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Excellent but underrated film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I often write about movies in the middle of the night, when the rest of the world is asleep. Sometimes, a movie will seem like a dream instead of something real. Imagine a musical gangster movie starring all child actors with music by Paul Williams. Yet, wonder of wonders, this movie actually was filmed.Sir Alan Parker's feature-length directorial debut (he also directed Pink Floyd's The Wall, Angel Heart, Fame and so many more), this is also Scott Baio's first movie and features a young Jodie Foster.Why kids? Parker said, "I had four young children and we used to go to a cottage in Derbyshire at weekends. On the long, boring car journey up there, I started telling them the story of a gangster called Bugsy Malone. They'd ask me questions and I'd make up answers, based on my memories of watching old movie reruns as a kid." His oldest son loved the stories and suggested that when he made the movie, children should play the roles. The strangest moment of the film is seeing kids sing with Paul Williams' voice. Parker agrees today. "Watching the film after all these years, this is one aspect that I find the most bizarre. Adult voices coming out of these kids' mouths? I had told Paul that I didn't want squeaky kids voices and he interpreted this in his own way. Anyway, as the tapes arrived, scarcely weeks away from filming, we had no choice but to go along with it!"The film starts with Roxy Robinson being splurged by another gang. In the film, guns shoot whipped cream instead of bullets and once you get splurged, you're done. We meet speakeasy boss Fat Sam and Bugsy Malone (Baio) with a big musical number. Fat Sam is played by John Cassisi, a kid who was selected by Parker after asking for the worst behaved child in his Brooklyn class. Interestingly enough, after he retired from acting, Cassisi became involved in construction, rising to the Director of Global Construction for Citigroup. However, he pleaded guilty to bribery in 2012 and was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison, pretty much making him a real gangster.Then, we meet Blousey Brown, a singer, and Dandy Don, the rival gangster who wants to take over Fat Sam's rackets and splurging all his men. Meanwhile, Sam's girlfriend Tallulah (Foster) tries to get between Bugsy and Blousey.Bugsy helps Sam survive a trap that Dandy Dan sets, drawing Bugsy deeper into the gangster life, despite his budding affair with Blousey. Finally, everyone but our young lovers gets splurged and realizes that they can all get along.This is a movie that defies my descriptions. You should just watch the trailer for yourself to confirm to me that this is all real and not a dream.

There is no way this movie could be made today. Let me be upfront, there are children in this movie in all the roles, even the flapper girls and cut-throat gangsters. But that's part of the fun and honestly it's amazing to watch as a satirical and funny musical.Bugsy Malone follows the story of a group of individuals trying to make it in the world during the 20s, from a well mannered girl trying to break into show business to a ruthless criminal mastermind trying to take over the criminal underworld. The kicker: they're all played by kids and all the normal gimmicks are played up for fun. Bullets are now whipped creme, the cars are powered by bike pedals, the illicit substances and actions are toned down (such as bootlegging liquor now being sarsaparilla), and all the kids sing their musical numbers about deep or adult content by lip syncing an adult voice.It's a genius idea that never could be reproduced with all the politically correct zealots and fear over child exploitation. And, for me personally, that's what makes it so great. I caught most of this flick as a child and tracked it down over a decade of searching. This is meant to poke fun at the overly gratuitous, violent, sexual, and hyped up movies and musicals at the time, and yet, it still serves the same purpose.With all the fuss over Toddlers and Tiaras, and overblown trash movie experiences, the moral and humor still hold up if not more so now than in the late 70s. This movie is great, not perfect, but still loads of fun. Sit down with your friends or your significant other and have a laugh at a source that knows its target humor and nails it. It's a little difficult to find a copy, it'll run you about $20 online, but it's a decent investment if this sort of thing appeals to you.

It is a joy to be able to review one of the most lovable movies in history. BUGSY MALONE lingers in memories of childhood, but it is only by seeing it again, MANY years later, that it's greatness is revealed. As a movie buff, and a member of the movie world myself, I am awestruck by the amount of plundering that this film has received , by GREAT directors! Scorsese has been lauded for his use of 'innovative' STOP-FRAME in 'Good Fellas'. Watch the first 3 minutes of Bugsy M. and you will see how Alan Parker was his inspiration. There are pot-shots at Coppola and at old-time movie classics like Scarface (the original entry, not Al Pacino's rendition), but even Sergio Leone's sets and plot are chock full of Malone's inventions. I refer to 'Once upon a time in America' and its childhood hoodlums. Parker is a inconsistent director. His specialty is casting. Many of his films revolve around this aspect of show-business. From Bugsy Malone (the glorious casting scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks' in The Producers) to 'Fame', to 'The Commitments'. What is rather thin in this movie, as though the money ran out when it came to this stage, is the orchestration of the music. The songs are catchy, and although rather weird (as they are clearly sung by adults), they feel tinny, thin, bare... It's a pity since many stuck with me after only ONE viewing in a cinema in London, many years ago (proof of their catchiness). A special mention must go to young Martin Lev, as the very bad Danny D. He really understood his part to a tee! And WHO didn't fall in love with sultry Talullah! Long live Bugsy Malone. And CHEERS to all involved in a movie which makes me dream of an alternative Hollywood, where ALL films are acted solely by children!

"Bugsy Malone" is comedy with some musical numbers that recreates the gangster films of the 1930's with a ensemble casting of kids and teens. Instead of blood and guns these gangster kids throw cream, pie and shoot with splurge guns to each other. It might not be as glamorous as those movies or even with the same richness of details like "Cotton Club" (1984) but its good intentions and its humor are far better than many forgotten classics of the same genre (and it cost less than the bad "Cotton Club"). The title of the movie is a reference to Scott Baio's character, a young guy romantically involved with Blousey Brown (Florrie Dugger) a young singer trying to get a chance to work in the club of Fat Sam (John Cassisi) a powerful gangster. Bugsy also gets involved with one of Fat Sam's girl Tallulah (played by Jodie Foster) also singer at the club but much more prettier and smarter than Blousey. At last during these good times there's the power battle between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan (Martin Lev) another powerful gangster who happens to own a new secret weapon that's "killing" all the thugs that work for Sam. And now Fat Sam needs all the help he can't get to survive to this creamy battle in New York. This is one of those rare films when you really get jealous for not being involved at it. Seriously, I think all these kids really had a great time doing their parts here, acting like adults in a very cool movie. It makes you think that if when you were child you really wanted to be part of this. All the ensemble casting is great (notably Baio and John Cassisi), they're very charismatic in their roles, not a single bad acting in this movie. The only disappointing thing was the songs. Most of it it's played repeatedly, the lyrics are not so much inspiring and to make things even more creepy all of the songs are performed by adults. That's right, the kids are dubbing during the musical numbers. But it's not all the songs that are bad, after all the Bugsy Malone theme and the song played at the ending are very interesting (this theme was used in a Coca-Cola commercial a few years ago so when I heard some of the lines it was like a Dejá-Vù feeling). What makes this movie so appealing: The kids playing tiny versions of grown-up characters in a gangster movie. Quite original if you consider that most of the movies with this kind of situation doesn't happen, always has to be some adult in the film playing a father or a mother. The kids were left alone in scene and they did a wonderful job. Not just that, there are very funny moments too. The comedy works pretty good (specially Knuckles the dumb thug played by Sheridan Russell, always making that annoying noise with his fingers making Fat Sam nervous). The idea of the splurge gun and all that cream, and the strange cars also were a great idea, a movie starring kids specially made for a kid audience but it's very good for adults too, way better than to take kids to see some stupid little movies with boring punchlines that many adults are forced to watch. I'm giving 9 starts only because of the songs that distracted me in some points but it was a training exercise for director Alan Parker (his first feature film released in theaters) with the musical genre something he would do better with "The Commitments" and "Evita". Worth seeing! 10/10