ERNEST RIDES AGAIN

So far the films and TV specials with Ernest aren't as bad as I thought they would be. They're stupid, and very cheesy, but they aren't god-awfully annoying or dull either. The only one that I can think of that was very close to being down-right awful was his first TV Special involving his family album for how offensive it was, but at least the first two skits were tons of fun (not to mention that the Billy Boogie segment has a groovy soundtrack). Aside from that, the rest I found to be enjoyable for Jim Varney's charisma, the set-ups, the wacky ways of capturing Ernest's world and style of humor, and a few of the film's occasionally offering moments of sadness, darkness, and heartwarming joy (elements I wouldn't expect to see in any of these films). Now I'm taking a look at the last Ernest film that was released theatrically before the character would appear in straight-to-video films, which was...

Just judging the film by the title and cover alone, it's without question the worst cover for any of the Ernest films for how boring it looks and sounds. All the covers to the Ernest films told you what was going to happen to our beloved childish redneck through their titles and the wild imagery of the character in distinct locations, whether it would be him hanging onto a Christmas tree in "Ernest Saves Christmas" or escaping from prison in front of a guard in "Ernest Goes to Jail". The cover of this film tells me nothing of what's in store for him. It's just him smiling with the title "Ernest Rides Again" in front of his forehead as confetti falls. Is he entering a race, is he going to the party of his life, what is there to attract young audiences other than it's another Ernest film because that seems what the title and picture only suggest. The short film "Mr. Bill Goes to Washington" that's attached to the cover, tells me more about the film than the feature presentation. I know I shouldn't judge a film by its cover, and maybe the film will be as enjoyable as the others, but given its cover, the previous Ernest film losing a little bit of steam, and this being the last of the theatrical films in the franchise, the signs aren't good.

So what's the plot, what kind of misadventure is our pal Ernest going to get himself into this time? Well upon finding an old metal plate at a construction site, Ernest brings it to a Doctor he knows at a college with the last name Melon (Ron James), who believes its part of a giant lost cannon from the "Revolutionary War" called "Goliath" that contains the real Crown Jewels of England hidden inside. The two embark on an adventure to find the lost cannon, and eventually find it, only to have multiple people chase after the two for it. Melon's colleague Dr. Glencliff (Tom Butler) wants to place it in his collection of rare historic antiques; Britain's secret service want to take the jewels back to England where they belong; and Doctor Melon's wife Nan (Linda Kash) with the help of two vacuum cleaner salesmen want to get rich quick by selling the jewels.

From the start of this review, I've stated that there wasn't one Ernest film or TV Special that didn't offer something worthwhile within these mindless films which had me pleasantly surprised (judging by the standards of these movies). This film gave me exactly what I expected to get when reviewing the series from the very start, an unamusing obnoxious experience. Jim Varney (god bless him) is still full of life who is doing everything he can to make the film work, but he's not given much to really work with. And that's odd for me to say because the film does attempt to give him a friendship with the character Dr. Melon that plays out similar like a buddy-comedy, a concept that wasn't given to the character since "Ernest Goes to Camp". But unlike how Ernest's ambitions to befriend the kids and achieve his dream was always felt, here it feels like an after-thought for how generic it is, as Ernest's attempt to befriend him feel phoned-in with the miserable aid of corny music to signal us to have an emotional reaction.

The film clearly just wants Varney to do his usual shtick without challenging him, which at this point is getting kind of old and more annoying. This may have to do with a few things. The first few being the film's look and environment. In every previous Ernest film and TV special there were distinctive settings and themes that Varney was given to play around with, whether it would be locations like a summer camp, Jail, "Splash Mountain", or the film's being holiday themed. In this film, Ernest is pretty much just walking through the woods, to an abandon construction site, getting into trouble at a college campus, and riding a cannon on the open road. This may sound interesting on paper but comes off as rather colorless in execution. That's most likely because the film isn't all that fun to look at. When I think back at the visuals to the other Ernest films, I think of them looking exaggerated and drenched with colors that would at times pop-out at you to provide the right atmosphere and tone when gazing at Ernest's world that's almost as cartoony as he is. This film is by far the ugliest looking one in these films for how grey and dirty it appears, with toned down colors and less amusing locations. Alright, the set-piece for the room where Dr. Glencliff stores his historical antiques is pretty neat, and this random party that Ernest literally crashes seems festive, but aside from that, the depiction of Ernest's world looks like trash.

Considering that the film's look isn't as exploited as the film's before it, and is relying on a premise that's not all that intriguing, this means the bad jokes and unappealing characters are going to stand out even more now that Varney doesn't have the proper support where his expressions and energy isn't going to be enough to save the film. The Ernest films after he went to Camp, though weren't funny still made their gags as bizarrely overblown as possible, resulting with them being entertaining and leading to a couple of laughs for how out of the norm they were. This film takes its comedy back to the stages of "Ernest Goes to Camp" where it plays little on the surreal, and just on cartoony slapstick that's very run-of-the-mill. Most of the sound effects used for the abuse that Ernest goes through clearly sound added-in for how cheesy and cartoony they sound. And many of the moments of Ernest getting hurt or is in some kind of trouble looks staged for the cheap effects, lack of weight, and not looking like he's in any real pain, making it obvious that Varney is just mugging in front of the camera hoping that post-production will edit his scenes nicely together where they'll be funny and believable. The film's humor even contains a decent amount gags where anyone can predict that Ernest is going to ruin things from the moment when someone's told to be careful with a rare book or a new car, which doesn't have a funny pay-off. Some jokes even overstay their welcome, most noticeably the whole sequence with Ernest riding on top of a moving cannon. It pretty much takes up at least 20 minutes of the movie and drags on for so long at such a slow pace with jokes that are incredibly weak and the destruction it causes having very little impact, that I started to find myself questioning how this cannon is still rolling at this point as I was praying for it to stop. It's a painfully long sequence but not as painful as watching Ernest talking to himself as he mimics different voices to make it seem like he's speaking to more than one person. Varney's timing and skill of playing more than one character has been done better in the other Ernest films, for fitting a hilarious set-up of a soldier trying to fool an army of Native American that an empty fort is filled with troops, or working with the odd nature of "Ernest Scared Stupid" by having him change his entire appearance with the help of crazy lighting to fit the tone. But here he doesn't interact with anyone as he mimics different voices nor alters his looks to fit the character he's pretending to be, which makes these child-like moments of a grown-man playing pretend to be creepy, as opposed to charming or funny.

If I said that the film's humor is entirely tasteless than I would be a big liar because the film does offer a couple of moments that are funny or stand-out on the same appeal as dumb-fun entertainment as the previous films after "Ernest Goes to Camp". Some of the lines that Ernest gets provide a few good giggles, his funniest is how he breaks the fourth wall after an accident stating how he would've been dead if he weren't so close to being an actual cartoon character (which begs the question, why we should fear for him being killed or severely injured at all since he survives the impossible). There's a bit when he disguises himself as his Aunt Nelda character that's less awkward than his other scenes of him pretending because he's interacting with another person in order for him to escape from being abducted. And the bit when Ernest is chased by an old angry farmer after borrowing his tractor gives a big laugh from Varney's casual delivery and the expressions and movements from the actor playing the farmer. It's too bad that these bits and a few of Ernest's best lines are very short and far apart. The film's only true highlight that looks as zany as the other films, doesn't feel short-lived, and constantly throws enjoyable gags at you is the opening credits. The opening credits to the Ernest films (after "Camp") have always been one of the strong points in these films to get you in the right mood before the story unfolds, and the credits here are certainly no exception. Throughout the credits, we see old illustrations of Ernest interacting in historical events as the images would occasionally move through an animation style similar to Monty Python. The gags are fun enough, but it's the film's theme song "There Once Was a Man Named Worrell" that makes it stand-out for how ridiculously big and triumphant it sounds, coming complete with a sing-along. It's a song that gives this loony character so much respect and dignity through such wonderful exaggeration that honestly it should be the theme song to all of his films. This intro had me so pumped to see what was in store that little did I know the film had already outdid itself.

It's rare for Ernest films to have characters who stand-out as much as he does. Some have carried his sentimental charm like Santa in "Ernest Saves Christmas", and Eartha Kitt managed to be as delightfully kooky as her star in "Ernest Scared Stupid", but usually they were either incredibly bland, or annoying to the point where they come across as poor imitations of the Ernest character. And just like the entire supporting cast in "Ernest Goes to Camp", there's not a single character or performance present who comes across as anything special. The relationship that Ernest has with Dr. Melon takes every predictable route that are seen in buddy comedies. Abner can't stand Ernest and wants to distance himself from him until fate brings them on a conquest together where they start to get close until a misunderstanding splits them up for a little while before they get back together in the climax. As much as Varney tries to make it work, Ron James’ wooden performance as this bumbling scientist doesn't mesh well with Varney's stale performance. The characters maybe bland in "Ernest Goes to Camp" but at least the performances had enough heart to bring some kind of emotional connection. This character is also given an arc of manning up, and even that feels as emotionally lacking as the relationship that he shares with the protagonist. When he starts punching people and kissing his wife as he's doing a terrible Elvis impression to sound cool and tough, he still feels like a weak dweeb. Most of the other characters in the cast all seem just there leaving no impression, except for the two salesmen. The fat and skinny duo who are usually seen in these films are both recasted with actors that have good timing for how quick they are to finish each other’s sentences, until it becomes tiresome after 5 minutes and starts to become irritating for how they never take a break from their shtick with jokes that aren't funny enough to overlook it.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

It's no wonder why the rest of the Ernest films were made for home video after this film, because with the exception of the opening credits sequence there's nothing in it that's worth seeing. Jim Varney's performance is getting stale at this point; the supporting characters are all forgettable; the film's environment is very unappealing; and there are so little good jokes in this film that it's not worth your time to watch the film to see the good ones. Instead of this film moving the series forward by offering something unique enough to make the experience joyfully entertaining if not funny, this film decides to move backwards to the character's beginnings in the film series just minus the heart, charm, and color. If this were a stand-alone movie that wasn't part of the franchise, I wouldn't have wasted my time reviewing it for how boringly safe and unfunny it is. There's nothing in it that's offensive, it just exists to simply cash-in on the character with no style or substance.

BONUS REVIEW

This review wouldn't be complete if I didn't cover the short film preceding the main film...

I've been familiar with the Mr. Bill character growing-up as a kid. I never watched any of his shorts (except for the commercials and TV promos featuring him), but I am familiar with the overall idea of the character and its brand of humor. He's a friendly clay figurine clown who originated from "SNL" who tries to enjoy life, only to find himself getting destroyed in horrendous ways while shouting his famous catchphrase "Oh nooo"! He sounds like a funny enough character, after all, he is one of the most iconic SNL characters, so perhaps his short film maybe funnier than the actual film that he's billed with. And the sad part is, it is! A film that's only 5 minutes long involving a person made out of clay who doesn't move a muscle, contains more laughs and entertainment value than the film that follows after it. The plot is just simply about Mr. Bill becoming President of the United States America, realizing the brutal truth that it's not as easy or grand as it sounds which hurts him...literally. Every time he's shown on-screen, this character is always getting squished or torn apart in all kinds of horrific ways possible. Sometimes from a sinister looking clay figure named Sluggo, most of the time from a pair of giant hands interacting with him, and occasionally from people who accidentally step on him. I couldn't believe the number of times I saw this character suffering. It’s in many ways cruel seeing this cute happy-go-lucky fellow get undeserved pain, but it’s exaggerated and cartoony to the point where it's too hilarious to not even care, especially when there seems to be an awareness that he isn’t supposed to be a character who’s supposed to be living and breathing as a Claymation figure like Gumby. He’s clearly just made to look sweet and be ripped apart. And the major reason why it’s so funny is that there’s simply no telling what kind of abuse is going to happen to him next as the short plays out like an episode from a children's show. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS

This short succeeds with everything that "Ernest Rides Again" fails at doing. The character of Mr. Bill is hilariously charming; the slapstick and scenarios are endlessly funny for how quick, innovative, and unassuming they are; and to have it set in Washington D.C. creates tons of possibilities that this short isn't afraid to exploit as much as it can within its budget. It's almost as if the people making "Ernest Rides Again" knew their film wasn't going to be as engaging as the films before it and wanted a short to draw people in to provide them with as many legitimate laughs they can cram in before having them sit through Ernest's weakest film yet. I kept my review on the film brief not because of its incredibly short run time, but because it's best to go into this film as blind as possible in order for the jokes to truly work. If you're remotely interested in Mr. Bill or have been a fan who has not seen it yet, spare a few minutes of your downtime watching this poor little fellow in office, you won't regret it. And if you just so have a little extra time, be sure to check out the opening credits for "Ernest Rides Again". The film maybe bad, but the opening credits deserves a watch for the reasons I've mentioned in my review.

FILM ESSAY: THE USE OF DRAMATISM IN "THE GODFATHER PART II"

“The Godfather Part II” is a sequel to the classic film “The Godfather”, that’s been held by critics and fans to be one of the few Hollywood sequels to be just as great as the first film (as well as winning the Oscar for "Best Picture", along with its predecessor). The first film is about a crime family called the Corleone’s run by the aging Don, Vito Corleone and his sons in the 1940s. After getting into a mob war with the other New York gangsters for refusing to endorse in the narcotics trade, that weakens the family business, and costs Vito’s oldest son Sonny his life, his youngest son Michael takes over the family business as his Father is too old and sick to run things anymore, and eventually dies in a garden as he’s playing with his grandson. The second film picks up a few years after the events of the first film, with Michael still in charge of the family in the late 1950s, who is now running his operation in Nevada, planing to join forces with an old powerful business associate named Hyman Roth. However, one evening at his home, Michael nearly gets assassinated, and believes that the man who orchestrated the hit was Hyman Roth, and that he had help from an insider. After meeting up with Roth at his home in Miami to make him believe that another associate of the family Frank Pentangeli was the one who gave the order, since he refused to take care of a duo of gangsters that Roth is backing up known as the Rosato Brothers for moving in on his territory, Michael decides to visit Pentangeli in New York to tell him his plan.

The scene when Michael talks to Frank is relevant to Kenneth Burke's method of Dramatism. Burke used a method of analyzing human relationships, that compares life to drama as well as the most direct route to human motives and human relations by using a five dramatic pentad to understand how a person explains their actions through the performance of the persuasion instead of the science of it. The scene when Michael persuades Frank to help him go along with his plan to get rid of Roth uses all 5 parts of the pentad. The first of the 5 parts of the pentad is Scene, which is the place where the action occurs. The scene takes place at Pentageli's home that Michael uses to his advantage by coming to his place unannounced to keep his plan a secret, and to get his attention. He achieves this successfully by having his bodyguard wait at the front of Frank's house to inform him that he has company, and having Frank's wife tell him that he's waiting in the den, rather than greeting him directly.

Michael is not just a friend and an Allie to this New York gangster, but he's also one of the biggest and most powerful Don's in the country, which leads to another part of the pentad called Agent, who are supposed to be the people involved in the conversation and what their roles are supposed to be. These two are both very intelligent and dangerous men who have connections to help make them do whatever criminal act they want. The third part to the pentad is Act, which explains what's happening, and what's going on between the two. Just as I've stated earlier, Michael has come to see Pentageli to get him to help take revenge against Roth for trying to have him killed at his "HOME"! The fourth part called Agency begins to take part in the scene, which shows how the agents act on this matter. Michael wants Frank to help him take his revenge by settling his troubles with the Rosato brothers. Frank questions why he wants him to "lay down to them" as being part of his revenge, which causes Michael to finally tells him that it was Hyman Roth who tried to have him killed.

This all leads to the 5th and final part of the pentad Purpose, that explains why the agents are acting and what they wish to achieve. We clearly know that Michael wants Roth dead, but why would he want Frank to have a truce with gangsters that he's backing up, instead of just wiping him and the Rosato's out while they "got the muscle"? After Michael walks around the house in disbelief that the house that he used to live in has changed so much over time as he reminiscences about the good old days, and finds himself happy that the house never went to strangers since Frank, and Frank's deceased boss and former Allie of the Corleone's Peter Clemenza took over the house when Michael moved his family to Nevada. Michael sits back down and tells Frank that he learned many things from his Father in the den where they're meeting in, and tells him one of the business strategies that he's learned which is "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" (one of the many famous quotes from the movie). He proceeds to tell Frank his plan, that if Frank ends the feud with the Rosato's, it will make Roth believe that Michael supported their truce, which will keep Roth completely relaxed and not suspicious about his plans to kill him, and to find out who the traitor in his family was that helped set-up the attempt on his life.

"The Godfather Part II"(just like the first film) has one great scene after another, and to connect a famous scene with a few iconic quotes to Burke's Dramatism makes the scene even more amusing then it already is. Michael uses Scene, knowing that it will grab's Frank's attention when he comes to his house as a surprise. He qualifies under Agent since he is a powerful man (as well as Frank). He uses Act to tell Frank what happened at his home, and that he needs his help. Agency is used when he tells Frank his plan to act on the matter. And he tells the Frank the reason why he wants him to make peace with the Rostato's by using the final part of the pentad, Purpose. And it all works towards Michael's advantage to get the help he needs (it's just a shame that he didn't count on the Rostato's double crossing Frank during their truce meeting).

A BRONX TALE

During my research for films I should cover from 1993, it surprises me how some actors were making their debut as directors at the time. Actor Mel Gibson directed his first and underrated motion picture film "The Man without a Face". Trey Parker with the aid of Matt Stone made an impressive low-budget independent film called "Cannibal! The Musical". Ben Affleck directed a short film that he and I'm sure anybody who's seen it would love to forget. And two-time Oscar Winner Robert De Niro would get his chance to sit in the director's chair for...

Based on a one-man play written by the film's star Chazz Palminteri; this film is a coming-of-age story set in 1960 at the Bronx that follows the life of a young Italian American boy named Calogero Anello (Francis Capra) who lives in a small apartment with his family, that happens to be right next to a bar where the local mobsters hang-out and do business. Calogero admires his Father Lorenzo (Robert De Niro), but he idolizes the mobster who practically controls the neighborhood Sonny (Chazz Palminteri). One day Calogero witnesses a murder committed by Sonny in defense for a friend at his neighborhood. The NYPD detectives come knocking at the Anello family's door to question Calogero if he recognizes any of the suspects that may have committed the crime. Calogero chooses to keep quiet and is later befriended by Sonny for his action, giving him the nickname "C". Lorenzo disapproves of their friendship fearing for his son's well-being, confronts Sonny warning him to stay away from C (I'm just going to call the lead C from here on out because Calogero is "a big name"). 8 years later, a grown-up C (Lillo Brancato) still hangs out with Sonny, as he grows distant from his Father. Eventually, C comes across a black girl named Jane (Taral Hicks) who falls in love with her but is worried about the racial tensions if he should ever go out with her. C's friends from childhood have also been becoming a bad influence on him for evolving into a gang of wanna-be mobsters who start attacking people of color that enter their segregated neighborhood.

Last year when I talked about another coming-of-age movie at the time that was held together by an actor making his directorial debut "The Man without a Face"; the main factors that made it so rich was the main characters and their relationships with each other, that was backed-up by thoughtful solid writing and strong performances. "A Bronx Tale" magnificently offers all those strengths! C does not have one but two mentors, being his Father and the neighborhood gangster where it may seem that one character and performance out of the two is going to outshine the other, but it turns out that they are both equally fascinating. Lorenzo is the common working man who doesn't have much money but still makes enough to provide for his family and take part in special activities together if he can spare some extra cash. To him as low-key and hard as his life is, he's still happy with the path he's chosen, who feels that the working man is the real tough guy. Sonny, on the other hand, is the big-shot gangster who is respected by everyone in the neighborhood, and though he wouldn't want to ever turn down the life he leads, he's not fully happy with it either. Everybody around him fears him than they do genuinely love being around him, and by acknowledging that everyone around him is phonies, the only person he can ever depend on is himself. These two men both live polar-opposite lives who respect each other but are always at war when regarding C's best interest fearing that he may be led down the wrong path for how they both differ. Lorenzo wants C to make an honest living by using his talent to his advantage, while Sonny is teaching him street smarts without being a hoodlum like himself. They clearly don't want C to fail in life, it's just one doesn't want to see him be an everyday sucker, as the other doesn't want him to wield a gun to achieve his desire. They just both happen to be the person that they don't want to see him turn into and are always fighting each other because of their differences, despite that they both have their own good points that they fail to acknowledge from their prejudices and beliefs.

The protagonist in the center of this rivalry grasping each piece of advice from both of his mentors is a character that many of us can relate to. As a kid, we relate to his curiosity and innocence through how he obsesses over a bar where the gangsters’ chill that's considered to be forbidden fruit to him, as he views Sonny as a famous movie star who he hopes to one day be just like. And as a teenager, we connect to his struggles of making the right choices down a path that leads to complete uncertainty, as he's always being peered pressured by his friends and society that will easily bring him to rock-bottom if he's not careful. Both performances when capturing C's character feel very naturalistic, as his relationship with the people around him and tries to absorb the lessons he's being taught are fully believable where the speeches he's given from the people opposite of him don't feel preachy or being played-up as Oscar bait. I will admit however that as great of a performance that both actors give for C, I feel that he's more interesting as a kid than he is when he gets older. When we see him as a kid, while being innocent and naive, he had a bit of a tough wise guy side to him that made him interesting. He was rebellious, he was snarky, and then when we see him get older he loses that edge where he comes across as weak and a bit whiny. He just seems more defenseless as an adult than he did as a kid. But as I said before, Brancato still gives a good performance that makes you still feel attached to him for how down-to-earth his performance is. I just wish that we didn't lose a good part of what made him so relatable.

There is at least one special thing that Brancato offers that Capra doesn't have, and that's the narration he provides for the film. When hearing him reminisce the past, and the thoughts that he was thinking at the time, it sounds as personal as listening to Ray Liotta narrate the lifestyle of mobsters in "Goodfellas", or Gene Shepherd as a grown-up Ralphie reflect on his childhood memories in "A Christmas Story". A huge reason why the narration, as well as the relationship and lessons in the film, connect to the audience on a personal level is that the story is mostly based on Chazz Palminteri's childhood. From having a working Father who would give him the same advice that Lorenzo would in the film, to dating a black girl, to knowing mobsters with funny nicknames, to having the name Calogero, and even down to witnessing a murder while sitting on his stoop, a lot of the events that happened in the film are similar and sometimes exact to the memories that Palminteri's once had. And his nostalgic passion for translating it to a screenplay to offer a story that's deep and compelling for viewers to take away from it consistently shows from start to finish. As a matter of fact, Palminteri cherished the story so much for how personal it is to him that he turned down several studios that offered him big money, for not letting him write the screenplay and play Sonny. It only took a famous actor who wanted to try something different, showing no problems with meeting Palminteri's demands and giving him more than what he asked for by letting him get involved with almost every single piece of production. So as we're watching the two go at each other on-screen, off-screen De Niro wanted Palminteri close-by to do justice to his material, making it clear that his involvement is just as important as De Niro directing it.

DeNiro, Palminteri, Capra, and Brancato, aren't the only people giving a great performance in the movie because the casting itself is as pitch-perfect as a film can be. The supporting characters may not be as complex or well-rounded as the leads, but the actors hired to portray these characters provide the energy, charm, and mannerisms that are required for the role. The actors cast as C's group of delinquent friends (both young and old) perfectly balance out their humorous moronic wise guy personalities while still feeling threatening for being bigoted loose cannons. But as much as you want to see C back-away from these degenerate scumbags, you still see him bonding with them as friends, providing the viewer to understand and feel why he can't simply just back-away from them. Taking care of C when his Father is out driving the bus, is his Mother played by Kathrine Narducci (who would later play Artie Bucco's wife on "The Sopranos") who shares the same believable chemistry with the family, as DeNiro does with the actors playing C. You get the sense that she genuinely cares for her son, and loves her husband dearly. But as much as she loves her family, sometimes she'll question Lorenzo's decision regarding money being offered to him by Sonny given their living conditions which is understandable. It really bothers me that once we reach 1968 she fades away from existence without a trace, because she did help bring a realism to the family that felt nice and would've been interesting to see how she feels about her son during certain situations. The best of the supporting characters in the film is without a doubt the mobsters working for Sonny just for how colorful they are like Tony Toupee, Frankie Coffeecake. The funniest character in the gang is Eddie Mush, a gambler who always loses, who interestingly enough is played by the actual guy that the character is based on Eddie Montanaro, who was still a "jinx" after all these years. For all I know, this film was probably the luckiest thing that has ever happened to him. And as if this mob can't get any wilder, Joe Pesci giving one of the best performances in his career makes an important appearance.

As the film explores the relationships with family, friends, the film still has enough room to add in a romance. The idea of adding a romance may sound like a forced diversion from the main relationships in order to give a little something to female audiences who are taken to see it with their mobster film loving boyfriends, but it doesn't. Whenever this subplot comes into play, I don't find it to slow the film down, or be uninteresting because the romance is one of the conflicts in the film that puts C's lessons to the test. C is surrounded in an environment full of pure hatred and bigotry between Italians and African Americans, with friends that will take any chance they get to bash in the opposing races' skull, and a Father who gets along with the races but is still prejudiced. However, though Lorenzo doesn't approve the idea, he lets C go ahead with his date as long as he carefully thinks about his choices, while Sonny tells him not to miss his chance regardless what people think as long as he doesn’t let her take advantage of him. Knowing the racial tensions and trying to protect his heart from being played for a sap, it is up to C to carefully think if going out with a colored girl is worth going for based on the lessons he learned from his mentors without them interfering. And the film does a brutally effective job of establishing the racial intolerance of the time regarding both races, causing you to feel the challenges and risks regarding C from stepping out of his comfort zone. But as heavy as the obstacles are, you root for C to man-up and fight against it for how sweet of a girl Jane is, and how authentic they bond together. And I'm not just writing it either, the way the two interact feels as highly realistic as the rest of the relationship of the film to the point where you want to see them together for how much they make for a good couple (it always bothered me that we don't know what became of them after the events in the film however, that's how much I enjoy their chemistry).

Knowing that DeNiro is the man behind the camera putting the film together, it surprises me how fantastic of a job he does. As soon as the film starts, you suddenly begin to feel that you've entered C's memory of his neighborhood in the Bronx, through his narration as we pass by all the important places in the area on a beautiful summer night, and from here on out you never quite feel distant from feeling like you're inside C's memory. Watching C bond with his Father on the bus, shooting dice with Sonny and the gang, and see him roam streets of the Bronx bring a fun and sentimental sense of nostalgia. they show that De Niro understands that these little happy memories should remain as little happy memories without feeling the need to emphasize the joy where they seem corny, or making the comedy silly to the point where it works against the constant drama surrounding the film. But when a scene calls for intense suspense and violence, De Niro provides the brutal reality that it deserves. The scene when C witnesses' Sonny murdering man makes you feel that you're watching this random act of violence from C's point of view, for its fast pacing, graphic violence, and its use of slow-mo near the end of the scene when Sonny looks at him. A big reason why the scene is so intense is because the imagery is supposed to mirror the exact memory of how Palminteri remembered witnessing the murder in real-life, so given that he helped De Niro with the film it would seem plausible that the two worked together as best as they could to recreate this childhood trauma considering that it's the key point in the story. Shortly after the scene, the tension heightens again when C is taken with the detectives to a line-up of mobsters to tell them which one of them did it. Even when knowing that C isn't going to rat out Sonny, the tension constantly builds from the slow pacing, Lorenzo looking nervous, the clever editing, and the shots of the mobsters faces that seem like that they're staring right at you! If you're expecting the film to have tons of scenes of people beating each other up and shooting one another, you're not going to see too much of that here. Most of the violence is usually focused on C's friends terrorizing people of color that are handled as depressingly disturbing as one would imagine. The only real violent scene in the whole film that stands-out as badass entertainment is when Sonny and his men take on a bunch of bikers who plan to trash their bar, as everything else is more shocking and upsetting. But as little action there is, apart from there being enough of it, it makes me glad that De Niro doesn't try to flood the film with it, because this isn't the kind of gangster film that has to drop constant F-bombs, and throw some kind of graphic violence at you after at least 5 minutes to give you a feel of danger in the life of a gangster. The focus of it is on C and how he perceives life and grows from it through the people he knows in his neighborhood.

The music in the film also plays a big factor in capturing its environment. The score by Butch Barbella does an excellent job with capturing the mood for scenes involving drama, but it's really the use of original songs that make most of the scenes work so magnificently. Much like how George Lucas or Martin Scorsese would use songs to the set tone, setting, and tie into the story; De Niro understands the concept of using songs in the picture as well as he knows how to visually tell a story. Let's take the time setting for example. The film starts out in 1960 when Doo-Wop was still going strong and everything still felt like the 50s, to help capture its period feel as we watch the people in C's neighborhood carry on with their daily actives while the opening credits' role, we hear the song "I Wonder Why" sung by Dion and the Belmonts that perfectly matches the visuals when depicting the era (my favorite bit is how the game of stickball is in sync with the "wop" part of the song). Then later on as the film flashes forward to 1968 when the 50s was no more and the 60s is at its peak, the 60s pop song "It's a Beautiful Morning" performed by The Rascals is heard to embrace a new era while we gaze up at the clouds before the camera pans down to the race track where C and Sonny are making bets. The use of songs are also carried out to identify the characters backgrounds. When the biker gang shows up at the bar to cause trouble believing that they're the new tough guys around, The Beatles song "Come Together" is heard, until Sonny and his men beat them causing the song to stop and replaced with a 50s Do-Wop tune "Ten Commandments of Love" by the Moonglows, proving that these old school mobsters are still tough and not out of style. If I had any criticism with the use of songs, I do find it a bit confusing that C's bigoted friends are listening to music performed by black artists. I guess you could argue that this is supposed to represent the hypocrisy of racism, seeing how dumb racist white people at the time will listen to black artists as entertainment despite being highly prejudiced, which I guess is accurate, but in terms of the characters of C's friends, I don't know. They obviously seem like the kind of people who would join the KKK if they had the chance given how much they hate black people, and I don't believe that people who are so gung-ho with spreading hate and terror to another race through violence are the kind of people who would blast Jimi Hendrix in their car, or casually listen to Aaron Neville at the place where they hang. I will also admit that as grand of a job that De Niro does putting the film together, his style does feel a little too similar to Scorsese's. The urban environment, the narration, the rock soundtrack, and especially the violence hits a little too close to films like "Goodfellas" and "Mean Streets". As we go around the bar meeting all the mobsters, I keep expecting to see the mobsters waving at the camera, and Jimmy Two Times to enter the frame at any moment. And when I view some shots of the bikers getting trampled on, I start seeing a few flashbacks of Billy Batts getting the beating of his life. I'm not saying that these similarities are distracting and don't make the film stand on its own, I'm just simply implying that when Scorsese's number 1 actor (before DiCaprio) is given a shot to direct a film the odds seem likely that he's going to use similar techniques after spending so much time with him that gave them both a successful career, where the influence does show.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Despite De Niro borrowing a lot from Scorsese, he shows that he can be just as great of a director as he is an actor, which disappoints me that he only directed one other movie in his directing career that isn't as memorable or successful as "A Bronx Tale" is. The sole reason why the movie is so admirable is that it's not a gangster film that's focused on the typical cliches as it tries to aim to be a big and epic masterpiece as a film like "The Godfather". It's a very small and down to earth film that combines the style of "Goodfellas" and the sentimental realism of how "The Godfather" captured the relationships, into a coming-of-age story written by a guy who wanted to teach people the things that he learned from life to make the film experience reach and inspire the viewer on a personal level. Because of this, the relationships don't feel forced for how relatable they are, as the lessons are thoughtful and handled maturely as opposed to feeling preachy. It's a story with tons of heart, that's backed-up by charming performances, cinematography that puts you into the perspective of C's memories of the past, clever use of songs, shocking and at times entertaining use of violence, and plenty of moments that can be funny, lighthearted, dramatic, and depressing. Unfortunately, if you're a US citizen who is looking to purchase the film on Blu-ray you're not going to have a chance unless you can track down an out of print DVD copy, or an old VHS of the film if you still own a VCR. You can definitely rent and purchase the film on Amazon Prime, but in terms of owning a physical copy, the chances are slim. I really do hope that it does someday get a Blu-ray release available in the US because it's a film that deserves to be on the shelves than just being viewed online. In my opinion, there's nothing better than owning something that you can actually touch and place than relying on a piece of equipment to store it for you. And if it does get a Blu-ray release, let’s hope that it contains some fascinating special features.