Life Lessons From A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale premiered in theaters 27-years-ago today, September 29th, 1993. It tells the story of Calogero Anello, who is a child in 1960. His father Lorenzo is a bus driver. Calogero loves and admires his father and they have a great relationship. Calogero, however, idolizes the local big-time gangster, Sonny.

Calogero and his friends would always try to imitate Sonny and his gang. He badly wanted Sonny to notice him — and one day that wish came true.

A fight breaks out in front of Calogero’s building and Calogero witnesses Sonny shoot another man. He and Sonny make eye contact and Sonny leaves the scene, moments later, Lorenzo pulls Calogero up the stairs and almost immediately the police are questioning whether Calogero knows anything. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Sonny is powerful, which is why when the police ask Calogero to see if he can identify the killer in a lineup, Lorenzo struggles with allowing him.

The long story short is Calogero looks at the lineup of men and says none of them did it — the police let Sonny and his posse go, but Sonny doesn’t forget what Calogero did for him and tries to look out for him. The two form a bond and with that bond comes an internal struggle for Calogero about who he should listen to, his father or Sonny.

This movie is important for a number of reasons. It teaches us about the value of working hard, friendships, and keeping your family close.

As Calogero grew, he began to start trying to emulate Sonny. He just wasn’t as savvy. Frustrated by the fact “Louie Dumps” hasn’t paid him the $20 him, Calogero chases him in the street — Sonny puts a stop to it. There are a few great quotes by Sonny here. This one in particular sticks out to me considering the fact that in context or not, it doesn’t matter because it’s still true.

I think about this movie often. I think about Chazz Palminteri's character and I think about Robert DeNiro’s character. I’ve seen this movie at least 15 times and I never stop thinking about the things I feel like Sonny has taught me. It’s strange.

I’m not sure why, but this was always a movie that made me feel good, even considering the fact Sonny is shot and killed at the end of it. It’s a culmination of several things, one of them being that Lorenzo’s instinct was sort of right. Sonny was a troubled man, but he knew that. The person who killed him was the son of the person Sonny killed in the beginning. It came full circle. Both Lorenzo and Sonny knew this wasn’t the life they wanted for Calogero — and Calogero understood that.

Lorenzo always preached to Calogero about wasted talent, but the most important lesson I took from Sonny and Lorenzo was the final quote of the movie.

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