willcundallreview Rating-7/10Bugsy Malone is a film full of big songs and dancing, slick lines and splurge guns, this movie is perfect for kids to actually live in. With the young actors you can't expect massive displays yet they still do a stellar job and the movie ends up being a bit of fun for all to have. I felt the movie to be safely a pretty good one and here below is why so.The story is very interesting and you can't quite ever guess what's around the corner. I felt the plot maybe starts to go down hill just a little toward the end but manages to stay level. It's full of fun adventure and action yet even the scenes of basic dialogue are thrilling and also humorous. The songs are catchy but at the same time kind of annoying and for those who want more meaningful music, then look further a field. The acting as I said is not something you can expect to be great although Scott Baio, Jodie Foster(who now is listed usually ahead of other cast members) and John Cassisi make this a fun little bit of acting and one you can't criticise easily. There are some parts where the film goes a little too much overboard with the acting and although not the kids fault, still doesn't portray minor characters well.Alan Parker writes and directs it just about pretty well and the job he does here is one of not just great lyrical skill but also the way he handles the frantic pace of the movie. The song and dancing as mentioned is a slight bit over the top but you do feel they get a little catchy and by the end it could be said they do there job of sticking in your head. I loved the sets and costumes, props etc even more than anything else, the cars are just magnificent and the guns well what can be said other than ingenious.My main criticism really is the slow parts which happen in the last section of the film, it just doesn't bring it to a great close and I even felt quite tired when the credits starting rolling. I said about the songs and maybe I was a little mean about there true purpose, although I will say that the little janitors song which I believe is the very first solo song, well that voice just really gives you a headache.I think if you looking for a musical then this is definitely one to see because it doesn't just sing and sing and forever sing, it also has a good story to back it up and the songs are also in places where someone actually might sing. I also do think that for those who want a more sombre affair and something along the lines of the Godfather, well you won't find it here and you've definitely looked at the wrong definition of gangster film.Overall I'd give it a 7/10 and a safe one of that as well, it isn't quite higher material but by far not a bad film whatsoever. Give it a go and you should enjoy given you like musicals and dancing and gangsters, a strange mix which actually by the end works rather well and leaves you feeling quite strange watching kids play out the roles that people like Pacino play, complexing.

ella-48 This film has long been a favourite of mine, and I enjoyed seeing it again this afternoon on Channel 4. To be honest, what I'm about to write isn't really a review at all, merely a curious observation. Here goes anyway...It's fun to watch this film with an eye for identifying people who have since gone on to greater fame. I believe I may have spotted one very well-established performer who has a nice cameo part but isn't even credited in the cast-list!Approximately 25 minutes in, we have the audition scene in which Blousey Brown misses her chance to be heard. The first hopeless "act" we see being auditioned is a light opera singer, warbling ineptly through the opening lines of "Velia, Oh Velia" before being kicked offstage.I may be wrong, but I'm pretty convinced that this is a young Sylvestra Le Touzel - and yet this performance doesn't appear in her resume/filmography at all, either here on IMDb or anywhere else I can find. Chronologically it's possible, as she would have been about 17 years old at the time Bugsy Malone was being made.I wonder if anyone out there can tell me whether or not I'm right? If you're reading this, Ms Le Touzel, do put me out of my misery - is it you? ;-)

Paul Robinson "Suddenly everybody wants to be in show business."Bugsy Malone the prohibition era gangster/musical, cast entirely with kids. Is a little gem of a picture. Providing great fun and whimsy to a serious genre.The story is about a gang war in 20's/30's New York, and the well liked and smart Bugsy Malone who is roped in to help his pal Fat Sam. The main thing to remember about this film is the word FUN. Because that is what this film is all about, who wouldn't at that age, want to shoot a splurge gun or drive around in a pedal car. All while playing a modified version of cops and robbers. The costumes are great, the songs still feel fresh, and were performed very well. Sung by adults as the children were dubbed over. The ending is also good as it reminds us that is a children's film and keeps it light and sweet.Thinking critically some of the characters seemed unnecessary, and are only there to set up a new song. Kinda making wish the film could run a little longer to flesh these characters out a bit. Also you would not expect great acting, but some of the interaction between actors came across as clunky, and could of done with a couple more takes being shot.On the whole a fun original film, that hopefully kids will enjoy for years to come.

Igenlode Wordsmith I think what impresses me the most about this film is that it's actually an incredibly accurate spoof -- I'm not sure 'spoof' is even the right term: homage, perhaps -- of its source material, the gangster movies of the 1920s/1930s. And I mean that seriously. Compared to, say, the recent "Public Enemies" (2009), this is actually a far more accurate reproduction of the 'look' of the era, on film if not in real life. Hairstyles, dancing (in fact, given the adolescent figures in vogue at the time, those stage routines could easily pass for the real thing), and shot after shot, stylistically speaking, which pays homage to famous films. The plot is a joyous accumulation of just about every gangster cliché going (from the hot-towel episode at the barber's onwards) and all the locations are spot-on: the warehouse down by the docks, the drugstore, the leader's grand mansion, the speakeasy, the theatre (and the dressing-rooms), etc. About the only one we don't get, come to think of it, is the police sergeant's office...I also enjoyed the songs (in fact, that was what attracted my attention to the film in the first place), although the bluesy ballads are, as Fat Sam says, a bit 'modern' for my taste. My only real problem with the film was an inevitable concomitant of the all-child cast: the piping voices are often quite difficult to understand.But the film as a whole is a tremendous romp that treats its source material with great affection and yet a total lack of awe. Various plot strands exist only so far as necessary in order to lead up to the associated songs (poor Fizzy never does get to dance, does he?), but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed it. An off-beat one-off.