By Chuck Darrow
The 1993 film, “A Bronx Tale” tells the story of an 8-year-old boy who is taken under the wing of a Mafia capo and the ensuing battle between the mob boss and the kid’s father for the child’s heart and soul as the years unfold.
That it is based on events in the life of its creator and co-star, Chazz Palminteri, is incredible enough (when he was 8, the veteran character actor did indeed witness a top-ranking gangster murder a rival—an event that sets the plot in motion). But equally fantastic is how “A Bronx Tale” reached the big screen.
Palminteri, who on April 20 brings his tour de force one-man version of the story—in which he plays 18 roles including women– to Ocean Casino-Resort, was an aspiring actor living in Los Angeles in the 1980s when he realized his experiences as a child formed the basis for a theatrical piece. But right from the jump, he explained, he saw it as a solo endeavor rather than a standard, multi-person production.
“I had this idea that I could write this play, and when I had it in my head, I saw a movie, but I said, ‘I’m gonna write the play and do all the scenes and play all the characters myself,’” he recalled during a recent phone call.
“I knew it was crazy—it had never been done before and it’s never been done since, really. I just had this idea that I could do it.”
Palminteri, who turns 72 next month, noted he always saw the piece in cinematic terms. “I had this idea that when I clap my hands, it’s like a cut, it’s a film cut,” he said. “You go to the other scene, the other scene, the other scene. And I just thought if I could pull it off, it would be the greatest audition for an actor and the greatest pitch for a movie anyone’s ever seen.
“And it worked.”
The play—also called “A Bronx Tale”– caught the attention of the public and critics alike, and created major buzz on the L.A. theater scene. “The reviews came out and they were phenomenal,” continued Palminteri. “And every writer, producer and director in Hollywood wanted to see it.” And that’s when Palminteri’s tale took its first crazy turn.
Initially, he was offered $250,000 for the rights to the work (more than $640,000 in today’s dollars according to the U.S. government’s online inflation calculator)—a phenomenal amount for an unknown actor-writer. But it came with a condition that Palminteri rejected out of hand: He would have nothing to do with the film version. Because money is the lingua Franca of show business, those courting Palminteri assumed he was simply holding out for a higher number. But that, he insisted, was never the case—and which is why a $500,000 offer was also rejected.
“I wanted to write it and play Sonny [the mob boss] because it was my life,” he reasoned. “And again, they wouldn’t let me play Sonny. And I said, ‘No.’ I kept doing [the show] and the crowds kept getting bigger–lines around the block–and I had big executives calling my house: Ray Stark [who produced “Funny Girl”], Jerry Weintraub [“Oh, God!”] and Al Ruddy [“The Godfather” and its sequels]. How they got my home phone number, I have no idea.”
The bidding ultimately reached $1 million, yet it remained an offer Palminteri was able to refuse.
“Again, I said, no. And they got a little upset by that. They said, ‘Well, you realize this movie will never get made.’ And I said, ‘But it will get made.’ And they said, ‘What makes you so sure?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s just too good.’”
According to Palminteri, whose resume also boasts such films as “The Usual Suspects” and “Bullets Over Broadway” and TV series including “Rizzoli & Isles” and “Law & Order SVU,” it wasn’t long before his bold—some at the time probably would have said ridiculous—prediction was validated.
“About two weeks later I did the show. I walked off stage and the stage manager said, ‘Robert De Niro is in your dressing room. He’s waiting for you.’ I walked down there, and Bob was sitting there. And he told me, it was the greatest one-man show he’d ever seen. And he said, ‘You did a movie onstage.’
“He was very complimentary and he said, ‘Look, I want to make it [as a movie]. They’re gonna come to me eventually anyway, but I’d rather do it with you.’”
Palminteri added that De Niro said, “‘You should play Sonny and you should write the screenplay, ’cause it’s your life, and it’ll be honest. And I’ll play your father and I’ll direct it. I’ll make it right.’ And I shook his hand and we made a deal.”
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all about the “Bronx Tale” saga is that De Niro went against show biz tradition by keeping his word and allowing Palminteri to write and co-star in the film. “He was very collaborative through the whole movie,” he said. “He let me be there and give my opinions. It was wonderful. It was probably the greatest artistic experience I ever had.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Oops
In our recent rundown of notable spring headliner engagements, we misstated the date of the Heart concert at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. The group is scheduled to play there May 24.
All apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
