User reviews

This is a very cute and enjoyable movie, quite possibly the only one in a very small sub-genre in the genre of gangster films-a musical gangster movie cast entirely with children. The cast is notable principally by the presence of Jodie Foster (as a side note, this was released the same year as was Taxi Driver!) and Scott Baio, the musical score was done by Paul Wiliams (who was nominated for an Oscar for his efforts here) and the costumes are quite nice. One thing about the music: I've seen this several times and I still can't be sure if the cast is singing or if the singing is dubbed. I think it's dubbed, as the numbers are almost stiltedin nature. Still fun-just put your brain on neutral and enjoy. Well worth watching.

I remember my father announcing a family plan to see this movie the year it came out, when I was 9. I didn't want to go--a gangster movie with kids? I thought it would be scary, or worse, boring. But the decision had been made, and I reluctantly went along to the theater. As it turned out, my father was right to take us: "Bugsy Malone" became one of my favorite childhood movies. My brother and I were given the soundtrack LP for Christmas that year (I still have it), and we learned all the songs.

I've since seen the movie as a grownup, and I still think it's very well-made. It wasn't until I was older that I could appreciate the acting, and the sophisticated production design (though I knew when I first saw the movie that it had a very clever script). My only quibble is the filmmakers' decision to have adults sing all the songs--it's a bit bizarre to hear grownup voices coming out of children, and after a while you start to notice that the voices sound the same, since they didn't cast different singers for each character (Paul Williams himself does most of the vocal work). It makes the film feel more low-budget than it should.

Mickey Dolenz directed a stage version of the film in London years later, which I was hoping had all-singing kids, but apparently the songs were pre-recorded. High schools now perform the show, however, so at last the voices will match.

Any kid that's interested in old Hollywood should be given a chance to see this film.

Interesting that the average age of the child actors in this film is 12. I was 12 years old when this film came out in 1976, and saw it in the theater. What fun! Well, it isn't quite as much fun as it was then (it's a kid's movie in every sense of the term), but still enjoyable to watch. Jodie Foster demonstrated a 'star quality' presence even then, and although the songs were poorly dubbed, they were good songs.

Recommended for kids of any age (sorry for the bad cliche) if you like watching something fun and different -- especially if you want to see a truly original take on the gangster theme. My younger brother has this on VHS tape, and I just plugged it into the VCR and watched it again today.

8/10

For anyone who sees this film as sinister or as a paedophiles dream GET A LIFE!!!! It was made in the 70's when we weren't politically correct and living was fun! What has happened to us that we can't see a film with children in it without thinking that it was made for an ulterior motive? Enjoy the film for what it is. I saw this film for the first time when I was about 9, loved it then and still do (I'm now 34!) It's harmless fun, something you would have loved to have been involved in had you been given the chance. All those splurge guns and pedal cars, think about it, it would have been great fun! And that's what you should remember when you watch it, it's great FUN! I have 2 children who ABSOLUTELY love this film as much as I do and I have no qualms whatsoever about letting them watch this. Just remember you were young once, watch this film, forget about everything, and recapture your youth!!!!

Well produced on what appears to be a medium budget, "Bugsy" is a cute romp through the NY gangster heyday. The under 16 year old cast is what truly makes this film fun to watch. This is especially true knowing that most of the kids never appeared in anything else. (Notable exceptions being a pre-Happy Days Scott Baio and, an already accomplished film and TV star, Jodie Foster...) The film has it's flaws, the most striking to me being the decision (possibly budget related) to have adults sing the musical numbers. This caused what was actually a pretty decent musical score to seem little more than catchy background music at times. Even if the cast sang off-key, it would have been a little better than hearing Paul Williams' voice coming out of a kid's mouth. (very awkward) This is to take nothing away from Mr. Williams singing or writing ability because if you were around in the 70's and were sober enough to have memories of it you will instantly recognize his unique voice and musical style. All in all, "Bugsy Malone" is a great movie to enjoy with the kids. My 9 year old is now bugging me to get the soundtrack. (Good luck finding that...)

The film is unique musical parody of gangster movies, where all the roles are played by children. I first watched it shortly after its release, and was absolutely thrilled. Balanced director's work, smartly composed screenplay, great and very temporary musical score and, above all, the brilliant talent of young Jodie Foster. Not all the roles were played equally convincingly, but the kids were generally quite good. I enjoyed the film even more while writing subtitles (for home use) for it several months ago, being thus forced to listen carefully to every word spoken or sung. After 30 years, I really have nothing to add to my first impressions. "Bugsy Malone" is timeless, and should be listed among the movie classics, along with "The Wizzard of Oz" and "Oliver".

Writer-director Alan Parker's feature debut Bugsy Malone is a pastiche of American movies, a musical gangster comedy set in 1929, featuring prohibition, showgirls, and gang warfare, with references to everything from Some Like It Hot to The Godfather. Uniquely, though, all the parts are played by children, including an excellent if underused Jodie Foster as platinum-blonde singer Tallulah, Scott Baio in the title role and a nine-year-old Dexter Fletcher wielding a baseball bat. Cream-firing "spluge guns" sidestep any real violence and the movie climaxes cheerfully with the biggest custard pie fight this side of Casino Royale (1967). Unfortunately for a musical, Paul Williams's score--part honky-tonk jazz homage, part 1970s Elton John-style pop--lets the side down with a lack of memorable tunes. Nevertheless, Parker's direction is spot on and the look of the film is superb, a fantasy movie-movie existing in the same parallel reality as The Cotton Club and Chicago. A rare British love letter to classic American cinema, Bugsy Malone remains a true original; in Parker's words "the work of a madman" and one of the strangest yet most stylish children's films ever made.

Like all period films this is timeless. It is characterised by the fun and enthusiasm shown by the young cast (average age 12). Who wouldn't have wanted to join in. Films don't have to be grand with big budgets to entertain. I read somewhere once that the film was shot with an amazingly low number of re-takes. An indication of how easy it can be to work with children. Of all films made with a cast of only children this one has to be the best. A film which I go to see whenever I find it showing somewhere. Excellent stuff for the big kids (like me) around.

I had been a fan of Happy Days since the mid to late 70s and I was a fan of Scott Baio so when I saw that this film was coming on TV I had to tune in to watch it and I really liked it, with the comical storyline of Kid Gangsters set during the Prohibition era in NYC set to music from that time I was in for a real treat. Scott gave a great performance in the title role and Jodie Foster was amazing as the beautiful and sassy, Tallulah, Bugsy's ex and girlfriend to Fat Sam. Paul Williams created a great soundtrack for the film which also makes it an even more memorable film. Everytime it was on cable again over the years I made sure to watch it whenever I could and always appreciated it even more for it witty charm and for being a entertaining musical comedy with young actors and dancers. A great gem of a film.

This is one of my all time favorite films, straight up, no chaser! Some films possess a magical quality that cannot be planned as they are filming. This film has that magic. The musical numbers are wonderful, the performances genuine. I love the way the romantic subtleties are handled since the cast children. This film is made by the music. There is not one bad number in the film. Bring back the splurge gun!

i think this movie is a really good idea and is funny we are doing this film as a play at our school i play 1 of the dancers its so cool we're doing this play we have a lot of fun doing it!!! I really like the 50's feel to it and the gangsters!!! i think its really different that there played by kids its really a lot of fun to watch and i so love the songs in it!!!! My favourite really catchy songs in it are so you wanna be a boxer and fat scam's grand slam!! anybody who doesn't like this film must be mad because i think its really really really really good!!!!!! and i can't wait until we do it at our school!!!!!!! i would recommend it for all ages.

Bugsy Malone, a childhood favorite of mine, is perhaps the only musical spoof of gangster films and film noir where all the roles of the gangsters, flappers, bartenders and hitmen are played by children (collective age: 12). In place of the universal racketeer firearms are "splat guns" that cover victims in whipped-cream. Likewise, the cars are pedal-driven like bikes. The story tells of the rise of the womanizing, ex-boxer Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio) who finds himself enlisted in the mob of speakeasy-owner Fat Sam (John Cassisi), who's in the middle of a fierce territorial battle with the suave Dandy Dan (Martin Lev). Dan has come up with a new weapon, the splat gun, leaving Fat Sam to rely on the antiquated manually-thrown pies for his heists. Sam's gang is sweetly gunned-down bit by bit, and Bugsy is ultimately recruited to get a hold of this new weapon and rebuild the gang (which he does with the homeless Down-And-Outs and boxer Leroy Smith, played by Paul Murphy). Baio is remarkable (if you can believe that), and most of the performances are amazing! Jodi Foster excels as vampy nite-club singer Tallulah, and Florrie Dugger (as Blousey Brown -- in her only role to date) is wonderful as Bugsy's piquant love interest. I just don't understand why more of these child-actors didn't go on to bigger and better things like Jodi Foster! And whoever played "Babyface" is remarkable, showing three-times the amount of charisma of Macaulay Culkin. The film was nominated for a series of Oscars and Golden Globe awards and it's apparent as to why. Paul Williams' score is amazing - so many of these songs should be remade! If telling you to seek this one out for sure!

It's the Prohibition era. Mobsters are fighting for control. Showgirls are performing. All the characters are played by child actors where the gangsters fire cream-filled guns and the cars are peddle-powered. Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio) is an ex-boxer trying to be a promoter. He takes an interest in sassy aspiring performer Blousey Brown. Fat Sam is a gangster with a speakeasy. His gun moll Tallulah (Jodie Foster) sings there and is Bugsy's ex.

This is really not a kiddie movie. It's a kiddie take on the gangster movie. It's a fun little spoof post The Godfather. I actually like the singing except for Jodie Foster. I do wonder why she isn't playing the bigger role of Blousey. Maybe she fits Tallulah better but usually the bigger role goes to the bigger name. This is innocent fun in the sense that it's a bunch of kids playing gangsters and dames. What could be more innocent fun than a pie fight and a song and dance to finish the movie.

What if there was a gangster movie starred by children? What if this movie were a musical? Alan Parker took this idea and transformed into a movie in 1976. And it worked really well.

As i said, 'Bugsy Malone' is a gangster movie starred by children, and there isn't much more to say about the story. The script has that feeling of 'I have seen this before', telling the story of Bugsy Malone (Scott Baio), a gangster in the late 1920's New York, in the middle of the Depression. The predictable script is really no problem, because it's told in a different way than any gangster movie you've ever seen - through songs. The musical feeling really works, and original songs are absolutely great. Two days after I've watched the movie, 'Tomorrow', 'My Name is Tallulah' and 'Bugsy Malone' kept playing on my head. Definitely gonna buy the Soundtrack.

The acting in this movie is not marvelous, but with every member of the cast been under 16 you can't expect much. For kids, they did a nice job. I was amazed to see that most of the cast didn't do anything after this, which is a shame, 'cause they sure had talent. Scott Baio is nice as the lead, but when you watch the movie, your eyes can't help it and are going to focus on Jodie Foster. She was fine as Tallulah, and 1976 was a great year for her, also appearing on Scorsese's 'Taxy Driver. She is the only member of the cast that turned into a star.

The British-born Alan Parker writes and directs here and does a good job in both functions. It's amazing to think he did this in 1976. With almost the whole movie been shot in the set, he putted the camera at so- interesting that you don't realize it's not location. There is one scene at the end of the movie that really resembles the also Alan Parker's later 'Pink Floyd - The Wall'. Maybe he did it on purpose, who knows... The cinematography is quite weird, having that old-European movie feel to it. One thing that I particularly liked was the art-direction. The cars and guns were a nice catch.

Overral, Alan Parker written and directed this excellent idea, and he executed it very well. Of course 'Bugsy Malone' is no masterpiece, but it's really fun to watch. Hope they don't remake this - it would that take away all the magic.

7/10

I think this is an excellent movie...good clean fun and there isn't near enough of that on the screen these days! I love the music, (I have always liked Paul Williams' music) the dancing, the kids AND the pedal cars! All in all a great movie. Great costuming, too. It's hard to get pre-pubescent girls to look like vamps but those costumes did a lot in that direction.

The only part that I didn't like was the "Fat Sam" character whose "New Yawk" accent was just a little bit overdone. But I think they did a little play on that when Fat Sam said the word "personally" & Tallulah was making fun of his pronunciation!

It's a shame more of these kids didn't go on to become stars. Maybe their acting wasn't top notch but some of those faces were "wow"! Scott Biao & Jodie Foster are the only two who seem to have went anywhere with their talents.

Fair warning: The "Michael Jackson" in this movie is not the "Michael Jackson" formerly of "The Jackson Five" & known for his "Thriller" video & "other things". It's a totally different person.

"Bugsy Malone", an all-kids gangster musical set in the 1930s, is either adorable, infantile or extremely disturbing (depending on one's state of mind). The henchmen that make up speakeasy owner Fat Sam's army are being eliminated by his nemesis, suave Dandy Dan (who uses tommy guns that shoot whipped cream). Meanwhile, hero Bugsy, who promises to take gal Blousey Brown to Hollywood before getting robbed, scouts a boxer to help him seek revenge. Debut feature for writer-director Alan Parker isn't very polished or witty, and what there is of a plot goes absolutely nowhere. That said, this G-rated film looks and sounds terrific, with a handsome production design by Geoffrey Kirkland (who won the BAFTA) and a fine series of songs composed by Paul Williams. Jodie Foster pops up intermittently as chanteuse Tallulah, and gets her own song (dubbed, as are all the others, by adult singers); Florrie Dugger has a lovely deep voice and a likably sarcastic demeanor as the ingenue (though she's shaky to start); and Martin Lev is impressive as icy-cool Dandy Dan. Still, there's a great deal of uncertainty afoot: the title song, for instance, is played at the opening over clips of the movie that haven't happened yet--it's like a coming attraction. There's also an inherent flaw in the picture's conception: the whipped cream bullets are supposed to be lethal, but the pies have only a pixilated effect on the characters at the finale. "Bugsy Malone" is a novelty picture, one that initially only found an audience in the UK, where it was produced; however, it did receive one well-deserved Oscar nomination for Williams' original song score and has a handful of memorable moments. **1/2 from ****

I first saw this film in the late 70s when it was shown at my school as a Christmas treat (on a real projector and screen, no less); now, over thirty years later, I'm watching it again in the company of my son and daughter (aged 10 and 8), and I'm finding it no less entertaining than when I was a kid myself.

Starring Scott Baio in his greatest ever role (yes, he's even better here than he is in Zapped!), Jodie Foster looking unnervingly sexy for her age as vampish songstress Tallulah, and a very young Dexter Fletcher as Babyface (UK TV viewers my age will know who he is), and with superb direction by Alan Parker and brilliant music and songs by Paul Williams (the man behind the tunes for one of my other favourite musicals, Phantom of the Paradise), this is one of the most enjoyable films of the 70s, particularly when viewed as a youngster.

I mean, is there a kid alive who wouldn't want their own splurge gun, an over-sized pedal car, or to take part in a massive pie fight?

"Bugsy Malone" is not a very easy movie to get through. Are they supposed to be kids or are they supposed to be adults? They act like adults. Their dubbed in singing voices sound like adults. The dance hall girls are all dressed liked adults. I don't know, it's all kind of weird. It's certainly more weird than it is fun. The only thing "Bugsy Malone" has going for it are Paul Williams's songs but they are hit and miss (mostly miss). I've tried watching "Bugsy Malone" quite a few times over the years. I've only managed to make it to the end a handful of times. That says it all.

The first and only gangster movie to involve cream. Bugsy Malone (Baio) was a ladies man and a regular at the club "Fat Sam's" were the famous Tallulah (Foster) normally performs, Tallulah is going out with Fat Sam (Cassisi) the owner of the club, this is also the head quarters of his gang. Fat Sam's gang is under threat as another gang is trying to take other there territory, and doing this very successfully as they have "Splurge Guns". Whilst as Fat Sam's Bugsy meets Blousey (Dugger) and they start dating. One, by one all of fat Sam's gang is killed off and only he is left. Bugsy then promised Blousey he will buy them a ticket to Hollywood, so to get the money he begging to work for fat Sam and help him save his business but will he succeed and will him and Blousey ever make it to Hollywood? This is a very unique movie and they will never by one like it. It is unique in3 ways.1. It is a gangster movie which uses child actors, which brings a knew type of energy to the movie.2. It uses splurge guns instead of real guns which use dream instead of bullets and this makes the movie more suitable for younger children and 3. When the children are singing it's not actually them singing, which make the songs sound nicer but is also quite a comedic effect to see this big strong voices, coming out of such little kids .I also think it is interesting that some of the actors become very famous actors when they got older such a Scott Baio and Jodie Foster. I think this movie is great and there is just something about it is just great, and all the characters are so lovable. It's just a great family film for anyone and is suitable for all ages and everyone will enjoy it!

"Bugsy Malone" is still a flick that piques your interest, when or if you hear about it. I haven't heard it discussed all that often, but it is something different: a family-oriented musical gangster film.

The movie is also a homage to old gangster movies of the '30s. Characters dress, talk, and act like Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. At times, child-star Scott Baio, who plays the lead actor, looks a little like a young Bogart, and the actor who plays the crime boss in the movie looks like Robinson.

Of course, being a kids' movie, there is no real violence allowed in the flick, and certainly no death. What would gangster movies be without Tommy guns? "Bugsy Malone" finds a novel way of dealing with this problem: the kids have guns, but they fire what look like marshmallows. And cream pies are lobbed like molotov cocktails.

I didn't get a whole lot of story from "Bugsy Malone". The real crux of the plot seems to be the love story between Baio and a first-time, one-time actress named Florence Dugger. I really liked Dugger in her role, but there was apparently genuine animosity between her and Baio, which may explain the lack of chemistry.

Unsurprisingly it's Jodie Foster who's the stand-out. No doubt she should have been in the Dugger role. She also seems to be the only actor in the movie who went on to much of a career afterward. Baio was a child star, of course, but his star certainly dimmed in the '80s, and now he is mostly known for his conservative political beliefs, and willingness to share them on YouTube.

The song and dance numbers in the movie are pretty underwhelming, and we maybe could have done without those.

I liked "Bugsy Malone". There's some real energy to it that kept me interested.

Maybe if I had seen this movie at the age of 12, I would understand its charm; at 70 I do not. Dressing up a cast of prepubescent children as gangsters and gun molls raises only one question: Why? Neither the score, written by the legendary Paul Williams, nor the dialogue seems sufficiently satirical to generate much laughter. Watching the children perform is like watching a lengthened "Little Rascals" comedy in color and with a bigger budget. The movie seems like a one-trick pony that tires quickly, and there is something eerie about the whole show, especially Jodie Foster's turn as the seductress Tallulah.