The Film:
Musicals have long been a very popular genre, although not quite as much in the last thirty years as pre-1970 where you couldn't turn around without bumping into one. Whilst there have been many musicals aimed at family viewing like The Sound Of Music, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I can't think of any that hasn't got a single adult in the cast apart from Bugsy Malone, where no-one is over the age of sixteen. The last few months have seen a surge of popularity in musicals for some reason with Disney's High School Musical dominating DVD sales charts around the globe and Dreamgirls coming out in cinemas to critical appraise. With this, Optimum have probably picked a ripe time to release this classic in the UK, and probably hope the parents of children who have become massive fans of High School Musical, would like to revisit one of their own childhood favourites.
Bugsy Malone stars TV favourite Scott Baio (Zapped!) as the title character who finds himself enlisted into Fat Sam's (John Cassisi - Fish) rutless mob gang as they do battle for territory with rival mobster Dandy Dan (Martin Lev - Into Infinity). Unfortunately for Fat Sam, Dandy Dan has got his hands on new weapon technology, a splat gun, leaving Fat Sam to battle with the old technology of cream pies. As Fat Sams gang are taken out slowly, Bugsy Malone must recruit some homeless bums and an ex-boxer to steal the weapon and save the territory. Also chucked into the story is a love interest for Bugsy Malone in the shape of Blousey Brown (Florrie Dugger) and a vampish singer named Tallulah (Jodie Foster - Flightplan, Panic Room).
Bugsy Malone is a well loved film for a reason. Where else will you find an entire family glued to the screen as they watch kids playing adult mobsters having gun fights consisting of splat guns that fire a substance that looks like mash tatties? Where else will you find these mobsters going up and down the road in pedal cars? OK, so the production values aren't exactly great, but the film is fun and for what it aims for it hits the target bang on. A fantastic musical score by Paul Williams (The Rules Of Attraction) and a great little story that is a little thin at times by Alan Parker (who also directs), Bugsy Malone is a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family on a Sunday afternoon. The kids being dubbed by adults for the songs is a little annoying though.
The DVD:
Video:
Optimum have provided the film anamorphically at 1.78:1 and it unfortunately has a few problems. It suffers from a bit of edge enhancement throughout and also has poor contrast. Colours aren't quite as 'dark' as they perhaps should be and there is noticeable artefacting throughout. Despite these problems though, the print is still better than VHS, but could definately be improved upon.
Audio:
Optimum have given us the option of two tracks for this 30th anniverary release. You can either listen to the original Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual Mono track or an upmixed 5.1 track, both of which are in the film's original English language. Like the picture, the tracks both hit and miss at the same time. The original mono track is fine and an excellent inclusion for the audio purists, but the upmixed 5.1 track is nothing to jump about. Whilst OK, it sounds rather canned and could have made better use of the surrounds and LFE. English subtitles have been included for the main feature and sing-a-long options only.
Extras:
We start off the extras with an audio commentary from writer and director Alan Parker. It's pretty standard fare for a solo director's commentary that starts off really well with plenty of various information about the kids involved, the sets and some technical details. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, he struggles to say anything new and struggles to keep you interested. If I wasn't reviewing the disc, I'd have knocked it off after half an hour.
Next up, we have a host of Sing-A-Long options:
- "Play film with sing-a-long"
- "Play All"
- "Bugsy Malone" (1:30)
- "Fat Sam's Grand Slam" (2:17)
- "Tomorrow" (3:49)
- "Bad Guys" (2:16)
- "I'm Feeling Fine" (1:13)
- "My Name Is Tallulah" (3:19)
- "So You Wanna Be A Boxer" (2:21)
- "Ordinary Fool" (2:57)
- "Down And Out" (3:10)
- "You Give A Little Love" (5:25)
If you've ever seen one of those Disney Sing-Along Song videos, you'll know exactly what to expect here as the words change colour as they are sang. A novelty extra that is very much welcome. Stand out songs are Fat Sam's Grand Slam and Bad Guys.
We follow this with some promotional videos:
Promotional Videos:
- Teaser Trailer (1:50)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:51)
- Promo Reel (6:46)
A little different to your regular trailers as they are introduced by the kids. I was hoping the promo reel would be a behind the scenes featurette of sorts but unfortunately it's sort of an extended trailer.
We follow these with some character profiles which is simply a few text notes about the main characters:
- "Angelo" (1page)
- "Blousey" (2pages)
- "Bronx Charlie" (1page)
- "Bugsy Malone" (2pages)
- "Captain Smolsky" (1page)
- "Dandy Dan" (1page)
- "Doodle" (1page)
- "Fat Sam" (1page)
- "Fizzy" (1page)
- "Knuckles" (1page)
- "Leroy" (1page)
- "Louis" (1page)
- "O'Dreary" (1page)
- "Ritzy" (1page)
- "Snake Eyes" (1page)
- "Tallulah" (1page)
Then we have a couple of galleries:
- Photo Gallery (1:56)
- Art Gallery (1:01)
The photo gallery is full of some very nice cast photos and the art gallery contains some drawings, also worth a look.
Next are 3 different From Sketch To Screen featurettes all runnng three minutes 57. The first has Parker's original sketches, then the same scene with storyboards and finally the finished product with both the other two also shown in the picture.
We finish off with eight pages of Trivia Notes.
