| Bugsy Malone | Errors |
Plot[]
A gangster movie where all the gangsters are children. Instead of real bullets they use "splurge guns" that cover the victim in cream. The story tells of the rise of "Bugsy Malone" and the battle for power between "Fat Sam" and "Dandy Dan".
Synopsis[]
Trivia[]
- When looking for Fat Sam, director Alan Parker went to a Brooklyn classroom and asked who was the naughtiest boy in class; all the class replied John Cassisi, who subsequently got the part.
- Over a thousand cream pies were thrown during the making of the movie.
- Director Alan Parker once said of the production of this movie: "If I'd have gone sick on Bugsy Malone (1976) I swear she [Jodie Foster] could have taken over".
- The pedal-driven cars could achieve a maximum speed of around ten miles (16 kilometers) per hour. They were all custom-built by hand and each cost around the same amount of money as a regular road-going Mini at the time.
- The average age of all the child actors and actresses in the movie was twelve.
- Jodie Foster has admitted in interviews that she found many of the British cast terrifying because of the antics they would get up to.
- The 1929 New York street complex was the movie's main and largest set. It was built on the largest sound stage at Pinewood Studios at the time - B Stage - on one meter rostrums. The massive set utilized over eighty tons of concrete which had to be poured into its foundation. Real steam was piped through its base so as to gush out of the street set's manholes. The street complex had to be a constructed set rather than a real life location as the child actors were not allowed to work at night due to regulations. As such, the set could be lit for night during daytime filming.
- Alan Parker has admitted to having an ambivalent attitude to the film and for years did not include it in any biography/filmography of his work. However, over the years his attitude changed and he now admits to being very proud of it.
- Up to six teachers were on hand during production in a special full-time school adapted to space at Pinewood Studios. The improvised educational facility had to handle various teaching grades and levels from students within a five year age span and also from two different countries. Head teacher Lyn Simonon later wrote a paper about the temp film set school.
- Reportedly, actor Scott Baio was cast even after he had slammed down the script and stormed out of his audition.
- All singing was dubbed by adult vocalists, with the exception of Bonnie Langford.
- The splurge guns did not actually fire the "splurge". Director Alan Parker first tried wax balls filled with cream but these hurt when fired, so in the end the splurge guns actually fired ping pong balls, which the actors fired at nothing and what we see on-screen is clever editing between this and shots of actors being hit by handfuls of cream thrown at them by others.
- Director Alan Parker mentions that the actress originally selected to play Blousey instead played Dandy Dan's equestrian partner who is not listed in the cast credits.
- The casting call for this picture took a whole year to complete.
- Paul Williams wrote all the music for this film, and sang many of Bugsy's lines for Scott Baio.
- The film used 1,000 gallons of synthetic cream for the splurge guns. The original plan was to use shaving cream, but it was a ballistic failure and it hurt the actors' eyes.
- The official paperwork to allow children to work in the movie was mountainous. Every child actor had to have an individual medical exam and work permit. More than 33 English councils were involved, as well as bureaucracy in New York and Los Angeles.
- Alan Parker said he first came up with the idea for the story while driving from London to his house in Derbyshire - to keep his kids occupied, he told them this story, then his son Alexander, asked why kids couldn't be the heroes.
- The film performed well in England and Japan, but Paramount gave it a limited release in US theaters, usually dumping it onto second-feature screens with the re-release of The Bad News Bears (1976).
- Florence Garland had a frosty relationship off- screen with Scott Baio and admitted years later that she couldn't stand him. The lack of any on -screen chemistry between the actors is noticeable in their scenes together.
- Jodie Foster was left in tears when she saw what the crew did to her hair and eyebrows to make her look like Tallulah. She said the crew lied to her about just giving her a rinse and ended up bleaching her hair with peroxide. It was also her first time ever having her eyebrows plucked.
- Publicity for this picture reported that 13-year-old Jodie Foster had already appeared in ten motion pictures and one television series, Paper Moon (1974).
- The Chinese laundry scene was shot in an old public bath building in the East End.
- First of two films that British producer David Puttnam made with then young American actors Scott Baio and actress Jodie Foster. The second would be Foxes (1980) around four years later.
- All of the cast were 16 or under at the time of filming.
- The film was voted to the No. #19 rank by viewers for UK Channel 4's "100 Greatest Muscials" list in 2003.
- There was a rivalry between the UK and US kids that included the UK dance girls blocking the halls in Pinewood Studios to the US actors/dancers. If they didn't give the "password", they would spray them with a fire extinguisher.
- The pedal cars would only work with one person onboard driving, but not with any passengers. If you look carefully, in some scenes, you can see the feet of several propsmen at the back of the cars, pushing them.
- A Chief Local Welfare Officer visited the set every other day to check and inspect that correct procedures were being adhered to and later wrote a paper on the experience.
- Alan Parker mentioned that the Splurge Inc. warehouse on dock 17 was a "disused" Huntley & Palmer biscuit factory in Reading.
- In addition to the script, Alan Parker also wrote several songs for the movie. When he performed some of them for producer's David Puttnam and Alan Marshall (in Parker's kitchen) Puttnam responded by saying: "I think we'd better get a professional composer (!)" Hit songwriter Paul Williams was subsequently hired.
- In the nearly 40 years since it was made, Alan Parker has very rarely given permission for professional stage productions of Bugsy Malone and never liked any of those productions that he did permit. However, in 2015 he granted permission to the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London, to stage it and, impressed by the creative teams plans for the show, also attended some rehearsals . The production, which opened in April 2015, was a smash hit success, getting 5-star critical reviews, sold out performances and even extending its initial run due to its popularity. Parker said he loved the production and that in places, it was even better than the film.
- Florence Garland was at first only given a minor part - until the original actress meant to play Blousey underwent a growth spurt and became taller than Bugsy (Scott Baio), and Dugger was given the role of Blousey.
- Following two months of reheasals, shooting began in July 1975 at Pinewood Studios and wrapped twelve weeks later in early October.
- The movie is ranked at the No. #353 rank on Empire Magazine's "500 Greatest Movies of All Time" list compiled in 2008.
- The development of the splurge guns took three months work by special effects boffins at Pinewood Studios. A gunsmith was consulted by fxpert Malcolm King to resolve the very complex ballistic problem of being able to shoot a capsulated custard pie without it first splurging the firer-splurger.
- Although Scott Baio was born in Brooklyn, director Alan Parker notes that he found Scott in a Los Angeles audition. Parker added that he conducted auditions for Bugsy Malone (1976) for more than a year all over Britain, including RAF Lakenheath air-base in Suffolk, England, as well as conducting auditions in Harlem in Brooklyn and Los Angeles in California auditioning altogether over 10,000 youth.
- Was filmed during the summer of 1975.
- According to Eddie Muller on TCM. The child actors never actually sing, they only lip sync the songs during filming. All singing is done by adults, mostly by Paul Williams himself. Muller also reported that Alan Parker later regretted not letting the cast sing, but it was done for expediency as the production was pressed for time.
- Despite various and numerous attempts, the props and effects departments could not get the Splurge guns to fire the cream mixture safely. They tried wrapping it in wax balls and tested it out on production manager Garth Thomas ,who was well over six feet tall and weighed about 20 stone. Alan Parker fired the gun at Thomas and it hit him in the forehead knocking him off his feet and leaving a huge red mark on his skin, due to its velocity. In the end, the guns just fired ping pong balls and with careful editing the shot would cut to the target who would then have the cream thrown at them by Parker and other crew members.
- Debut theatrical feature film of actor Dexter Fletcher.
- The movie's young cast was cast with predominantly unknown actors and actresses. Some had a television credit or a bit of TV experience.
- Jonathan Scott-Taylor who played "news reporter/Dandy Dan's butler, and English boy on telephone" would later star as the teenage Anti-Christ Damian Thorn in the film Damian: The Omen II.
- Debut theatrical feature film directed by Alan Parker.
- Mark Curry was considered for the title role.
- Some of the extras were students at two local schools: Evreham County Secondary School and Iver Heath Middle School. Alan Parker visited Evreham to select extras, and returned to show the film in full to the school. The extras included twins Julie and Gillian Privett, Trevor Edwards, Ross Shepherd, Karen Rollins, Antony Parris and Alan Cole. The girls were mostly dancers, and Cole appears out of a manhole cover in one scene and sitting at a table in Fat Sam's in another.
- All of the girls in the production had a crush on Scott Baio, but Scott and Jodie Foster admit to actually kissing after hours.
- Andrew Paul who played Officer O'Dreary, is better known in Britain for playing another police officer, Dave Quinnan, from 1987-2002 in 693 episodes of long-running police drama The Bill (ITV 1984-2010).
- A TV series was announced in 1976 , which would have been filmed in Dublin, but it never came to fruition.
- Some filming took place in Reading, Berkshire in the Palmers' biscuit factory. It was demolished in the early 2000s and replaced with a large insurance company.
- Some of the extras also came from a local school in Britwell Slough, Warrenfield Comprehensive, auditions were taken on the sports field.
- The scene of the Bijou Theatre tryouts was shot at the Richmond Theatre.
- This and Tom Sawyer are Jodie Foster's only musicals. She does not sing in Tom Sawyer; she does in this.
- John Cassisi, who played Fat Sam, not only bullied his henchmen on screen, he was known to playfully mistreat them off screen too. Sheridan Russell, who played his main henchman Knuckles, said John would call him over between scenes and use him as a punching bag, then laugh about it.
- The movie featured a character called "Fat Sam" as did the same 1976 year's The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976).
- Scott Baio was only 5"2 during the summer of 1975 whilst filming.