Fat Sam's 'spats' and the Splurge Gun (Bugsy Malone (DVD))

Member Name: merv

Product:	Bugsy Malone (DVD)
Date:	02/12/02 (3472 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Fun, Excellent Sound Track, Hillarious

Disadvantages: Difficult to find

My wife and daughter are currently heavily involved in the school’s production of the stage version of ‘Bugsy Malone’, leaving me the opportunity to watch the latest instalment of the Champion’s League without fear of interruption from Eastenders or Popstars the Rivals.

Actually I’m really looking forward to the production as I remember it was one of the first films we saw together way back in 1976 shortly after it was released and we really enjoyed it. The school has strength in depth in music and drama and over the last few years has put on some wonderfully professional productions in our local theatre, including many of the old favourites – Grease, Oliver, Little Shop of Horrors, Romeo and Juliet (the Abba version!) and an absolutely incredible performance of Sugar (the stage version of Some Like It Hot). From what I’ve seen of the rehearsals so far, this will be there with the best of them.

We watched the DVD the other night as my wife is in charge of the costumes and wanted to check out Fat Sam’s ‘spats’ and my daughter plays the part of the radio announcer and thought it would help her refine her New York accent.

The DVD was incredibly difficult to get hold of as it seems to have been withdrawn from the main DVD sites (Blackstar, Choices, etc.) and no longer sold at the local suppliers. I put in a bid for one at E-bay, and it eventually went for just short of £50! – way out of my price range, but as luck would have it I picked it up a couple of weeks ago in the sale bin of my local Woolworths for £9.99 just as I’d given up hope. Well worth the price it is too, excellent entertainment.

For those of you who have not seen the film it is a wonderfully hilarious, spoof gangster musical about ‘prohibition era’ New York in 1929, with a cast entirely made up of children. It is set in a world of would-be hoodlums, showgirls, dreamers, speakeasi
es and a dreaded new weapon, ‘The Splurge Gun!’

Gang warfare breaks out all over the city as Fat Sam the diminutive Capone clone played by John Cassisi, battles for control of the Big Apple against his archrival Dandy Dan who has the edge because of his deadly employment of the Splurge Gun. The opening act sets the scene - a dark, rainy night in down town NY. Roxy Robinson rushes across the wet side-walk and takes refuge in a deserted alleyway. Suddenly, he realises his four pursuers have trapped him in a blind alley. What's more, the hoods are carrying the dreaded new weapon. In seconds, Roxy is splurged - the start of all the mayhem to follow.

Double-crossing and custard pie fights are rife when our heroine Blousey Brown, played by the pretty Florrie Duggar, falls into bad company with gangsters Fat Sam and his jealous girlfriend, the sharp-tongued sultry night club singer Tallulah, played by a young and obviously talented, Jodie Foster. Blousy has come to the big city to find fame and fortune on her way to Hollywood and is eventually rescued by our hero Bugsy Malone (played by Scott Baio of ‘Happy Days’) who is dispatched by Fat Sam to steal the Splurge Gun.

The best way to describe the action is non stop slapstick fun for children of all ages, very well produced and directed by Alan Parker, lightly mocking the childlike, selfish traits of grown-ups, full of clichés from films about organized crime, with frequent breaks for either a song or a huge custard pie fight as the gang war escalates. Its pokes fun at all the thirty’s gangster films using scaled down sets, with the hoods arriving on the scene in pedal driven imitations of the sort of the cars used by in films like the ‘Untouchables’.

The movie is choc a bloc with some excellent songs and rollocking catchy tunes from the wonderful Paul Williams, including ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Bad Guys’, ‘Fat Sam̵
7;s Grand Slam’, ‘My Name is Talullah’, ‘You Give a Little Love’ and of course the title track ‘Bugsy Malone’.
The acting, lip-synched singing (all dubbed by adult vocalists) and dancing is very enjoyable It's a great family movie giving children the opportunity of watching a production where a fight involves food, not fists, with guns shooting whipped cream rather than bullets and not a drop of blood in sight.

The DVD is relatively short and has few extras - interactive menus and a scene index, but it’s a great movie to watch with family and the kids will love it – if you can find it that is. Check out Woolworths’ sale bin! At £50 on e-bay it sound like agood investment.

Summary: