BUGSY MALONE [1976]

HERC would like to get one thing out of the way:  CITIZEN KANE is the greatest movie ever made.  Just to recap:  1982 is the greatest year ever in music and CITIZEN KANE is the greatest motion picture ever committed to celluloid.

Lest you think HERC is a cinematic snob, a critics darling, a stuffed shirt, HERC also enjoys a lot of movies hardly anyone else likes and hardly likes any movies that anyone else likes.  Which brings us to today's post, the first entry in the Hideaway Film Fest, a little movie from 1976 entitled BUGSY MALONE.

HERC had the pleasure to view this film for the first time early one Saturday morning at the local movie-house on a now defunct Air Force installation in the Midwest.  Armed with only a few dollars, HERC was able to pay admission, buy a roll of Sweet Tarts (he'd throw away the green and orange ones) and a soda, probably something from the Dr./Mr. family of beverages or a "suicide".

HERC would be dropped off go to the theater of his own free will on Saturday mornings to watch the latest live action Disney flick, invariably starring Jodie Foster or Kurt Russell, or some other movie about huge dogs, smart cars like Herbie the Love Bug or that alien from another world, Pippi Longstocking.

Jodie Foster, then a veteran 12 year old actress, has a supporting role in BUGSY MALONE as a singer at a speakeasy but the stars of the film are then newcomer 15 year old Scott Baio as the title character and Florence "Florrie" Dugger as the object of his affection, "Blousey Brown".  

Initially cast in a smaller role, Miss Dugger was promoted when the actress originally cast to portray "Blousey" had a growth spurt and showed up for filming towering over our film's hero.

The film can best be described as a musical gangster comedy entirely populated with actors under the age of 17, a "Disney-fied" version of SCARFACE.

Paul Williams wrote and sang most of the songs and he intended them to be recorded by the child actors but the film's director, Alan Parker helming his first feature-length film, was pressed for time and used Williams demos as they were submitted rather than re-record them.

Rated G for general audiences, this gangster film portrayed violence with cream pies fired from "splurge" guns.   The guns proved to be difficult during the production so Parker and his team filmed shoot outs in two parts: first they would film the shooters firing ping pong balls from the weapons then they would cut to the victims being "spluged" with mini cream pies.

Three things stand out in this film nearly 40 years after it's release: 1) the attention to detail in costuming and set decoration down to making the cars of the period into 3/4 scale pedal cars; 2) the incredible diversity in casting and 3) the wonderful soundtrack by Williams, who had written hit songs for the Carpenters and Three Dog Night and would go on to write more soundtracks including The MUPPET MOVIE and A STAR IS BORN.  He also began to act in movies with his most memorable role probably being "Little Enos", son of "Big Enos", in SMOKEY & the BANDIT:

BUGSY MALONE made less than $3 million at the box office or almost $8 million if adjusted for inflation.  It began to appear on HBO after a brief theatrical run and played fairly frequently throughout the rest of the Seventies and early Eighties. Today, the characters live on as a stage musical with two Paul Williams songs not featured in the movie.

The soundtrack was released on compact disc in 1996 but does not appear on Spotify as originally performed.

The movie itself was last released in the United States on VHS back in 1996.  No U.S. DVD or blu-ray version has been released despite both Japanese and UK releases. 

HERC cannot recommend this film enough.  See it if you get the chance.  You'll be glad you did. 

Come back next week to see the next entry in the Hideaway Film Fest.

SPOILER ALERT!:  If you haven't seen the movie, DO NOT watch the five video clips below.  If you have seen the movie, enjoy!