Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Bugsy Malone

Play trailer Poster for Bugsy Malone G Released Sep 15, 1976 1h 33m Musical Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
79% Tomatometer 29 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Fat Sam (John Cassisi), Bugsy (Scott Baio) and Tallulah (Jodie Foster) are kids playing adults in Roaring '20s New York.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Delightfully bizarre, Bugsy Malone harnesses immense charm from its cast of child actors playing wise guys with precocious pluck.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (29) Critics Reviews
Pauline Kael New Yorker Bugsy Malone is nothing but its godawful idea. Dec 2, 2023 Full Review Mark Monahan Daily Telegraph (UK) Parker's script is as sharp as a wiseguy's suit, his attention to period and genre detail a constant joy, and he coaxes scarily poised performances from his young performers. Apr 18, 2014 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian It's boisterous and good-natured, with catchy songs, and always sublimely unaware of its own strangeness. Rated: 3/5 Dec 30, 2006 Full Review Eddie Harrison film-authority.com …was and is an innocent film, made by kids for kids, and with adult concerns only getting in the way…there’s an appropriately child-like glee in Bugsy Malone’s best songs, which all sound great today, and the staging is agreeably quaint... Rated: 3/5 Mar 5, 2024 Full Review Michael Barrett PopMatters Williams writes good songs and the whole production has a good-natured, uncynical vibe. Rated: 7/10 Oct 22, 2021 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Alan Parker directed a handful of exemplary musicals over the course of his career, but this isn't one of them. Rated: 2/4 Sep 3, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (926) audience reviews
Harrison R What an incredible film. So weird. So good aside from its absurd premise. Reminded me of something Adult Swim would air right now, but made on film with total deadpan sincerity (and pre-Airplane!). Highly recommended. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/01/24 Full Review J O Read some of the more "modern" reviews, people cannot see the innocence of kids just being kids anymore….. First watched in the 80's, still hilarious, this world is going down the pan and the recent reviews show why.. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/07/24 Full Review Nannie 4 This was the first movie I ever saw at the movie theater in 1976. It was a birthday party and we went to a movie theater as a group of kids. I loved the movie and I loved the songs. It was such a great movie and I was only 11 years old. I hadn't turned 12 yet. I will never forget the moment I got to go to a movie theater for the first time or seeing Bugsy Malone at the movie theater. Years later I got the soundtrack on EBAY, since it was a rare soundtrack. I had to get it from England. I still have the CD. I was so happy to get the movie on DVD years later. One of the best memories of my childhood. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/26/23 Full Review Cezary P An innovative perspective on a gangster film. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/05/23 Full Review Luca B Two rival gangsters battle for turf and a new, strategically important armament during the Prohibition Era -- a cliché if the entire cast were not children. It's a great idea: children playing the parts of hard-hearted gangsters implies that many of plots of the classic gangster films depend upon adults' childish behaviour and the film deals with gangster violence creatively: director Alan Parker could not have some kids stabbing and shooting each other so, he had tommy guns fire cream pies however it's too boring to sit that long on one joke. Genius and fun. The problem, however, is that the plot falls apart in the second act. Fat Sam is losing his turf war, and he ends up recruiting the lower classes to stockpile his army, but these characters come out of nowhere. By the end of the film, it had broken all its own rules, and I could not help but feel quite disappointed. Overall, it is a great idea, but a great idea can only carry a film so far. The Music was Cheesy and, in some times, useful for the plot. Out of the cast Jodie Foster was the standout as she played the character quite well and the morale of the story of taking control of your own destiny was quite cliché Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/03/23 Full Review Taylor L Yup, that's a 13-year old Jodie Foster playing a jaded Depression-era showgirl. If there was a road to get this child into a weirdly sexualized role that would never get cast the same way in a later era, a producer in the '70s would find it. Bugsy Malone is tough to rate, because there really isn't a lot to compare it to. It's a musical spoof of gangster flicks, where the entire cast is child actors and the worldbuilding features details like Tommy guns that shoot cream pies and cars that are pedaled like bikes. Just by the nature of the film - child actors in a goofy world - how can you level major criticism at a project like this? It's very cute but the whole thing is built on the same recurring joke told in different ways, kids talking in old-school noir accents and making wise cracks. It's never a boring film, partly because it's relatively short, but the child actors are unsurprisingly a bit limited (except for Foster and John Cassisi) and the plot really wanders around to cram in a few additional songs. The music is an unusual choice, recording adult singers and having the kids lip-sync to their performances, but they're plenty catchy, if simple. It reaches high and virtually nothing like it exists elsewhere, but I don't know if this film was really the right fit to screen at Cannes (and it was screened there). (2.5/5) Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Bugsy Malone

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - You Give a Little Love Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - You Give a Little Love 2:03 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Dandy Dan's Double-Cross Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Dandy Dan's Double-Cross 2:13 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - My Name Is Tallulah Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - My Name Is Tallulah 2:12 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Down and Out Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Down and Out 2:13 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Bad Guys Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Bad Guys 2:13 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Tomorrow Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Tomorrow 2:11 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - So You Wanna Be a Boxer? Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - So You Wanna Be a Boxer? 2:11 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - What's So Funny? Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - What's So Funny? 1:06 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Splurge Shootout Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Splurge Shootout 1:52 Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Fat Sam's Grand Slam Bugsy Malone: Official Clip - Fat Sam's Grand Slam 2:08 View more videos
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 100% 75% On a Clear Day You Can See Forever Watchlist Fancy Pants 86% 72% Fancy Pants Watchlist The Boy Friend 88% 69% The Boy Friend Watchlist Thoroughly Modern Millie 85% 81% Thoroughly Modern Millie Watchlist TRAILER for Thoroughly Modern Millie Head 71% 71% Head Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Fat Sam (John Cassisi), Bugsy (Scott Baio) and Tallulah (Jodie Foster) are kids playing adults in Roaring '20s New York.
Director
Alan Parker
Producer
Alan Marshall
Screenwriter
Alan Parker
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
Paramount Pictures, Goodtimes Enterprises, The Rank Organisation
Rating
G
Genre
Musical, Comedy
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 15, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 6, 2018
Runtime
1h 33m
Most Popular at Home Now