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 |
| Starring | Scott Baio Florrie Dugger Jodie Foster John Cassisi |
| Music by | Paul Williams |
| Cinematography | Peter Biziou Michael Seresin |
| Editing by | Gerry Hambling |
| Distributed by | Fox-Rank, Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1976 |
| Running time | 93 minutesА |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English, Italian |
| 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 "kills" the character) then later in "splurge guns" that enable the dessert to be deployed on unprecedented level. The musical centers on Fat Sam's Grand Slam speakeasy.
Written and directed by Alan Parker and produced by David Puttnam, the film stars Jodie Foster, and Scott Baio as the title character. 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. Tagline: Every year brings a great movie. Every decade a great movie musical! The film is scheduled for theatrical re-release in the UK on 8th December 2006.
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[edit] Plot
The film centres 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 1920's 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) 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 recognises. 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 discover the location of the warehouse where the splurge guns are being kept, under heavy guard. Realising they need more manpower, Bugsy recruits men from a local soup kitchen, and they storm the warehouse and seize the guns.
Having equalised the balance of power, Fat Sam is triumphant. However, in the final scene, Dandy Dan and his henchmen, armed with splurge guns, raid Fat Sam's speakeasy, and a shootout ensues, during which everyone is "splurged".
During the film the characters are seemingly "killed" whenever they are "splurged" (shot with a splurge gun or hit with a custard pie in the face). However, after the final shootout, no-one dies. Instead everyone starts singing the final musical number, and Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are seen shaking hands and burying the hatchet. Meanwhile Bugsy goes outside, where Blousey waits in a car for him, and the pair leave together bound for Hollywood.
[edit] Themes
The film contains several interesting themes and features.
Notable among these is a complex moral ambiguity which is rare in a children's film. The lead character, Bugsy, described in his own song as "a sinner, candy-coated" is clearly the hero, despite the fact that we see him imprison a waitress in a phone box so that he can escape from an ice cream parlour without paying. Likewise, while Fat Sam is a Mafia kingpin who is rude and ebullient, he is clearly the "good guy" when compared to his rival, "Dandy Dan", who in contrast is polite and measured.
Secondly, the theme of death is cleverly toned down. As a character is hit in the face with a custard pie, or "splurged" with a splurge gun, we see no more of them in the film, and we understand without uncertainty that they have been eliminated. However, it is clear even to small children that custard pie is not harmful, which allows the themes of murder and death to be present in the film without causing alarm to even the tenderest viewer. This is cleverly overturned in the final scene, where no-one is hurt by the custard, a somewhat deus ex machina ending for adults, but entirely in keeping with the conventions of children's films.
Other elements of the adult world are toned down for children. Alcohol is completely absent. For example, Dandy Dan's men raid one of Fat Sam's businesses, and smash barrels full of foaming liquid. Later Sam is heard to complain "Not the sarsaparilla racket as well!" Later, in Sam's bar, the bartender serves only fruit juice and other soft drinks.
The characters drive in cars, which are clearly powered by pedals. The film both draws attention to this (by showing closeups of feet pedalling furiously) and attempts to conceal it for effect (by dubbing the sound of an engine over the soundtrack).
Finally, although any references to sexuality are absent, Jodie Foster's Tallulah is notable for her smouldering flirtatious nature, and her forthright, sassy character.
- Tallulah: Hey Bugsy, how about smudging my lipstick?
- Bugsy: Careful, Tallulah! Come any closer and I'm gonna have to call my lawyer!
At first glance the story might seem a tragedy: the slow decline and fall of the shady Fat Sam under the even more ruthless Dandy Dan. Only Bugsy, for all his flaws, seems to be able to rise above any of it. But the characters are only ever 'splurged'. And when the cast sing 'we could have been anything that we wanted to be', a strange theme of repentance starts to emerge. Everyone is splurged, but it doesn't matter because it's just a kids' game.
[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 by Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Torme.
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 2003 documentary called Bugsy Malone: After They Were Famous attempted to trace the current whereabouts of the movie cast, many of whom had not pursued further acting careers. It was aired in December 2004 on ITV in the UK.
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 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.
[edit] Cast
- Scott Baio - Bugsy Malone
- Florrie Dugger - Blousey Brown
- Jodie Foster - Tallulah
- John Cassisi - Fat Sam
- Martin Lev - Dandy Dan
- Paul Murphy - Leroy Smith
- Sheridan Earl Russell - Knuckles
- Albin 'Humpty' Jenkins - Fizzy
- Paul Chirelstein - Smolsky
- Andrew Paul - O'Dreary
- Davidson Knight - Cagey Joe
- Michael Jackson - Razamataz
- Jeffrey Stevens - Louis
- Peter Holder - Ritzy
- Donald Waugh - Snake Eyes
- Michael Kirkby - Angelo
- Jon Zebrowski - Shoulders
- Jorge Valdez - Bronx Charlie
- John Rafter Lee - Benny Lee
- Ron Meleleu - Doodle
- Paul Besterman - Yonkers
- Kevin Reul - Laughing Boy
- Brian Hardy - Jackson
- Dexter Fletcher - Baby Face
- Bonnie Langford - Lena Marelli
- Mark Curry - Producer
[edit] Songs
- "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 Business"
- "We Could Have Been Anything"
