CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

knightkp I used to brows the T.V. Guide ( that was a weekly magazine that had the television listings so you could plan your viewing before the days of on screen guide) as a kid in anticipation to see when this movie would be on TV. It is a fun yet campy kids gangster flick. Yes, some of the acting is a bit off key, but the smiles of the kids when they miss time thier lines is genuine. The soft violence was a great way to imply violence without really being to much for kids. Some have complained about the acting but it is far better than anything Vin Deasle, Ben Affleck or Ice T have attempted. It is a shame it is not broadcast more often, for,that matter, at all.

taylor_ga An absolute timeless classic.... never gets boring and now loved by my own children too

Sam Panico 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.

ryansassy1 Bugsy Malone is that peg which doesn't fit neatly into any hole that you might want to force it into: is it a mobster film? A satire of mobster films? a family-friendly movie with an all-kid cast? Yes, yes, and yes...but still different from anything done before, or since. I have loved Bugsy Malone since I first saw it air on TV in the '80s, and it has held up astonishingly well as the wonderful and bizarre story that I remember.What Bugsy Malone establishes from the opening scene is that this is going to be a story told in old-Hollywood style, about gangsters circa '30s Chicago: except for the fact that every character is played by a child, average age 12 I believe. Other notable changes are the lack of realistic guns, and the "cars" which are pedaled by the drivers. Substituting for the usual violence and gore of gang wars are mobsters throwing cream pies and shooting each other with the newfangled "Splurge guns" which use a gooey marshmallow substance as ammo.Bugsy Malone also has great costumes and sets to recreate the Prohibition Era to scale for the smaller cast. The most memorable part of this movie for me, however, was in the musical numbers that pop in and out seamlessly between the quick lines and quips of the characters -- yes, a perfect tribute to the Golden Age of film when song and dance was the norm. The tunes are catchy and have a way of sticking in the head for days, particularly the closing number (which was recently used in a Coke commerical btw).The kid cast delivers weirdly convincing performances;I had no trouble suspending disbelief, to the point where I got quickly drawn into their charming alternate world. They are also clearly having fun, and it's hard to resist having fun along with them. Especially standout are Bugsy Malone, played by a dewy-cheeked Scott Baio, and snarky dance-hall girl Tallulah, played by Jodie Foster. Special mention goes to Florrie Dugger, the actress portraying Malone's love interest, Blousy Brown, but who inexplicably has nothing else on her IMDb page; I think she really could have had a career in film. The summary message of the movie is driven home at the very end by a grand, silly, fun scene which I won't spoil for you, but the words of that song say it all: We could have been anything we wanted to be, and it's not too late to change. It really left me wondering if Bugsy Malone had been a sendup, a strangely subtle statement against violence (being a literally childish thing), or a lovingly crafted shout out to director Alan Parker's favorite genre of film. All three perhaps? All I can say for certain is that it works, beautifully.