Bugsy Malone
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| Bugsy Malone | |
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 Bugsy Malone movie poster |
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| Directed by | Alan Parker |
| Produced by | Alan Marshall |
| Written by | Alan Parker Paul Williams (Lyrics) |
| Starring | Scott Baio Florrie Dugger Jodie Foster John Cassisi Martin Lev |
| Music by | Paul Williams |
| Cinematography | Peter Biziou Michael Seresin |
| Editing by | Gerry Hambling |
| Distributed by | Fox-Rank Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 15, 1976  |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in Chicago, Illinois in the Prohibition era, specifically, the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone as dramatized in cinema. The tongue-in-cheek movie stars children as the gangsters and their molls, toning down the subject matter sufficiently to receive a "G" rating. The plot concerns the manufacture of a brand of custard, which is used first in cream-topped pies (being hit with one in the face "kills" the character) then later in "splurge guns" that enable the dessert to be deployed on an unprecedented level. The musical centers on Fat Sam's Grand Slam speakeasy.
Written and directed by Alan Parker produced by Alan Marshall with executive producer David Puttnam, the film stars Scott Baio as the title character, with Jodie Foster in the role of Fat Sam's moll Tallulah. The music and lyrics are by singer-songwriter Paul Williams. All the songs on the soundtrack were actually performed by adults, including Williams himself, in his unmistakable high-pitched voice, and lip-synched by the cast. To commemorate its 30th anniversary, the film was re-released in limited theaters in the UK on December 8, 2006.
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[edit] Plot
The film centers around an ongoing gang battle between Fat Sam, named because of his physique, and Dandy Dan, named for his classy fashion sense. The conflict is set in 1930s America gripped by Prohibition. Fat Sam's various business interests are being systematically raided by Dandy Dan's gangsters, who with their superior firepower ("splurge" guns, tommy guns whch fire cream. spirour weapons to fat sams custard pies.)and easily eliminate Sam's henchmen.
Bugsy Malone, the main character, begins the film as a bystander, a penniless boxing promoter who is down on his luck. A desperate Fat Sam recruits Bugsy as a driver, and Bugsy, hard-up and needing the money, agrees to help him.
Bugsy's love interest in the film is Blousey Brown, a shy but ambitious girl desperate to be a film star in Hollywood. Bugsy meets Blousey early in the film at Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy. With the money Bugsy earns from Sam, Bugsy promises to take Blousey to Hollywood. However, Bugsy is later mugged and his money stolen. During the mugging, Bugsy is rescued by Leroy Smith, whose natural fighting talent he recognizes. Bugsy takes Leroy to his local gym to train him as a boxer. Leroy becomes Bugsy's unofficial sidekick.
Blousey's worries intensify as she finds Bugsy flirting with Tallulah, Fat Sam's girlfriend and the lead singer at the speakeasy.
Bugsy and Leroy manage to get the guns and take them back to Fat Sam's to prepare a defense of the speakeasy. As Dandy Dan's men come in, Bugsy, Leroy, and Fat Sam's men open fire and a massive battle ensues in which the whole cast gets "splurged".
[edit] After the film
- Since the film's release, Bugsy Malone has been adapted into a stage show.
- The song "Ordinary Fool" has been performed on record by Karen Carpenter, Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé.
- In 2003, Bugsy Malone was voted #19 on a list of the 100 greatest musicals, as chosen by viewers of Channel 4 in the UK, placing it higher than The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and The King and I. Channel 4 adapted the list to a TV special format, on which Scott Baio appeared.
- A TV documentary called Bugsy Malone: After They Were Famous features a reunion and interviews with Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, John Cassisi and Florrie Dugger. The British actors who played Fat Sam's gang are also reunited at Pinewood Studios. It was aired in December 2004 on ITV in the UK.
- The song So You Wanna Be a Boxer was used during 2005 to promote Cheesestrings. In the advertisements children would pull bits off a cheesestring and the string which collapsed would lose.
- In 2007 during the Super Bowl XLI, an animated Coca-Cola commercial was based around the song You Give a Little Love from Bugsy Malone. It was animated to look like the action computer game Grand Theft Auto. But they replaced the character's normal actions of anger and crime with opposite redeeming actions. The song, You Give a Little Love starts when our character throws some money in the guitar case of a street musician and he starts singing it. It builds from there to a loud musical chorus with an animated cast of hundreds all dancing in the street and singing the words from the song. The version of the song in the commercial features vocals by Moses Patrou.
- The episode "Dissolution" of Spaced, a British situation comedy written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, pays a clever and brief homage to Bugsy Malone. A cake fight occurs during Daisy's birthday dinner. The waiter signals angrily to the pianist to end the fight. The brief piano piece heard at the end of Bugsy Malone's final splurge gun fight and as an incidental throughout the movie is played.
- The 13th track on British rapper Dizzee Rascal's 2007 album, Maths + English, entitled 'Wanna Be' references the Bugsy Malone track 'So You Wanna be a Boxer'.
- The Swedish EBM band Spetsnaz performed a cover of "Down and Out", which was released as an extra track on the "Hardcore Hooligans" single.
[edit] Cast
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* Not credited on-screen.
[edit] Songs
- "Bugsy Malone"
- "Fat Sam's Grand Slam"
- "Tomorrow"
- "Bad Guys"
- "I'm Feeling Fine"
- "My Name is Tallulah"
- "So You Want to Be a Boxer"
- "Ordinary Fool"
- "Down and Out"
- "You Give a Little Love"
- "That's Why They Call Me Dandy"
- "Show Biz"
- "We Could Have Been Anything (That We Wanted To Be)"
[edit] External links
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