I know most of you guys saw this movie, and i am sure there was a older topic about this movie. But i would like to get your attention, first of all it was a classic movie. I liked every aspect of it, except the guy who played Calogero. He cant act, well to get to the main point.. Is Sonny based on a real life mobster? In the movie it says he became boss, i am sure they mean a Capo. So at the start of the movie he is a soldier with his own crew of associates and made men hanging around. It is fictional but i am sure he was based on a real mobster in the 60-70s.

Sonny wan't based on anyone in particular. The only characters who were based on real life guys were "Jo-Jo the Whale," who was based on Louis "Gigi the Whale" Inglese, and "Eddie Mush," who played himself, and was as big a degenerate gambler in real life as he was in the movie.

Chazz has said in interviews over the years that, except for seeing a guy get shot, he didn't have an actual relationship with a local mob boss. The Sonny character was straight out of his imagination.

Wow. Interesting.

I must admit, Id always thought that "A Bronx Tale" was based off the one-man show supposedly about his own life, debuted by Palminteri in '89, and revived a few years ago.

http://blog.vegas.com/las-vegas-shows/chazz-palminteri-wows-in-a-bronx-tale-8241/

http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=466700

C'mon Kryptonite!

YO MURK..THE KID C DID 5 or 10 years for killin a NYC Cop or something

He was Matthew Belvoloca who gets murked in the sopranos then he went to jail for 5 years or something strung out on smack or speed I'm going to look up an article now

Thanks for all the info guys, its truly a classic movie. I watched it more then i have watched Goodfellas, Casino etc. And yes, the kid who played C is a real life thug. He was sentenced a couple of years ago, hes a wanabe gangsters who fucked up his life. He could have gotten far with acting, he did a good job on the Sopranos.

Wasted talent.

Yeah he talked much about it and in the end still got things screwed... wasted talent..

Definitely wasted talent. The guy had it in him.

Btw, I've always wondered about if the guy played by Palmintieri would have been a capo in the Genovese or Lucchese family. Both are strong in the Bronx. I think he would have been in the Lucchese family as he didn't appear to be as powerful as most Genovese captains were.

thats why i mentioned this, because surely he could be based on a real capo.

I'm sure that Sonny was a composite. But if you want to delve further into it, I posted earlier that the character of Jo Jo the Whale was based on Louis "Gigi the Whale" Inglese, who was with the Lucchese family. If you read anything into that, I guess it's possible that the inspiration came from local Lucchese gangsters. There were a ton of them in the Bronx back then.

Here's a short article:

A Bronx Tale Explained

A Bronx Tale is a 1993 film set in New York City during the turbulent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, and follows a young man as his path in life is guided by two father figures, played by De Niro and Chazz Palminteri. It also includes a brief appearance by Joe Pesci. It was written by Palminteri, based partially upon his childhood.

A Bronx Tale is generally ranked with other great films of the Mafia film genre. A Bronx Tale on DVD is out of print, making it difficult to find.

The movie opens in 1960 with Lorenzo Anello's (Robert De Niro) son Calogero (Francis Capra) witnessing a murder committed by the local Mafia boss, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri). When Calogero chooses to keep quiet when questioned by police officers, Sonny takes a liking to him. Calogero starts visiting Sonny and his posse almost every day in the bar downstairs, much to the dismay of his father, a hard-working bus driver struggling to make ends meet. Eight years later, in 1968, Calogero (now played by Lillo Brancato Jr.) has grown into a young man. He will eventually have to make the choice between his two mentors. He also pursues an interracial relationship with a Black girl named Jane Williams (Taral Hicks), and he has to cope with this while being in the company of racist friends who coincidentally attack the girl's brother and his friends, and who later plan to raid a Black neighborhood.

The film contains several violent scenes, including a savage beating of a biker gang by the Mafia, and Calogero's friends' tragically botched incursion into the Black neighborhood.

A Bronx Tale was filmed in three New York City neighborhoods. Though set entirely in the Bronx, only one of these locations was actually in that borough. The Fordham neighborhood in which Calogero lives was actually filmed in Astoria, Queens; the black neighborhood said to be on and around Webster Avenue was actually filmed at East 15th Street and Gravesend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; finally, the scene set on the Bronx's City Island was actually filmed in that location.

Palminteri adapted the screenplay from his one-man show of the same name. The show had successful runs in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway. Palminteri would not sell the rights to his story unless he could write the screenplay and was guaranteed the role of Sonny. At one point he was offered one million dollars, but refused because his conditions were not met. Later, De Niro saw the show and approached Palminteri. He said he knew about Palminteri refusing to sell the rights. For the rights he told Palminteri he would act in the movie and meet Palminteri's conditions if he could direct. De Niro said he was good to his word with only a handshake from Palminteri.

Palminteri based the character of Calogero on himself; his real first name is Calogero. The Lucchese crime family mobster Louis Inglese a.k.a. "Gigi The Whale" was the inspiration for "Jo-Jo The Whale" in the film.

http://everything.explained.at/A_Bronx_Tale/

Sorry Mukrenim, I somehow skipped the first post of this topic. I tend to read to quickly sometimes so I only read the latest pots.

This make's me happy I own a copy. Not that needed confirmation that its a great mob flick.

Still a good movie.

A Bronx Tale is a classic crime drama film.It was debut of Robert De Niro.I love the character played by Robert De Niro and Chazz Palminteri. The story was written by PalminterThe movie features a lot of music from the '50s and '60s era including "Come Together","All Along The Watchtower","It's a Man's Man's Man's World","I Wonder Why","Nights in White Satin".I love its music.

DELETED SPAM

DIRTY SPAMMER!!!

Seriously though, how good is that "well now you cant leave" scene with the bikers getting their collective smelly bearded asses handed to them.

i think that and the billy batts scenes are 2 of the greatest in america ciema.

The owner of the Limelight Disco in NYC hired Palmenterri as his doorman and financed his Movie. He is the Canadian who had an eye patch and was indicted by the DEA for selling dope at the club, I don't recall his name. Palmenteri pulled a Stalone and wanted to act in his own movie and did. I thought he did a great job! Excellent Movie

The owner was Peter Gatien.

This topic inspired me to rewatch this film, after last seeing it probably over 6 years ago. I still had the DVD stuffed in my collection.

It's a good film and it portrays the Bronx neighborhood back in those days very authentically, or at least made it look like it as I've never been there myself. Although it gets a little cheesy towards the end.

But Chazz Palmintieri is a great actor. He played his character like it was really him. Scorsese should have used this guy in his films because I think he's in the same league as De Niro or Pacino when it comes to playing mobsters.

I think A Bronx Tale and Donnie Brasco are the most authentic of all the mob films. The Godfather (first one) portrays mobsters too romanticized while Goodfellas portrays them too comically, although both are better films overall.

Ironically, the "worst thing in life is wasted talent" is a phrase used by De Niro's character when he tries to talk sense into Calogero, like it was a predictment for the guy's future in real life.

Palmintieri, De Niro and Pacino are the top actors for mob characters. You could add the Soprano cast to the list. But the top 3 is definitely them.

I like joe Pesci better than Chaz!

Joe Pesci is okay, but i dont like his voice!

anyone remember if sonny and his crew have the italian-american accent in the film?

No. I can't recall one character speaking even broken English.

To be fair, I think that was pretty accurate. By the 1960s (when the film was set), the younger guys in that neighborhood were mostly second, even third generation Americans. I was born in '59, and lived on Hoffman Street & 187th Street for the first half of my life. And while there were plenty of Italian born residents who spoke poor English, most of the guys from Sonny's generation would have been born here.

The movie was set in 1968 (for the most part). I'm assuming Sonny was about 40 at the time. That would put his birth year in the mid to late '20s, after the last big wave of Italian immigrants (the immigration laws changed around 1920, making it harder for Italians to come here). Now there are exceptions. Both sides of my family came here after 1920, but my best guess is that Sonny would have been born here.

Ya I agree pizzaboy even though I wasn't born in the 50's and 60's relatives that i have who were italian americans have said the same thing

You should have seen Lockwood Avenue then. Italians everywhere .

Ya they're still there but not nearly like it used to be. In the late 80's early 90's there were still many Italians