Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

Focus on 1976
Jodie Foster Retrospective

The classic story of Bugsy Malone that kick-started the career of Alan Parker and confirmed the star-power of Jodie Foster.

It's unique as a gangster movie in which all the gangsters are played by children. Instead of real guns, they use "splurge guns" that cover the victim in whipped cream. The story tells of the rise of Bugsy Malone and the battle for power between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan.

Fat Sam (John Cassisi), Bugsy (Scott Baio) and Tallulah (Jodie Foster) are kids playing adults in Roaring '20s New York. With superb direction by Alan Parker and brilliant music and songs by Paul Williams this is one of the most enjoyable films of the 70s, particularly when viewed as a youngster.

"It's boisterous and good-natured, with catchy songs, and always sublimely unaware of its own strangeness." Peter Bradshaw, Guardian