A Bronx Tale was filmed in three New York City neighborhoods. Though set entirely in the Bronx, only one of these locations was actually in that borough. The Fordham neighborhood in which Calogero lives was actually filmed in Astoria, Queens; the black neighborhood said to be on and around Webster Avenue was actually filmed at East 15th Street and Gravesend Neck Road in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; finally, the scene set on the Bronx's City Island was actually filmed in that location.

Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro attended a performance of A Bronx Tale in New York City and offered to buy the film rights to the show. Palminteri agreed to sell the film rights on the condition that he will be casted as the role of Sonny. The film version of A Bronx Tale premiered in 1993. The film version marked the directorial debut of De Niro and helped catapult Palminteri's film acting career.

The cozy word tale could hardly be applied to even a small segment of The Sopranos, David Chase’s epic television serial about the strange fusion of bourgeois domesticity, operatic feeling and gruesome violence that constitutes mob life today. But Palminteri’s warmhearted memoir is infused with tasty doses of broad comedy.

A Bronx Tale may not possess the emotional breadth or sophistication of The Sopranos. But, appealingly, it lacks that show’s brutality too which shows the trails of a bit revolted by the clinical realism of the bloodletting as in The Sopranos, thus making others to feel soiled for taking a sympathetic interest in the personal foibles of the men perpetrating it. Palminteri may present his childhood hero through the worshipful eyes of youth, but even the nicest mobsters can benefit from a little fairy-tale airbrushing here and there. The tale never had the motive to instigate the evil minds rather it is the true depiction of the era where the innocent often becomes the victim of mobsters and mafia world, which is always ready to grab all.

The story of the film starts with the introduction of a young man, who has two different dimensions in his personality and life, due to the inclusion of two other men with fatherly concerns. De Niro had played the role of the father named Lorenzo Anello's, and the role of the role of a leading young man was played by Francis Capra with the name of  Calogero, while the character of equally important other man named Sonny was played by Chazz Palminteri. The movie revolves around the plot of a witness of a murder scene by a local Mafia boss [Sonny]. It is by chance being watched by Lorenzo Anello's and son Calogero.  The twist of the story starts, when Calogero decides to not speak anything of the incident to the police investigations. The act has really won the heart of mafia Chief Sonny, and he starts to like the young boy very much, like a son. Despite the offence of his father, Calogero keeps on visiting Sonny and his posse almost every day in the bar downstairs. His father [De Niro] is a hard-working bus driver, who has to struggle hard to have a decent living.

The relationship between Calogero and Sonny has been carried on for eight long years later. Calogero has grown into a young man; Lillo Brancato Jr. had played the older version of the character in the film. The real dilemma of the story starts as the Calogero has to decide on which path to follow, as both his mentors are leading an entirely different kind of life. The film also depicts his relation with a black girl named Jane Williams (Taral Hicks). It is even hard for him to deal with the situation as being a friend of a mafia man, who is a thorough racist, and quite coincidentally has attacked the girl's brother and his friends.

The film had got the adult viewing ratings as it contains several violent scenes, which include and insane beating of a biker gang by the Mafia, and Calogero's friends' tragically botched incursion into the Black neighborhood. The film was shot in three of the different New York City neighborhoods. The story of the film was about borough, but only one scene was shot in the actual place of Bronx. Palminteri had adapted the screenplay from his one-man show of the same name. The show was quite popular in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway. Palminteri was focused on not selling the rights of his story, unless the producers would select him as the screenplay writer and a guarantee, to have the role of Sonny. There was a time, when he was offered one million dollars, but refused because his conditions were not met. It was after sometime that, De Niro saw the show and approached Palminteri himself. He had made it clear to the writer about the role of Sonny in the movie, and he told Palminteri he would act in the movie and meet Palminteri's conditions if he could direct. De Niro said he was good to his word with only a handshake from Palminteri.

In fact Palminteri was so much touchy with the script and the whole matter, as the character of Calogero was based on himself. It is interesting to know, that ‘A Bronx Tale’ was premiered in Los Angeles in 1990, and it had received rave reviews and commercial success too. It was during one of such performances that, the Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro, saw the play and was fascinated so much as to buy the rights of it for the film. It is worth mentioning that Palminteri had decided to re-launch his one man show in the year of 2007 and had made a contract with Broadway.

 For More Information on A Bronx Tale

Visit: http://www.a-bronx-tale.com