Bugsy Malone (1976)

I first saw this film at a showing in junior school and watched it again in my twenties and many times again since. I've always wanted it to be good and, to be honest, cut it so much slack to give it a chance.It has so many good elements, with a cast really giving it their all, great tunes and a script full of fun ideas. The pedalled cars, the splurge guns...it's all there.Unfortunately - lethally so, in my eyes - it suffers from sound that kills it absolutely stone dead. The echoey thinness that runs through so many scenes gives the film a terribly empty, vacant, almost lonely quality. It removes all atmosphere and musicals really do benefit from atmosphere.I personally think that's a sound style that runs through a great many UK film recordings in the 70's. That's just part of the progression of technology and history is harmlessly littered with such things.The decision to record the songs with adults singing is a logical enough one and probably quite pragmatic. But it makes the children seem like puppets singing along them and can look awfully fake.If you watch this film and find that none of this is apparent to you or diminishes your enjoyment then I'm delighted for you. Unfortunately, I can't recommend it. For me, it's one of cinema's missed opportunities through no fault of the cast, scriptwriters or songwriters.

BUGSY MALONEA gangster movie like no other.This is a musical, gangster film... it is already a bizarre mixture, but the film makers really went all out to make this film different. The whole cast are children.I knew all of this before watching it but really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if I would like this or not. So when I saw this was on the TV, I thought I would give it a go. It actually worked really well.The story is actually quite bad. Not a lot really happens throughout apart from two leaders of opposite gangs are fighting for the same patch. If this film was made normally, it would not have worked anywhere near as well.One of the things that I like about this film is even though the whole cast is children, they are all made up as adults and act as if they are adults. Even their fake moustaches were really funny.A lot of the songs were really catchy. There were a couple of songs that were not that go, but generally they were very good. When the children were singing, you could clearly see they were miming. It was not especially done well, but maybe this was dine on purpose. When they were singing, all of a sudden the kids had very mature voices. It was really funny.Another thing that I thought was well done was the gun fights. They were all fighting and shooting tommy guns that were shooting pies and custard at everyone. But when they got shot it was as if they were dead. The cars were fantastic. They were the old style cars, but they were actually pedal cars. The funniest part was when they were peddling the cars around, you could hear car engines as if they were driving for real. A really good touch.The cast couldn't act at all... this is the perfect example of children tend not to be good actors. Some of the time it felt like a big budget school play. Bad acting and comical dialogue execution. But even though the acting was bad, it made the film a lot better. The bad acting worked really well with the comedy side of the film.The movie starred Scott Baio, Florrie Dugger, Jodie Foster & John Cassisi. The funniest character was Fat Sam played by John Cassisi. He was hilarious and was the star of the film, but acting wise I can see why Jodie Foster was the only actress to make it big after this. She was the best actress in the movie.This is relatively short movie, but it is worth a watch. It is funny, weird and confusing as hell to watch.I will give this film 6 out of 10."Someone once said, "If it was raining brains, Roxy Robinson wouldn't even get wet." Roxy had spent his whole life making two and two into five, but he could smell trouble like other people could smell gas. But believe you's me, he should've never taken that blind alley by the side of Parido's Bakery. Whatever game it was everybody was playing, sure as eggs is eggs, Roxy the Weasel had been scrambled."For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl

There is no way this movie could be made today. Let me be upfront, there are children in this movie in all the roles, even the flapper girls and cut-throat gangsters. But that's part of the fun and honestly it's amazing to watch as a satirical and funny musical.Bugsy Malone follows the story of a group of individuals trying to make it in the world during the 20s, from a well mannered girl trying to break into show business to a ruthless criminal mastermind trying to take over the criminal underworld. The kicker: they're all played by kids and all the normal gimmicks are played up for fun. Bullets are now whipped creme, the cars are powered by bike pedals, the illicit substances and actions are toned down (such as bootlegging liquor now being sarsaparilla), and all the kids sing their musical numbers about deep or adult content by lip syncing an adult voice.It's a genius idea that never could be reproduced with all the politically correct zealots and fear over child exploitation. And, for me personally, that's what makes it so great. I caught most of this flick as a child and tracked it down over a decade of searching. This is meant to poke fun at the overly gratuitous, violent, sexual, and hyped up movies and musicals at the time, and yet, it still serves the same purpose.With all the fuss over Toddlers and Tiaras, and overblown trash movie experiences, the moral and humor still hold up if not more so now than in the late 70s. This movie is great, not perfect, but still loads of fun. Sit down with your friends or your significant other and have a laugh at a source that knows its target humor and nails it. It's a little difficult to find a copy, it'll run you about $20 online, but it's a decent investment if this sort of thing appeals to you.

Looks like a recording of an end term school play, held at a posh school with filthy rich parents. The only thing I liked were the dances which were the only rehearsed parts of the whole set-up and the pedal cars and costumes. The acting was really badly timed, badly spoken, ham expressions and adult posturing of the most nauseating kind. Jodie Foster has an impressive stage presence but her performance deteriorated by the minute. Lip synching by adult voices was the most destructive idea which scuppered the whole project! Throwing custard pies was funny in the times of silent black and white movies. It was already beyond stale at the time the movie was made. Alan Parker - curl up and die.