A Bronx Tale (Fox) (1993)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Gallery-Photo Filmographies-Cast Theatrical Trailer Featurette-Behind The Scenes Trailer-The Sweet Hereafter, The Rage In Placid Lake, Trailer-Australian Rules - Special Edition, Erskineville Kings Trailer-Read My Lips, Respiro, The Best Man's Wedding Trailer-Eat Drink Man Woman
Rating
Year Of Production	1993
Running Time	121:12
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Robert De Niro
Studio Distributor	Savoy Pictures Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Robert De Niro Chazz Palminteri Lillo Brancato Francis Capra Taral Hicks Kathrine Narducci Clem Caserta Alfred Sauchelli Jr. Frank Pietrangolare Joe Pesci Robert D'Andrea Eddie Montanaro Fred Fischer
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$21.95	Music	Butch Barbella

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

   Set in New York City 1960, A Bronx Tale is a captivating coming-of-age story directed by Robert De Niro. Cologero Anello is a young impressionable boy growing up in the Bronx. His father, Lorenzo (De Niro) is a local bus driver who constantly works to support his family and barely has time for his son. Cologero befriends local Mob boss Sonny (Chazz Palminteri), a charismatic gangster who offers the boy guidance and becomes a father figure. Cologero idolises Sonny, much to his father's dismay, and begins to follow in the gangster's footsteps. Tensions mount, forcing Cologero to choose a path that will change his life forever.

    This is the directorial debut of Robert De Niro and it proves that his talent extends beyond his towering thespian skills. De Niro draws from his past experiences working with directing greats Scorsese, Coppola and De Palma to mount a well-directed character study that never once becomes self-indulgent or sappy. The cast are uniformly excellent with Chazz Palminteri delivering a fantastic performance as Sonny. His characterization is at once charismatic and caring, but also frighteningly violent when needed. A lesser actor would have struggled with the material. De Niro provides a first rate performance as Cologero's father Lorenzo, and Lillo Brancato as the angst-ridden teenager is wonderful in the part. The screenplay by Chazz Palminteri was adapted from his original play of the same name, and it translates to film fabulously. A Bronx Tale is terrific film that showcases the unquestionable talents of both Robert De Niro and Chazz Palminteri.

Video

    A Bronx Tale is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:78:1 and unfortunately is not 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions. The good news, however, is that the transfer is top notch anyway.

    The transfer displays strong sharpness levels with well-defined shadow detail. There was no apparent grain or low level noise problems. Colours were natural with no bleeding problems and utilised 60's fashions to the fullest.

    There were occasional film artefacts present during the film but they were dark in nature and not intrusive.

    The RSDL layer change is at the 1:22 minute mark and is well placed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The DVD offers a solitary English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

    Dialogue is always clear and never overshadowed by external sounds. There are no audio sync issues.

    The film's music is by Butch Barbella and serves the film well. There is also great use of rock songs from the era throughout the film.

    Surround channel usage is appropriate for the film with well established directional sound effects and musical cues to enhance the on-screen drama.

    The subwoofer supports the 5.1 track admirably.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Gallery-Photo

Filmographies-Cast

Theatrical Trailer

Featurette-Behind The Scenes

Trailers

    The Region 2 version of this DVD is presented at 1.33:1 and with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, so that version is not worth considering. The Region 1 version of this DVD is worth specifically discussing, as the packaging claims the transfer is 16x9 enhanced when in fact it is not. Feature-wise, the Region 1 version essentially matches our Region 4 version, so the winner based on PAL resolution of a non-anamorphic transfer is Region 4.

    A Bronx Tale is a moving story with some wonderful performances. The disc has a fine audio visual presentation, with minimal extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall