It was at that very table where action actor Steven Seagal played out one of the scenes in his latest movie, "Pistol Whipped," which was released last month direct to DVD.

Roberto's and other Bridgeport locations, including the Golden Hill United Methodist Church, the corner of McClevy Green, the Fairfield Avenue parking garage and the former Majestic-Poli cinema complex, were used in the action film.

Roberto Mirafiore, owner of Roberto's, laughs about it now.

"They made me feel comfortable that they were going to replace anything that they smashed," Mirafiore said, smiling.

Customers who have seen the movie, which is available in video stores, immediately recognize the place.

"They say, 'Hey, I didn't know they made a movie here,' " Miafiore said. "They are surprised."

Film scouts visited Bridgeport last year to scope out locations to shoot the movie. Filming at Roberto's meant paying him for two days of lost business, because it took a couple of days to prepare the set and shoot the footage.

"They made it look the way they wanted," he said.

He doesn't say how much the film company paid him, but he smiles about it.

"They take care of you. They do what they have to do," he said.

Connecticut Post film critic Joe Meyers said it is a significant film for the Park City because so many of the locations are clearly discernable to anyone who is familiar with the city.

The film crew seems to have focused on the downtown area.

"It's the wonder of

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movie-making. It looks like these places are far apart. They're actually across the street from each other," Meyers said.

The chase and crash scenes were entirely filmed at the corner of State and Main streets, but it doesn't look that way.

"It looks like they were driving down the streets," Meyers said.

In the film, Seagal, whose martial arts style is Japanese Aikido, plays an elite ex-cop with a gambling problem and a mountain of debt. To clear his debts, he is recruited by a mysterious old man to murder the city's most notorious gangsters.

"He basically gets blackmailed into becoming a hit man," Meyers said.

The movie generated crowds of onlookers when it was filmed downtown last year. Office workers from the downtown area gathered to get a look at the work being done.

"Steven Seagal was very good to the public, and came over to greet the fans between scenes," Meyers said.

But Meyers wonders whether the city officials will appreciate the way Bridgeport is portrayed. The city is not named in the film, but it is understood to be an archetype New England city.

"They make it look like a lawless Wild West town," Meyers said.

Tony Spinelli, who covers the region for ConnPost.com, can be reached at 330-6361.