Bugsy Malone
One of the weirdest and most delightful films of the 1970s, Bugsy Malone used only child actors to make a slapstick schmaltzy comedy musical about Prohibition era America filmed at Pinewood Studios and in Reading and Wrexham . The brainchild of director and in this case writer Alan Parker , whose full-scale cinema debut it was, Bugsy Malone by good judgment on the part of the casting people or maybe just luck proved to be a starting point for such future British stars as Phil Daniels , Dexter Fletcher, and even Bonnie Langford, though the main roles were played by American actors Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. Almost the transfer of a perfected children’s game to the screen, with the wonderful splurge guns that would liven any kids’ party, cars moved by pedalling, and nobody really dying, it will always have appeal for 6 – 12 year-olds, and plenty of adults too, some of whom will now be watching it third time around with their grandchildren. Paul Williams’ songs don’t age either, their tone capturing something of the gangster era, clever touches and crafted sentimentality – Ordinary Fool the stand out – adding to their power.
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