I am not sure how I missed A Bronx Tale up to now. Maybe because it was not a big studio film, it did not play ad nauseam on the movie channels the way that Goodfellas did. It also has not been represented well on home video. Whatever the reason, over half of the audience at the Virginia had never seen it. I am sure many more people (ok, probably not the older audience at the Virginia) have seen The Simpsons episode "Bart the Murderer," where Bart is employed to make drinks for Fat Tony and his gang. It is remarkably similar to what happens in A Bronx Tale, but apparently Goodfellas was the main influence on the 1991 episode, as A Bronx Tale was not released until 1993. It is also very possible that one of the writers had seen the one-man show, which debuted on stage in 1990, the same year that Goodfellas was released. Whatever the case, A Bronx Tale has been overshadowed by Goodfellas.
The problem with these mob movies is that they have been approached from every angle. A Bronx Tale takes a more moralistic approach with its emphasis on the choice that C had to make between being like his working class father and being the protege of Sonny. While it is still a mob movie due to the amount of time spent focusing on the wiseguys, at its heart the movie is about the relationship between C and his father.
My appreciation for the movie only increased thanks to the lively and informative after-film interviews with Chazz Palminteri and producer Jon Kilik. This terrific discussion also included several questions from Leonard Maltin.
There is quite a striking contrast between A Bronx Tale and Girlhood, the earlier film of the day. Both feature characters who are 16 years old. Both characters have to choose between an easier, and probably more lucrative, life of crime or a blue collar, working stiff lifestyle. But the choices made in Girlhood are really reprehensible. The girl eschews a future involving physical labor like her mother, instead preferring the life of a thief, bully, and drug courier. That is pretty much all this movie is about. The mother is given little screen time, implying that she is not a significant part of Marieme's life, with the brother as a substitute for her father. Still, it is perplexing to represent the mother as being so absent that she is barely involved in her daughter's life, other than trying to help her obtain a job. Stylish camerawork does not make up for a nothing screenplay, with an ambiguous ending that seemed more the result of not knowing how to end the story.
The Son of the Sheik was a big disappointment. I really liked The Eagle, the other Valentino film that was shown at a previous year's festival, so maybe my expectations were too high. But Sheik really dragged during the middle section, so much so that I even noticed a few walkouts. It could easily have been fifteen minutes shorter, eliminating much needless "dialogue" and exposition during that bloated middle.
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