Gangster films are traditionally adult-only affairs, with enough blood and guts and profanity to make your grandma cringe from refusing to watch it with their gangster movie-loving grandchildren, but happily there is a rare exception.
Alan Parker’s BUGSY MALONE (which was adapted into a 1980s stage musical directed by MONKEE Micky (Michael) Dolenz, who also directed episodes of the favourite Saturday evening comedy METAL MICKEY) takes the gangster film and transposes it with kids and pedal cars for petrol ones – and substitutes bullets for custard projectiles aka the dreaded ‘Splurge Gun’!
This town ain’t big enough for crime lords Fat Sam (John Cassisi) and Dandy Dan (Martin Lev) . However, in between is Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio, Chachi in TV’s HAPPY DAYS) who meets wannabe dancer and singer Blousey Brown (Florrie Dugger) who wants to audition for Fat Sam and attempts to audition at the local theatre where the mantra is ‘Come Back Tomorrow!). Good time girl Tallulah (Jodie Foster) also has a thing for Bugsy.
When Sam’s henchman are ambushed by Dandy Dan’s, Bugsy becomes a driver for Sam and the battle for supremacy continues…
One of the best loved British films of all time and shot in Pinewood Studios and on location around the UK, BUGSY MALONE remains an addictive family entertainment with a cracking musical score, with songs composed by Paul Williams, who won an Oscar for the song EVERGREEN from the 1976 version of A STAR IS BORN, starring Barbra Streisand, as well as playing Little Enos in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977) and SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT RIDE AGAIN (UK title) / SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT II (US) (1980)
One of the all time