Ep 24: Bugsy Malone

This week CFX examines one of the strangest children’s films of all time, renowned filmmaker Alan Parker’s debut, Bugsy Malone. Does this eccentric and artful alternate universe gangster film, with its whip cream-powered “splurge” guns, sarsaparilla-serving speakeasies and Flintstone-like pedal cars, stand the test of time? We attempt to find out and along the way, we learn…

• How the actor who played an arch criminal in the film grew up to become one in real life (well, sort of…)
• Why the singing voices of the child actors sound strangely mature
• What universally acclaimed classic gangster film was improbably influenced by this film
• Who Paul Williams is and why he is and will always be a diminutive ‘70s music god
• How the art direction of this film remains one of the best of all time
• Why Jodie Foster’s performance was preternaturally mature and maybe a bit sad

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