Review of Bugsy Malone (1976) by Rodger B — 04 Jul 2018

Bugsy Malone is an interesting bit of kitsch. When we watch movies, some of us like me, see actors paid huge salaries because they can "act" like kids. Kids love play acting or at least they used to when I was of that age.

We played but took on the personas of our favorite actors: John Wayne, Johnny Weissmuller, Hopalong Cassidy, etc. Even at sports, it wasn't me stepping up to bat, I would announce I was Mickey Mantle.

We were kids pretending to be our heroes. Age tends to dull the ability to play, besides it's embarrassing. That's why we have professional actors who can still access the inner child enough to play a part.

Bugsy Malone sort of taps into that childhood world of pretend and it's amusing to watch kids act out the parts of gangsters. It's not Edward G spitting out orders to wipe out his rivals, it's another kid, Martin lev.

The sexy chanteuse isn't Carole Lombard, it's Jodie Foster and she looks the thirteen she was. All the kids actually look like kids, talk like kids, and act like kids even when they are mowing down rival gangs with guns shooting cream puffs.

When I compare Maisie Williams' (Arya Stark) acting in Game of Thrones, you can't compare as even in her earliest scenes in GOT, she's acting like an adult. Her childhood is gone. I can't even imagine an audience for this film outside of middle school students who are watching it as they prepare for an abbreviated middle school production.

Bugsy is an enchanting artifact of sorts but that is charm.