Review of Bugsy Malone (1976) by Five S — 31 Mar 2010
An odd film. The child actors are there, as best I can tell, for novelty. The characters are very clearly adults. They act like adults, talk like adults (albeit without any curse words) and even - and I shudder at the though of it - seduce like adults.
It's most jarring when it hits the musical numbers. The adult voices kick in, without any effort to disguise them. Nowadays, the kids would sing. But I guess in a time before autotune it would have added a considerable amount of time in the studio.
Had the film been set at Christmastime, it would no doubt be a classic like A Christmas Story, instead it has mostly disappeared. And were it not for early appearances by Jodi Foster and Scott Baio, it likely would be forgotten altogether.
This review of Bugsy Malone (1976) was written by Five S on 31 Mar 2010.
Bugsy Malone has generally received positive reviews.
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