Bronx Tale Sparknotes

A Bronx Tale is 1993 crime drama film set in The Bronx, New York during the violent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro. The film is about Chazz Palminteri, who is also known throughout the movie as 'C'. His path in life is guided by the two father figures played by Robert De Niro as Lorenzo, his biological father and Chazz Palminteri as Sonny, a local mafia boss. Both Lorenzo and Sonny were completely different. Their only common interest was C, who both impacted his life in different ways, leading C to choose from right and wrong.

To begin with, Lorenzo, one of the main characters of the movie, is a hard working bus driver. He is a devoted father, who provides for his family by living a legitimate life. In the scene where C witnessed

Sonny murdered a guy over a parking space, C refused to identify Sonny as the gunmen.

Sonny then, offered Lorenzo a better paying job as a token of his silence. Being the straight-forward person that he is, Lorenzo refused the job. In addition to being a person with moral, he is also a humble person. In one scene, Lorenzo caught C driving Sonny's car, which led to a huge confrontation between both. Lorenzo was upset with C for disobeying his order to not associate himself with Sonny and his mob. Lorenzo could not control his anger that he ended up slapping his son. Even though, he knew that his child deserved the slap, he still apologized to C for not being able to control his anger and going out of hand. However, his humbleness did not stop him from allowing Sonny to downgrade C to the life of a mobster. Lorenzo has a strong and bold attitude, as seen through the whole movie, where on various occasions he confronted Sonny, warning him to stay away from his son. One part in particular is when Lorenzo finds money in C's room. After

confronting C about the money and finding out that it came from Sonny's illegal activities, Lorenzo hauled C and took him to return the money to Sonny. As Lorenzo and C walked inside the bar, Lorenzo threw the money on the table where Sonny and his associate were sitting at and told him that they could not accept the money. Sonny got offended and said,” the money is not for you, is for him. He earned it.” Lorenzo replied by saying,” alright my son and I do not want my son to be involved in what goes on here.” This confrontation almost ended in a fight between both.
Lorenzo guided C thought the right path of life, teaching him family values, unconditional love and to pursue his dreams. In the scene as previously mentioned where Lorenzo refuses to accept the money, Lorenzo demand C to stay away from Sonny but C refuses to follow his order. Filled of rage Lorenzo slaps C. Calogero then responded by saying,” Sonny is right; the working man is a sucker daddy! The working man is a sucker! He is a sucker!” Lorenzo shouted, saying,” It does not take much strength to pull a trigger, but try getting up every morning day after day and work for a living! Let's see him try that, and then we will see who the real tough guy is! The working man is the tough guy! Your father is the tough guy!” Through C's indolence, his father tried his best to keep him away from Sonny's illegal endeavors, such as gambling and racketeering. Lorenzo also showed C that he would always be there for him, through the thick and thin as shown at the beginning of the movie when C refused to identify Sonny as the murder. Lorenzo could have forced C to speak the truth, but instead decided to let him lie to keep him out of trouble. In addition of being a caring father, Lorenzo also embraced within C to pursue his dreams and not let them go into waste. For example, at the beginning of the movie after a ride with his father on the bus during their conversation about baseball player, C asked his dad if he could also be a baseball player. Lorenzo responded by saying,” You can be anything you want to be. Remember the saddest thing in life is a waste of talent. You could have all the talent in the world, but if you do not do the right thing nothing happens. But when you do right, good things happen.” He emphasized this phrase through the movie, especially after every argument they had.
Sonny, the second father figure an Italian mob leader admired by C, is a man with no moral who preferred to be feared then loved. This is due his untrusting feelings of others, as shown in the scene where C returns the car back to Sonny after attempting to go on his first date with Jane a Black African American. Sonny went after C and falsely accused him of placing the bomb found in his car. Even after C swearing to Sonny that it was not him, Sonny did not believe him and attacked him. This scene shows how even the person who he only love, he could not trust because he felt that anyone could betray him. He plays a villainous character, who played by his own rules. In one scene of the movie, a group of white males trespass Sonny's Village and went into the bar. During that era every ethnicity was self-segregated, so by them crossing into the Italian Village, Sonny felt offended. Sonny gave them several warnings by telling them to leave the bar but they ignored him. As insolent that Sonny is, he and the mob locked the guys in the bar and beat them. In addition to his arrogance, Sonny is selfish; however, he only looks up for C. Every time he finds out that C is about to get into no good, Sonny finds the way to keep him away and safe as shown in the scene when C friend plotted to attack the African American Village. At the end the friends ended burn in a car with no escape of the explosion.
In contrast to Lorenzo, Sonny had a negative impact on C's life. Sonny guides C through the wrong path of life by showing him that life is all about money and power. Since that day C meets Sonny, Sonny's appearance and the way of being caught his attention as shown at the beginning of the movie where he mimics Sonny body gestures while playing guess who with his friends. His admiration towards Sonny caused various confrontations with his father, leading C to becoming ungrateful, after all the effort his dad did to provide him a better life. The part of the movies after his dad catch him driving Sonny's car proves how much C's perception of life has change. As they argue in the kitchen C says,” That his grandparents died because they were poor.” Lorenzo responded and said,” Don't you ever disrespect your grandparents and you are wrong! They tried to give me a better life and that's what I am trying to give you.” “What better life?” C asked. “We don't even own a car! We don't have money! We do not have nothing! Don't take it out on me because you are a bus driver! The working man is a sucker!” Sonny exposed C into the life of the mafia but does not want him to be one of them. It is impossible to keep temptation from a young, immature adolescent. Besides the mafia, C is also exposed to gambling, which he finds amazing because he does not have to work hard for it.
In despite of their differences, Lorenzo and Sonny both loved C and wanted the best for him. However, Lorenzo guided him through the right path of life and Sonny guided him through the wrong path of life. The part where C is next to Sonny's casket and denied the guys offer by saying,” Listen, I think I am going to give the ball a rest for a while.” Also, when he stays alone talking to Sonny and says,” Sonny did you hear that? My father didn't hate you. Nobody cares, huh? You were wrong about that one.” Then he finished by giving Sonny a kiss on the forehead and saying” Waste of talent” makes him realize that Sonny mobster life is not the dazzling life that Sonny boasted about. Also, after seeing his friends and Sonny dead, he decides that that life is not for him and ends up embracing more of his dad guidance than Sonny's guidance by not wasting his talent as his dad always advised him.