Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The craps game scene (Eddie Mush, Frankie Coffee Cake, the kid throwing dice).
• Chris: 'Now youse can't leave' (the biker bar scene), plus De Niro confronting Sonny ('stay away from my son').
• Sean: De Niro confronting Sonny in the bar.
• Van: 'Now youse can't leave' plus the friends burning to death in the car.

• Bill: Young Calogero / Francis Capra and his hair; the narrator actually working; the mob offers; the Doo Wop/Rat Pack soundtrack; stickball; Taral Hicks's beauty; the nickname 'C.'
• Sean: The casting of the young people (Francis Capra, Taral Hicks).
• Van: Interracial relationships (now common); racism/stop-snitching culture still persists.

• Bill: The Beatles 'Come Together' and Jimi Hendrix 'All Along the Watchtower.'
• Chris and Sean: Donald Byrd's 'Cristo Redentor' when C and Jane meet up.

Bill: When C uses the N-word toward Jane – it doesn't add up. She seems to forgive him too easily. The scene feels like a deal-breaker that's glossed over.

• Bill: The rampant 60s racism; the door test (car locks are automatic now); Lillo Brancato Jr.'s real-life trajectory; C's long jogging scene; 'A Bronx Tale' becoming a musical.
• Chris: The Mario test; objectifying women.
• Sean: 'Wasted talent' as a phrase (referring to the musical).
• Van: The racism; Molotov cocktailing a whole neighborhood.

• Bill: 'A Bronx Tale influenced The Sopranos more than any other movie' – Sonny and Tony Soprano are very similar characters.
• Sean: Lorenzo is a bad dad. He's dishonest – tells his son the working man is the real hero, but 'the working man is the person who gets fucked in this society.'
• Chris: Lorenzo should have taken the money ($150/week to run numbers).
• Van: Wanted Sonny to be C's dad instead of Lorenzo.

• Katherine Narducci brought her 9-year-old son to audition for young Calogero; they cast her as the wife instead.
• Frank Vincent was supposed to appear as the boss of the mafia family but didn't film it.
• The actor who played Sonny's killer (Phillip Garberino) lost out to Lillo Brancato Jr. for the role of C.

• Bill: $20 Louie (the scene where the guy screams about being treated like a son and stabbed in the heart).
• Chris: The kid who plays young Tommy/Crazy Mario (the racist one).

• Winner: Joe Pesci – doing his quiet Irishman character 26 years early.
• Honorable mentions: Katherine Narducci, Dominic Lombardozzi (from The Wire and Entourage), Jimmy Whispers (Clem Caserta), Eddie Mush.

• Bill: Wished there was a recognizable face in C's friend group.
• Van (all-Black cast remake): Mahershala Ali as Lorenzo, Sterling K. Brown as Sonny, Shameik Moore as C, Jenna Ortega as the love interest. Chris Ryan to direct.

• Chazz says Sonny was based on two real guys combined; he did witness a killing as a young boy.
• Chazz's real name is Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri.
• They cast the real Eddie Mush (Eddie Montanaro) – on his first day of filming it rained.
• Some people think Rob Schneider is one of the biker bar guys (he's not).
• De Niro got his commercial driver's license (Class B) for the role.

• Chazz Palminteri – debatable between this and 'The Usual Suspects'. Sean argues his Oscar nomination for Bullets Over Broadway might be the actual apex.
• Lillo Brancato Jr. – yes.
• Chez Bippy (social clubs) – yes.
• Crap scenes in movies – yes.
• Bus drivers in movies – this or Sandra Bullock in Speed.

• Chris: The lineup of mobsters on the sidewalk looking directly into camera (C's POV).
• Bill: Sonny getting shot – slow-motion, 'Come here, come here.'
• Van: Taral Hicks on the bus, lingering camera on her beauty.
• Sean: Young C's friends chasing the bus with the black kid, but C turns around and sees De Niro giving him a look – caught between two worlds.

• Would out-of-shape Italian mobsters really beat a biker gang that badly?
• After the murder, cops show up at 9-year-old C's apartment within seconds. 50 people witnessed it but they only bring the kid to identify the killer.
• Why didn't Sonny just kill Eddie Mush? He's cursing every bet.
• Lorenzo's wife says 'I'm going to check on the baby' when C is 9, then she and the baby sister vanish from the movie when C is 17.
• How much was a purposeful 'Goodfellas' homage vs. copying it?

Bill and Van: All-Black cast version – the other side of the neighborhood.

• Bill added Frank Vincent to the permanent 'better with' category for Italian movies.
• Full list discussed: Wayne Jenkins, Frank Vincent, Danny Trejo, Catherine Keener, Steve Buscemi, Sam Jackson, JT Walsh, Philip Baker Hall.

• Chris and Van: Chazz Palminteri, Best Supporting Actor.
• Bill notes the actual 1993 Supporting Actor field: Hackman won for 'Unforgiven'; also nominated were Nicholson, Pacino, David Paymer, Jaye Davidson.

• Van: The burned car, the Molotov cocktail, the baseball bat.
• Chris: C's discarded baseball cards (a Mickey Mantle rookie card worth $200K).
• Bill: Sonny's car.
• Sean: Lorenzo's bus.

• Chris and Van: This Boy's Life (same year, 1993, also De Niro).
• Sean: Rocco and His Brothers (Visconti).

'Is it better to be feared or loved?' / 'The saddest thing in life is wasted talent' / 'Nobody cares' / The door test / The $20 rule / The Mickey Mantle theory / Three great women theory / 'The working man is the tough guy.'

Consensus: Chazz Palminteri. His life story, his star-making performance, his bet on himself that paid off.