Bugsy Malone
Director: Alan Parker
Year Released: 1976
Rating: 2.0
Excellent idea, Mr. Parker: take a routine gangster story, turn it into a musical, and populate it with teens and pre-teens who can struggle with the period dialogue! Of course, you can't allow the kids to sing the songs themselves, so their voices are (blatantly) dubbed by adults, and don't pay too much thought to the problematic undercurrent in that dance scene with a very young Jodie Foster (backed by a teens in one-pieces) singing something like "You may forgive my going but you won't forget me" to other kids. It's not a classic, it's a novelty, and like all novelties, the initial appeal wears thin quickly. If this is the kind of elementary/secondary school play stuff I have to look forward to if/when I sire children myself, I guarantee I'll be showing up as any responsible adult should: completely intoxicated.
