorenzo a job running numbers as a reward, Lorenzo turns him down, eschewing the easy money for his honest job.

As Calogero grows older he begins to work at the bar, without his father’s knowledge. Lorenzo is disapproving of the men who hang out at the bar, and the world they represent. He asserts that the real hero is the guy who gets up in the morning and goes to work to make an honest living. But this lesson is lost on his son, who sees the big, easy money being earned by the men at the bar. He soon becomes a part of their world, running errands, serving drinks, even rolling the dice for Sonny in a crap game.  When Lorenzo finds out that his son has been working at the bar, he confronts Sonny, reminding him that the boy is his son, and that as such, Sonny is way out of line with his interference in the raising of his family. This sets off an emotional conflict between the two men which never fully resolves itself.

The film is a multi-layered story of the years between 1960 and 1969, when things were changing so quickly it wasn’t always easy to keep pace with what was right, and what was wrong. It is also the story of a father and son in the grips of those changes. And it is also the story of a city rent by these changes.

As Calogero gets older he finds himself attracted to an African-American girl who goes to his school. With racial tensions between the Italians and Blacks at an all-time high, this is just another log on the fire for “C”, the name which Sonny has bestowed upon him, much to the chagrin of his father.

While  Calogero becomes more involved with his girlfriend, Jane, racial tensions arise in the neighborhood, and C’s friends become involved in the violence.  He is torn between his loyalty to his friends, and the conflicting advice  he receives from his father, and Sonny, on just about everything.

When tensions explode on a fateful night, it is Sonny who saves the boy from death. And when Sonny is later murdered in retaliation for another killing, it is Lorenzo who comes to his son’s aid, helping him to realize that all things are not as cut and dried and as they might seem at first. Life is complicated. And though both men had conflicting outlooks on life, they both wanted what each perceived to be the best for Calogero. It is only after Sonny’s death that Loenzo realizes the good within the dead man, who had tried to keep his son from following in his footsteps.

When Lorenzo shows up at Sonny’s funeral to pay his respects; more to his son’s friendship than to Sonny himself; Calogero realizes that Sonny was wrong when he said that “nobody cared.”

This is a flawlessly written, and directed, film by two of the best actors of the last 40 years. As usual, Robert De Niro has peppered the film with some of the greatest music of the 1960’s, ranging from Doo-Wop music to the sounds of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, Rhythm and Blues, and even some Eric Clapton thrown in. The whole movie is seamlessly drawn, and lingers on with the viewer long after the last credits have rolled. If you have never seen this film before, then you are missing one of the best.

"The Usual Suspects" with Chazz Palminteri, Benicio Del Toro and Kevin Spacey (1995)

With a cast like this one, this is a movie that I have revisited over and over again, for the sheer joy of watching the actors ply their trade. In this bizarre tale, written by Chris McQuarrie, a ship berthed pier side in San Pedro, is set afire and 27 victims are dead.  All of the “usual suspects” are then rounded up for interrogation. There is only one witness left, but his story makes little sense; or does it?

Veteran Customs Agent Dave Kujan, played by Chazz Palminteri, leaves New York, bound for the West Coast, in an attempt to find out who, or what, was the motivation behind the crime. And, just exactly what was the crime in the first place?

When a truck is hijacked in New York, six weeks earlier, things go horribly wrong, and five men; all career criminals; are brought in for questioning. As they sit in a common holding cell, they plot a way to “pay back” their hosts.

The Police in San Pedro Police discover $91 million worth of alleged drug money with the bodies. There are only two survivors. One is a badly burned, and scared, Hungarian terrorist; the other is “Verbal” Kint, played with perfection by Kevin Spacey, who is a crippled con-artist. Under pressure by Customs Agent Kujan, Kint is hard pressed to come up with a believable explanation for what went wrong. This is where the story really begins.

Dean Keaton, played by Gabriel Byrne, is one of the “usual suspects” rounded up. As an ex-police officer with a spotted career, he is the angriest of the 5 suspects. He is trying to go straight, and considers his incarceration to be an insult. He is talked into doing the proverbial “just one more job.”

Approached by the mysterious attorney Kobayashi, played by Pete Postlethwaite, the 5 men agree to the plan, which involves $91 million dollars, supposedly in exchange for some jewels. When the jewels turn out to be cocaine, the 5 men are less than pleased. But they are stuck, as Kobayashi represents a criminal mastermind known as Keyser Soze. As the 5 “suspects” are drawn deeper into Soze’s plans, they become aware that each of them have wronged Mr. Soze at some point or other; albeit unwittingly.

“Verbal” Kint, as the last survivor, is the only person who can put together the pieces of a puzzle so diverse, that it may take watching this film more than once to fully understand it. At least, that was my experience. “Verbal” is able to use all of his wits to outwit Customs Agent Kujan, and in the end the viewer is left wondering just who is Keyser Soze, and does he in fact even exist? This may be one of Kevin Spacey’s greatest roles. As a standout in a cast of some of Hollywood’s best character actors, this is a film you will want to re-visit from time to time, if only to watch his performance.