A Bronx Tale

All right, you got the note? Yeah, right.

Nice and tight. Two, three, four.

This is the Fordham section of The Bronx... my home.

A world unto itself.

You can get to any borough in 15 minutes from here,

but they might as well be 3,000 miles away.

That's Mount Carmel Church.

And the sound of the bells would fill the neighbourhood.

It was 1960, and doo-wop was the sound on the streets.

It felt like there was a doo-wop group on every corner back then.

What a time it was!

The New York Yankees were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates

in the World Series...

and Mickey Mantle was like a god to me.

My dad would take me to Yankee Stadium and we'd watch the Yankees win.

That's the Chez Bippy - that's where all the guys hung out.

But I'll tell you about them later.

That's my building. I live right there on the third floor.

667 East 187th Street.

There's my stoop.

And on warm summer nights all through the neighbourhood...

you would hear young Italian men romancing their women.

Hey, Marie!

- Get in the fucking car! - No!

- Get in the car! - Leave me alone.

- Come on, baby, you know I love you. - Yeah, bullshit.

Will ya get in the fucking car!

And right there,

right there under that lamppost there, stood the man -

the number-one man in the neighbourhood... Sonny.

Everybody loved Sonny and treated him like a god.

And in my neighbourhood, he was a god.

And I would sit on my stoop and watch him, all day and all night.

But he would never even look at me.

Never, until one day.

- What do you want? - You got room in there for us?

You wish!

- Oh, shit! - Let's go!

That's my dad, Lorenzo Anello.

His bus route was 187th Street. I used to love to ride the bus with him.

That's me, Calogero, nine years old.

- All right. See you later, Pop. - OK.

Go right upstairs, son.

That's my mum, Rosina. She met my dad at a dance.

They fell in love and they've been together ever since.

You're always listening. Take care of this fucking...

Come on. Knock him out!

The Chez Bippy. This is where all the guys hung out.

Get the fuck out of here! Take a walk!

Tony Toupee was owner of the bar in name only.

It was really Sonny's place.

Tony was a frustrated singer and everybody hated his voice.

So just for spite, he'd never utter a spoken word - he would only sing it.

They called him Tony Toupee because he wore the worst hairpiece in the world.

Eddie Mush was a degenerate gambler and the biggest loser in the world.

They called him "Mush" because everything he touched turned to mush.

Never mind "Eddie my love", I need a winner!

At the race track, the teller would give him his tickets already ripped up.

I had the Yankees. They lost.

If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all.

JoJo the Whale.

You didn't walk with JoJo, you walked among him.

If you stared at JoJo long enough, you'd see him get fatter by the hour.

Legend has it his shadow once killed a dog.

They called him Frankie Coffeecake...

because his face looked like a Drake's Coffeecake.

He was tough to look at.

Hey, kid, how you doin'?

His name was Jimmy Whispers and he was Sonny's main man.

They called him "Whispers" because everything was a secret to him.

Danny K.O. Knocked guys out...

and Bobby Bars spent half his life behind them.

This was Sonny's crew, and nobody fucked with these guys.

What are ya doin' here? Didn't we tell you not to come here?

Didn't I tell ya not to come upstairs! Wait till I tell your father!

- What were you doing here? - I was looking for Daddy.

Well that's very nice!

I have to get somethin' in the store. Don't move!

You wait right here! You hear me?

Every time I saw Sonny, I'd try to imitate him, but he'd never even look at me.

Sonny had five fingers...

but he only used three.

Come on. Let's go. Move. Upstairs.

I'm not in the mood for steak.

Oh, you're not?

How many times do I have to drive that bus back and forth...

so this family can eat steak once a week?

- Seven. - Who told you that?

Nobody. I counted.

Calogero, your father wants to talk to you.

- About what, Dad? - Mum caught you by the bar today.

- I wasn't. - Tell your father the truth!

- I was by the bar. - So why'd you lie?

- I took a shot. - Wanna do something here?

What am I gonna say? Nice try, son.

- Thanks, Dad. - Lorenzo, come on, please!

How can I keep him away? It's two doors away.

Daddy's right. You should listen to him.

Shut up. Nobody's talking to you.

Give me your plate.

I want you to listen to me. Hey! Do not go near the bar.

Stay on the stoop, but keep away from the bar.

- When you're older, you'll understand. - Yes.

- You don't see me going there. - Mum won't let you go there either?

- What am I going to do? - I don't know. I got him all day.

I'm just kidding. I'll won't go near the bar.

Look what I got. Two tickets, Yankee Stadium, centre field.

- Behind the Mick? - Right behind number seven.

- Now eat your steak. - Yeah!

Let's go, Alfie.

That's Phil the Peddler.

He would call everybody "Mary."

Me and my friends would love to break his balls.

Slick and Crazy Mario were my best friends.

Slick got his name because of his hair.

Mario got his because he was just crazy.

I'll kick your little fucking asses, you bunch of Marys.

Stay away from the fruit! Keep your hands off the fruit!

You fucking Marys!

I'll kick you loose, you Marys! The three of you!

I'll kick your fucking asses, you fucking ball breakers!

Keep your hands off the vegetables! What do you think this is?

Wait! Go make your mother and father feed you!

I'll give you the heave-ho, you fucking ball breakers!

- How many did you get? - I got one.

...stop borrowing money!

Oh, boy - Coffeecake's in trouble again!

Somebody's gonna get their ass kicked.

Guys, check it out. Mario, who's this?

That's Jimmy Whispers.

You'd better talk to him again. You're responsible for him.

Whoa! Come on, wait a minute.

It's Sonny.

You do somebody now, big mouth.

Do somebody hard, like Coffeecake.

- I can't do Coffeecake! - That's hard.

Put a screen in front of your face while I throw shit at it.

Oh, shit.

These niggers got some balls, coming in our neighbourhood.

They don't live here, they just pass through from school.

- How the fuck do you know? - My father told me.

My father told me that's how it starts.

Get the fuck out of our neighbourhood, you fucking niggers!

Go back to Australia where you came from!

You're lucky you're on that bus!

Ha ha, you missed me!

Stay out of our neighbourhood!

Why?

You don't fucking stop. Get the fuck out of here!

Nobody's cooler than you, Sonny.

What the fuck is wrong with you? What you doin'?

- Fuck you, you freehole! - Fuck you, you scumbag!

You're a real motherfucker! I'll bust your fucking head!

I'm gonna bust your fucking head!

Hold on here.

Sonny, give me the gun!

- Get the fucking car! - Move the fucking car!

Come on!

When Sonny looked at me for the first time, I went deaf.

I couldn't hear.

All I could see was Sonny with the gun in his hand.

What happened? Is he all right?

Dad, it was just a parking space.

- You don't understand. - Is he all right?

- Baby, are you OK? - He's all right. Let's go inside.

- What happened? - I'm OK, Mum, I'm OK.

- Oh, my god, I got so scared. - I'm OK, Mum.

You don't understand, Dad. They were fighting over a parking space.

- Over a parking space? - Over a parking space, Daddy. Why?

It wasn't over a parking space. They just met at the wrong time.

- What kind of answer is that? - Just leave it alone.

Let's mind our own business. He's OK. That's the main thing.

- I can't believe somebody would do this. - (Knocking)

Who is it?

Police. Is this the Anello residence?

Yeah. Can I help you?

We're detectives. We'd like to ask you some questions.

- About what? - Just open the door!

How you doing? OK, good.

I'm Detective Belsik. This is my partner, Detective Vella.

Hello, son. How you doing, ma'am?

- We'd like to ask your son a few questions. - About what?

There was a shooting in front of the building, and we believe your son was there.

Really? Well, he knows nothing about that.

Well, we feel he does. There were people who saw him.

Well, they're wrong. He don't know nothing.

Listen, Mr Anello. We can do things the nice way or the hard way, all right?

I don't care what way you do it. He don't know nothing.

Daddy, I know everything.

Kids. Sometimes they make believe they see things.

We didn't pick your name out of a hat.

We know your son was down there. So, come on, let's go.

Son, listen. Here's what I'd like you to do for us.

I'd like you to take a walk downstairs with us and your father.

We have people down there.

All I want you to do is pick out the person you saw with the gun in his hand.

That's it. You think you could do that for us?

Good. Come on. Let's take a walk.

Mr. Anello, take a walk downstairs.

- We won't be long. Go ahead. - Officer, is he gonna be OK?