Starring Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Florrie Dugger, John Cassisi
Directed by Alan Parker
Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams
This may be the most unique family musical I'll review at this blog. I've seen musicals with all-black casts and all-Asian casts, but this is likely the first and only musical film with an all-child cast. Parker was apparently inspired to make this one after his son was too young to see The Godfather, but not to be interested in 30's gangster stories. During a family trip, he told his kids the story of a gangster named Bugsy Malone, and it was his son who said kids should be the heroes. How well does this idea work today? Let's begin on the shorter-than-usual mean streets of New York in the late 20's and find out...
The Story: Fat Sam (Cassisi) is the top gangster in town and the owner of the Grand Slam speakeasy, but he's worried that it won't be for long. His rival Dandy Dan (Martin Lev) has a new type of "spurge guns" that shoot rapid-fire balls of cream. When a kid is "creamed," they're out of the running. He keeps claiming he's too busy to see Blousey Brown (Dugger), a pretty little blonde who hopes to be a singer. Bugsy (Baio) does see her, and he thinks she's wonderful. She thinks he's annoying at first, especially after Fat Sam's singer moll Talluah (Foster) gives Bugsy a kiss on his forehead.
After he helps Fat Sam out of a cream-covered trap set by Dandy Dan and his boys, Bugsy now has the money to take Blousey out for a boat ride and to dinner. He loses the money, but is helped out by a sweet-natured tramp named Leroy Brown (Paul Murphy) he wants to train to be a boxing champ. Meanwhile, Fat Sam hires Bugsy again after he loses his last man. Bugsy and Leroy need to recruit a group of local bums to find those splurge guns and get them out from under Dapper Dan's nose, before they're all out of the game for good.
The Song and Dance: This is one of the most adorable musicals I've ever seen. The details are hilarious. Even the sets are scaled to the size of the kids. They brew bootleg root beer instead of booze and drive little antique cars that move by pedal power. Not only is everything kid-sized, but it's historically accurate to the late 20's-early 30's, too. Baio makes a nice debut as the wise guy boxing promoter who gets caught up in the action. Dugger make a lovely little aspiring movie star, too. Too bad this was her only film. Williams' score is even better here than in Phantom of the Paradise, with two nice spoof ballads and one of the strangest finales in musical history.
Favorite Number: We open with the mini-chorus girls and Talluah showing their stuff for the adoring crowd of well-dressed youngsters at "Fat Sam's Grand Slam." "Tomorrow" is the big solo for Fizzy (Albin "Humpty" Jenkins), the sweeper who desperately wants to be a dancer for Fat Sam, and one of Talluah's girls Priscilla (Sarah E. Joyce). Fat Sam's boys (Donald Waugh, Jeffery Stevens, Pete Holder, and Michael Kirkby) sing about how they love to be "Bad Boys" while wrecking havoc on the street. "So You Want to Be a Boxer?" Cagey Joe (Davidson Knight) asks Bugsy and Leroy when they come to his gym for a musical fighting lesson. "My Name Is Talluah" is Foster's big moment, as she vamps it up for the crowd in the speakeasy with her chorus girls. Bugsy encourages the "Down and Out" boys at the soup kitchen to help him and Leroy with Dandy Dan's goons in a rousing march.
Trivia: Scott Baio's debut film.
There's apparently two stage versions of this that turn up occasionally on children's theaters, especially in England. Both include two songs cut from the film, "That's Why They Call Him Dandy" and "Show Business."
What I Don't Like: My biggest complaint is that finale. Most of the cast gets covered in cream, and then...they all make up and sing and dance? Sounds like they couldn't figure out how to end the movie on a lighter note. There's also times when the novelty of kids being gangsters doesn't work - one of the kids overdoes it or sounds awkward, or the story starts to get a little too maudlin for something featuring 12-year-olds throwing cream pies.
I really wish they let the kids sing with their own voices, rather than dubbing them with Williams and other adults. First of all, one women sings all of the girls' numbers, and while she's passable as Dugger, her high voice sounds nothing like Jodie Foster's deep-for-her-age one. Second, it makes the numbers look a little awkward and disconnected.
The Big Finale: Worth digging through the cream for if you or your kids have any interest in the cast, gangster tales, or 30's musicals.
Home Media: It was never released on disc in North America. Streaming and looking for it occasionally on TCM are your best bet on this side of the Atlantic.
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