It’s details like this that give “A Bronx Tale” its vibrancy. It’s a generous movie, teeming with great neighborhood characters–like Eddie Mush, who never placed a bet he didn’t lose–and with a dynamite selection of ’60s music. Both funny and brutal (and only at the very end, a little too melodramatic for its own good) Palminteri’s screenplay views the radical social changes of the ’60s through the prism of a patriarchal society frozen in its ways. (Sonny’s boys make mincemeat of an invading squad of long-haired bikers.) Wonderfully acted by a seamless mix of pros and amateurs, this pungent, bittersweet movie lets us taste the flavors of a warm and dangerous time and place.
