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Bugsy Malone (1976)

Director: Alan Parker

Average user rating
3 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Watching it now, there’s something worryingly ‘wrong’ with Alan Parker’s ‘Bugsy Malone’. It’s not that this Prohibition-era musical, set principally in a Chicago speakeasy and peopled by young children who talk, act and sing like adults, has dated badly. It’s just difficult to pinpoint the film’s raison d’être, other than to sate the ambitions of a bunch of preening stage-school prima donnas, many of whom never graced the screen again. Paul Williams’ annoyingly hummable honky-tonk soundtrack punctuates proceedings, which graze the zenith of that seventies inclination towards sexualising teen performers (think ‘Minipops’ in America). Parker decks out his pre-pubescent cast (including a young Jodie Foster) in tight-fitting leotards and pencil moustaches, then ends the film with a creamy Splurge Gun massacre that probably would’ve made Freud blush. In hindsight, the novelty of subverting character and narrative to such a grand extent must have made Parker seem like the Spike Jonze of his day. Let’s be thankful it didn’t spawn a genre.

Author: David Jenkins 2006-12-05 11:33:22

Time Out London Issue 1894: December 6-13 2006

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User reviews of this film

  • holly said...
    Posted on Jul 22 2009 12:18 I love bugsy malone because I did it for my play yeahhhhhhhhh xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Report as inappropriate
  • SOPHIE MUZZ said...
    Posted on Oct 16 2007 06:31 I THINK BUGSY MALONE IS A CLASSIC, A REALLY WELL MADE FILM.
    I LIKE THE WAY IT USES HYBRID GENRES LIKE A GANGSTER AND A MUSICAL.
    I AM CURRENTLY STUDYING THIS FOR FILM STUDIES A LEVEL!
    Report as inappropriate
  • Emma said...
    Posted on Jul 10 2007 12:23 I really like Bugsy Malone And we are doing it for our end of year Play ! I am Dandy Dan !
    Report as inappropriate

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Bugsy Malone

Cast & crew

Director: Alan Parker

Producer: Alan Marshall

Cast: Scott Baio, Jodie Foster, Florrie Dugger, John Cassisi, Martin Lev full cast

Genre(s): Children's

Duration: 93 mins

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