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A boy comes of age in an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx. His sky pilot gives him a piece of advice "Nothing is more tragic than a wasted talent." A street-corner gangster gives him another piece of advice "Nobody unfeignedly cares." These pieces of advice seem contradictory, moreover the boy finds that they make a nice fit. The kid, whose name is Calogero but who is called C, idolizes lad. He likes the way watchwordny exercises a quiet authority, and talks with his hands, and dresses well. When C is 17, he goes to cream for Sonny, against his fathers wishes. And in the year when most of the film is set, he learns lessons that he will use all of his life. "A Bronx Tale" was written for the stage by Palminteri, who plays Sonny with a calm grace in the film, but was Calogero in real life. There have been a lot of moving pictures about neighborhood Mafiosos (Martin Scorseses "Goodfellas" was the best), but this movie isnt like the othe rs. It doesnt tell some dumb story about how the bus driver and the mobster have to shoot each other, or about how C is the hostage in a tug of war. Its about two men with some experience of life, who love this kid and want to help him out. Lorenzo, the bus driver, gives sullen advice "You want to see a real hero? Look at a guy who gets up in the morning and goes off to work and supports his family. Thats heroism." notwithstanding Sonny gives sound advice, too. One of the things he tells C is that you cannot live your life on the basis of what other people think you should do, because when the chips are down, nobody really cares. Youre giving them a power they dont really have. That sounds like deep thinking for a guy who hangs on the corner and runs a numbers racket, but Sonny, as played by Palminteri, is a complex, lonely character, who might have been a priest or a philosopher had not life called him to the vocation of neighborhood boss. Nine year-old Calogero (Francis Capra) is the streetwise son of Lorenzo Anello (Robert De Niro), a bus driver who takes pride in his work ethic and expects to instill the same values in his son. Calagero, however, is in awe of the local mob boss, Sonny (Chazz Palminteri), and when Calogero keeps his mouth shut after witnessing Sonny do a hit, the boy is taken under Sonnys wing and shown the ship canal of the wiseguys.