The problem with a gangster film featuring Robert DeNiro is the tendency to expect something along the lines of "Goodfellas" or "Casino" or "The Godfather," but you have forget those classics to watch this with an open mind, This is the brainchild of Chazz Palminteri and Robert DeNiro, the latter in the director's chair, and is the story of a bus-driver father trying to raise his son with the American values of hard work, self pride and honesty in a neighborhood where the underground gangsters run a lot of things and have a lot of money. Little Calogero, later "C" witnesses the neighborhood godfather, "Sonny" kill someone and refuses to identify him to the police, after which Sonny takes him under his wing and takes a liking to him as his own in order to teach him his own ways and thinking.
"The working man is a sucker," his son learns from Sonny, while his dad has to teach him that the working man is the true hero by taking care of his family and never has to look over his shoulder.
Little "C" participates in the gangsters' crapshoot game garners a lot of money in tips, which his father finds, and gives it back to Sonny, even to the dismay of his wife, as they are poor and could really use the money.
The music entries are executed superbly! Lorenzo (DeNiro) listens to the jazz station on his portable radio, which would have better to have used actual recordings from the '60s Blue Note and Prestige library, instead of using newer recordings made to sound vintage. The soundtrack had no trouble getting the licensing permission to use original '50s and '60s pop recordings, so why not use original jazz recordings? But in the scene on the bus where he first sees his love interest and can't take his eyes off her, they segue from some smooth jazz from the bus driver's radio, to Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half," which is blasting from the local record shop when they reach the black neighborhood. Later, when C is getting ready for his date with his new love (played by the lovelyTaral Hicks), he looks into the mirror and snaps his fingers to kick off the drums of "Baby, I Need Your Loving" by the Four Tops into the next scene. I love that kind of editing and splicingI In spite of the violent scenes, the biker scene in the bar, and the Italian youngsters' rage over their black peers riding their bikes through their neighborhood and then later paying for it with their lives, the movie has many touching moments and good morals to teach. No, don't expect a Scorcese knock off, but enjoy it for what it is and not for what you were hoping for.
"The working man is a sucker," his son learns from Sonny, while his dad has to teach him that the working man is the true hero by taking care of his family and never has to look over his shoulder.
Little "C" participates in the gangsters' crapshoot game garners a lot of money in tips, which his father finds, and gives it back to Sonny, even to the dismay of his wife, as they are poor and could really use the money.
The music entries are executed superbly! Lorenzo (DeNiro) listens to the jazz station on his portable radio, which would have better to have used actual recordings from the '60s Blue Note and Prestige library, instead of using newer recordings made to sound vintage. The soundtrack had no trouble getting the licensing permission to use original '50s and '60s pop recordings, so why not use original jazz recordings? But in the scene on the bus where he first sees his love interest and can't take his eyes off her, they segue from some smooth jazz from the bus driver's radio, to Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half," which is blasting from the local record shop when they reach the black neighborhood. Later, when C is getting ready for his date with his new love (played by the lovelyTaral Hicks), he looks into the mirror and snaps his fingers to kick off the drums of "Baby, I Need Your Loving" by the Four Tops into the next scene. I love that kind of editing and splicingI In spite of the violent scenes, the biker scene in the bar, and the Italian youngsters' rage over their black peers riding their bikes through their neighborhood and then later paying for it with their lives, the movie has many touching moments and good morals to teach. No, don't expect a Scorcese knock off, but enjoy it for what it is and not for what you were hoping for.