Nunzio (1978) User Reviews

Proval's performance almost saves this well-meaning "kitchen" drama.

[GMJames · 6/10 · 6 April 2007]

Nunzio is a little-seen drama which tells a standard underdog story a husky, mentally-challenged deliveryman (David Proval) who dreams of being a superhero. Teased by the local hoods, his older brother Jamesie (James Andronica, who also wrote the screenplay) protects Nunzio to the point of smothering him.

Although the movie is rather sappy, Proval dose a very good job of keeping most of the ham in check (unlike co-star/screenwriter Andronica). In addition, Jazz singer/Corelone matriarch Morgana King was a welcome sight playing the mother of Nunzio and Jamesie.

Note: There was one specific scene that to this day still makes me uncomfortable even though it was important to the plot and put this movie in MPAA rating limbo. The film was originally rated R because of a sex scene between the main character and a neighborhood girl. According to the original NY Times review by Janet Maslin, that scene was edited down so the movie can get a PG rating. When the movie was shown on cable TV, the R-rated version was shown at night and the PG-rated version was shown during the day. I would have to agree with Maslin that if you took the sex scene out, the scenes after the incident made no sense at all.

Universal released Nunzio to theaters in 1978 but has never released the movie to DVD. I wonder why? Ever since his 1973 debut in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, Proval has been a very dependable character actor an has appeared in numerous movie and TV projects including his memorable role as Richie Aprile in The Sopranos. I would think Universal would have considered releasing Nunzio to DVD to take advantage of Proval's Soprano buzz and show how talented the actor was to people who have never seen or heard of Nunzio. Sometimes some marketing strategies makes too much sense.

Delivery Boy saves the world!

[joesorce · 8/10 · 24 May 2002]

You might catch this captivating film on the late late LATE show some night, it doesn't pop up too often. The story of a mentally challenged grocery-delivery boy and the neighborhood of craziness that surrounds him, NUNZIO will stay with you long after you've seen it. David Proval gives an amazing performance as the title character. In fact all of the performances are right-on.

Like Cliff Robertson's "Charly" or Jackie Gleason's "Gigot", Nunzio tugs at your emotions and doesn't let go. Proval went on to star in the HBO series "The Sopranos".

Criminally underrated film

[bentley-darrin · 8/10 · 12 October 2019]

I remember seeing Nunzio on WHT (Wometco Home Theater) which was a pay TV service that pre-dated cable. The film left such an impression on me that I haven't forgotten it to this day.

I won't go into the plot as it's been covered here but David Proval's performance as a mentally challenged delivery boy is heartbreaking and pitch perfect.

His brother, played by the excellent James Andronica (who also wrote the script), loves Nunzio and protects him, as any big brother should.

While the script may be formulaic, it works.

David Proval and James Andronica are clearly committed here and the way they captured the lives of these characters was terrific. It feels very genuine and authentic as NYC is practically a character in and of itself.

If you can see this film (there are a few websites streaming an old WHT version, but the quality is poor), check it out, you won't regret it.

The fact that this movie hasn't been released on DVD/Blu-ray is very sad.

Don't worry Superman won't let nothing happen to you

[sol-kay · 10/10 · 24 September 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Forgotten little movie set in what looks like the Blythbourne-Boro Park section of Brooklyn about a child-like young man Nunzio, David Proval,working as a delivery boy at Angelo's, Joe Spineli, grocery store. Nunzio has a Superman fixation that's so far out of hand that he made himself a make-shift Superman costume that he wears while delivering groceries. Nunzio also puts on a pair of fake glasses as if he has a secret identity like Clark Kent. Liked by the local pre-high school kids in the neighborhood who Nunzio plays stick-ball with but he's constantly harassed and tormented by a gang of local bullies who make life unbearable for the poor man. The bullies trying to trip him up on his delivery bike and even stealing the groceries that he's delivering has Nunzio's older brother Jamesie, James Andronica, take matters into his own hands.Jamesie puts the troublemakers into line with a couple of well placed kicks and swings.

Nunzio isn't weak, he's much stronger then Jamesie, but he's a quite and meek young man who helps his mother Mrs. Sabatino, Morgana King, around the house and works like an ox at the store to make the few dollars to make things better at home by helping to pay the bills, it seems that Nunzio's father had passed away and his mom is a widow. Nunzio also seems to feel bad about his brother Jamesie always having to defend him against the local tough guys where he can, if he wanted to, really do a number on them. Yet he's so harmless and non-violent that he can't even lift a finger to fight back so he takes every rock and insult that they throw at him.

Nunzio also has a crush on Michelle, Tovah Feldshuh, a pretty and sweet girl who works at the local neighborhood bakery. One afternoon when he runs, or drives with his delivery bike, into her he uncontrollably lets out his feeling that he has by telling Michelle that he loves her. Michelle is both flattered and surprised at hearing this from the love-sick Nunzio. Sadly Michelle tells him that when you tell someone that you love them it means a lot more than just being friendly. It also breaks Nunzio's heart for him to find out, almost at once, that Michelle is married and has a little girl. Michelle in her very understanding way tries to make Nunzio realize that love is not a word that you just throw around lightly. She practically apologizes to him that she's not single by saying almost in tears "Please Nunzio don't hate me for this".

After that incident Nunzio starts to get more and more detached from reality and more and more hooked on his Superman fetish to the point where he wouldn't take tips from the people that he delivered the groceries too saying that "Superman doesn't take tips". Nunzio one afternoon delivers a box of groceries to Maryann, Theresa Saldana, who's mother is away at work. Maryann then playfully seduces him to the point that it makes Nunzio feel guilty and hurt just like he felt when the local toughs, who Maryann hangs around with, made fun and abused him. Maryanns in her manipulating him by doing what she did was more for hurting Nunzio then for loving or liking him.

It then when Nunzio starts to go off the deep end and doesn't even come to work at Angelo's grocery store anymore. This has his brother and mom feel that he may very well need psychiatric help or even be put away in an institution before he ends up getting killed or even killing himself. One evening Nunzio just about had it with his life and packed up his meager belongings in a suitcase and left home going to who knows where. Hurt and alone Nunzio runs into local neighborhood bullies who made his life hell. It's them where destiny in it's own strange and peculiar way both intervened and before the night was over Nunzio wasn't Superman just only to himself but to the entire city of New York.

David Proval is wonderful as the quite and likable and in the end heroic man-child Nunzio giving a once in a lifetime performance that was worthy of an Academy Award.Proval was every bit as Nunzio good as the role of Lennie played by Lon Chaney Jr. in "Of Men and Mice". Without the tragic ending in that film.

The heart-lifting as well as heart-stopping final in "Nunzio" is admittedly a bit contrived and predictable but the movie wouldn't be human if it didn't end any other way then the way that it did. Both James Andronica and Tovah Feldshuh were both warm and touching as Nunzio's protective brother and the object of his affection as well as Morgana King as Nunzio's and Jamesie's long suffering mother. Joe Spineli and Theresa Saldana were very good in their parts as Nunzio's boss and the girl who drove him almost to the point of insanity. "Nunzio" is the kind of movie that you just can't help loving because it's title character is both so likable as well as tragic at the same time. Not that the movie lacks a happy ending.

The story about a simple but noble man has been done in dozens of movies over the years but I honestly have to say that in all the movies I've seen about that same type of person none were ever as moving as well as poignant as "Nunzio".

Derivative But Works

[Craig_McPherson · 21 December 2002]

As other reviewers have noted, this is a formula picture that has been done before. That's not a mark against this little gem of a picture, just that it doesn't break any new ground.

David Proval, who would later go on to play Richie Aprile, the psycho mobster with the "Charles Manson" stare in HBO's The Sopranos, turns in a remarkable performance here as the mentally handicapped Nunzio.

A chubby, frizzy-haired bicycle delivery boy for a neighborhood grocer, Nunzio indulges in fantasies that he is a superhero. He lives a life marked with torments from the gang of deadbeats at the corner, overbearing concern from his mother and older brother, and general confusion about women and his burgeoning desires for them.

Although this film sets up several plot devices that could easily have gone "over the top", director Williams handles the story with a deft touch, never allowing the film to enter the realm of melodrama until the final climactic scene, which serves more as a release than a dive into the overly dramatic.

With a fluid story that moves at a good pace, terrific acting, and tons of spine shuddering 70s kitch (was that decade REALLY that awful for fashion?), this is a film not to be missed, if you can ever find it, that is.

A movie way ahead of its time...a must see.

[drsmith1966 · 10/10 · 18 March 2019]

The first time i saw this movie was when pay TV just started. known back then as WHT for 18.00 a month..I was stoned off my face when i saw this with a close friend and let me say i was so into it. the cast was perfect and let me also say i was in love with Jo Jo played by Vincent Russo. what a hot man indeed..a very down to earth real life picture that most anyone can relate to..this movie should be aired today. so underrated.in 1978 i was 20 years old and knew what i was about and into..this movie could turn a total wise mouth bully into an understanding and caring person with a little help .I give this great movie a must see before you get old.

Under Appreciated

[dickiet1207 · 10/10 · 30 March 2019]

Yes I am a sucker for these Italian NYC dramas. And even more so for 70s kitsch. But, this aside, I still find this to be a great film. People bust on Andronica's acting, which I actually thought was good, at least in the playground scene-and Proval did one helluva job. Much better than Richie Aprile, anyway. A film such as this could never be made today. Too many politics. But I love this film. It's dated, simple, and made during a time when things could be a little more simple and a little less intellectualized.

Most lasting impression a film has ever had on me

[greg-goremykin · 9/10 · 12 July 2020]

When I was a youngster my best friend/next door neighbour's father who flew Canadian Forces cargo jets would take us along on 48 hr trips (often down to the States). This was I'm sure was highly against regulations and could have gotten him, who knows, maybe even thrown in jail, but he was half-pissed all the time so he had a few issues going on.

But to the point, I got to see a lot of films at an earlier age than I should have because once we got to the destination base he needed to go to the bar so my friend and I got dropped off to the base movie theaters that seemed no matter the base to run a 5 movie loop round-the-clock, and the movies were all classic grindhouse fare, Melvin Van Peebles and all the blaxploitation to follow after, Italian horror, Australian genre flicks, etc.

Being a big film buff probably because I got exposed to so much independent film as well so relatively young, I have one heck of a back catalogue to pick from, but "Nunzio" really stands out. I read in one of the reviews that it had some schlock in it, but from what I remember from that day when I lucked into seeing this fantastic film in a corrugated metal shed theatre in the NWT in Canada.

Something about the way the characters are written and in the dialogue, and of course the acting as well, but that dialogue, it really was incredibly engaging and sucked me into being so emotionally invested in the characters' lives, and even through some for-one-reason-or-another quite uncomfortable scenes to watch that out of all the similar-type movies I watched at those military bases only "Nunzio" stands out.

And it stands out even though beyond the general plotline I can't recall much detail other than 2 scenes, but how strongly I felt the emotions the screenwriter and director wanted me to feel, wow, I felt like a puppet on a string and this tugged at my heartstrings so very hard that just the thought of the movie finds those heartstrings reverberating over the years even still. I would be so happy to find a way to watch this in any format, I think I'd even buy an ancient VCR to be able to watch it, I loved it that much.

You will remember this Movie for a long time.

[patrick-183-952300 · 11 October 2011]

I watched this movie years ago. It made a lasting impression on my mind. It shows how a brothers love can deflect the crap thrown by bullies at his mentally challenged brother. This classic could be remade. I am not sure how you would make it better, but, if it is brought up-to-date and put back into circulation that would be OK. The story line is the key. What a great eclectic group of people. The story does not fall short of showing that the Handicapped mean well and if asked can participate to a high level.

I loved this story and want to order a copy. It is a classic, just most people don't know it. GREAT MOVIE....Talented talented people. Find it, watch it and be humble...

Great Performance by Proval

[timmaninaz · 9/10 · 23 March 2021]

A good and forgotten film. I saw this as a kid when it was on Wometco Home Theatre back in the 70's. David Proval stars as Nunzio, a mentally challenged man whose life the film focuses on. Many years after seeing this moving, I met my wife who has a mentally challenged brother. As the years passed, I remembered this movie as Nunzio and my brother-in-law were very much alike and had the same issues. The film does an effective job showing not only what a mentally challenged person goes through, but also that person's family as well. Just like my brother-in-law, Nunzio has capabilities but, most of the time, is unable to use them constructively. The film shows that there is not much that can be done for such people and it can become a frustrating situation for that person's family. Sadly, the film also shows how mentally challenged people are often bullied or taken advantage of by others. David Proval is outstanding as Nunzio. Due to the limited release of this film, he did not receive the credit that he should have for his performance. The move is on You Tube so check it out.

A mentaly challenged man with dreams of being a hero gets his wish in this feel good movie.

[cgirlleo · 12 November 2002]

Nunzio is a rarely aired film concerning a twenty something mentaly challenged man. On the surface he appears to be a loon wearing a towel as a cape playing hero. Fortunately for the viewer he turns out to be much more. David Proval in an understated performance shows us the life and first time love in a wonderful fashion. In the end we see a wannabe hero that truly can be. A small film not to be missed.