Here's something odd to think about. The main year of this film is only 8 yeahs away from the events of Taxi Driver.
This is one of those films I saw years ago and at the time I had no idea what the name was and I didn't care about actors (I still kind of don't). I wasn't fully paying attention to it, I only remembered basic outlines.
The part I remember the most was a group of monster beating the ever-living hell out of a bunch of ruffian bikers.
That whole part resonated with me on such a high level.
As far as delinquent gangs go, bikers ranks somewhere on the bottom with me. I can't stand their overly loud motorcycles, their stupid clothing, dumb hair ,awful music and overall demeanour*.
So watching them get their head smashed in by a bunch of well-dressed grizzled faced Italian Mobsters was just the most wonderful thing.
This film has a strange mix to it. It's as if somebody took the Godfather and The Outsiders and stuck them together. Only instead of greasers and preppies its
white greasers and black greasers and in the middle of it all there's a romance.
The story follows the life of Calogero. A local Italian American kid who has a fascination with the Mafia that lives down the street from him. He's both Lucky and unlucky enough to witness a crime committed by a bunch of monsters and when the police ask him to identify the shooter he denies it and thus earning the trust of the local Family.
From this point on he indoctrinated into 'The Life' He has something of an internal conflict as he has to fight between the straight-laced but simplistic and poor life of his father and the exciting but dangerous life of his now Mentor Sonny.
All of this becomes exacerbated as his friends around him start forming their own local gang.
And just to put a cherry on top of the theoretical cake he also finds himself intrigued by a black girl who attends he's school. Not only is this considered a No-No by his father, friends and the mafia itself. But in certain places in the US it's illegal for multi-ethnic couples to even exist.
His life is multitude of conflict just waiting to erupt.
Overall it's not a bad movie. It's story is fairly entertaining and the pacing though a little slow at points is fairly solid. Some of the child acting was a little hard for me to watch but I was able to get over most of it and once the main character ages to his teenage years that problem becomes irrelevant.
It's stories not as grandiose or even as impressive as that of Godfather or The Outsiders. But there's a fair amount of tension with the internal conflicts of our main character. And the racial conflicts put you on edge a little bit. Or at least they do for me.
The odd part of a movie is the romance. It's a little simplistic and it's some parts it seems a little too convenient.
Now you might be able to chop that up to thee childhood innocence of are two romantically inclined characters. But it still felt a little underutilized. Which is weird considering the romance is one of the fundamental pillars of the entire movie.
There's so much, especially in the third act that revolves around the romance self.
And it feels all the more confusing when you consider the amount of character development given to most of our main characters. Calogero father is a well-defined man, Sonny is a really well defend man, even his beatnik Little Friends are fairly well understood.
All that said it's still a recommended film. It has the same framework is a Goodfellas movie. Something that's easy enough to follow but with just enough intrigue to keep your interest piqued.
I like how blanks story feels like it's part of a larger world. There's so many other secondary things going on that don't really involve him and you only see small glimpses of it as you look through his life.
I don't like the poster for this movie. It gives the illusion of this huge conflict between the two major authority figures in C's life. And although the two of them are at odds it's not in the way this film would represented. They rarely have an interaction with each other and when they do it's incredibly one-sided. And the tag line is completely wrong. Looking at that poster you believe that you're following Robert De Niro's character.
*There are of course exceptions, the biker gang from 'Mask' are pretty cool. And I know if I sit down and think about it I can think of a few other biker groups that I don't mind. and in the middle of it all there's a romance.
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