Ushering in UK televisual and advertising practitioner Alan Parker ’s foray into the form of feature film, BUGSY MALONE is one of a kind, a comical pastiche amalgamating American Prohibition era gangster turf war with vintage musical numbers, and idiosyncratically, all the players on screen are prepubescent teens, an ingenious wrinkle hasn’t been imitated ever since (directing children is never a cakewalk, kudos to Parker for the resolution).

NYC speakeasy boss Fat Sam (Cassisi, a would-be luvvie in the making has he not retired from acting in 1982), is bedeviled by the surging attack of “splurge guns”, a new weapon devised by his nemesis Dandy Dan (Lev) to eliminate his cohorts and take over his business. He turns to our hero, the street-smart boxer scout Bugsy Malone (Baio) for help, who is struck by coup de foudre with a budding singer Blousey Brown (Dugger) in the speakeasy, who is aspiring for a Hollywood career.

Although the story-line digresses and slacks off erratically, BUGSY MALONE’s main allure comes from the novel discrepancy and amusement spawned by putting grown-up material into the mouth of a bevy of underage amateurs (save Jodie Foster’s minxy moll), and by whom Paul Williams’ retro adult-voiced strains are lip-synced, the titular theme song is a standout, and a barnstorming Foster steals the limelight as easy as falling off a log in her number “MY NAME IS TALLULAH”.

As a family-friendly novelty, machine guns are substituted with toy guns, blood with cream, automobile with pedal vehicles, and everything leads to a havoc-wreaking custard pie throwing climax to top off house-playing hilarity. No denying it is lots of fun to watch such a finely manufactured gallimaufry, yet the movie only intrigues us but never evolves into compelling, partially thanks to a disgruntled Florrie Dugger (who wisely stays away from acting afterwards) hasn’t got a scintilla of chemistry with a more proactive Baio, only prompts any spectator to wonder why doesn’t Parker cast Foster in the leading role instead, who struts and slinks way heads and shoulders above everyone else with a palatable air of insouciance and va-va-voom, such a pity.

referential entries: Parker’s SHOOT THE MOON (1982, 5.4/10), MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978, 7.9/10)

★★★☆（四星為滿分） 首先，電影的概念聽起來就令人擔憂：一部演員全是小孩的黑幫片。尤其當我們了解到：《龍蛇小霸王》（注：《巴格斯·馬龍》）與其說是兒童電影，不如說它歡快地評論了經(jīng)典好萊塢犯罪電影中孩子般的價值觀和行為。 但看了電影后我們松了口氣，《龍蛇小霸王》不像其他任何電影。它是原創(chuàng)且迷人的，還有朱迪·福斯特的特別表演。她飾演一位堅強的夜店歌手，即興表演了保羅·威廉姆斯的感傷情歌，近似于《吉爾達》中麗塔·海華斯的風格。她從舞臺緩慢地走到觀眾席，對土豪們拋媚眼，總之，她自信得令人驚訝。她在電影中的表演似乎恰到好處；《龍蛇小霸王》幾乎完全取決于語氣，如果你把小孩放在這種情景中，哪怕執(zhí)導時有一絲偏差，這部電影都會冒犯到觀眾。但它沒有，而且福斯特的表演尤為正確。 它講述了一個我們幾乎耳熟能詳?shù)暮趲凸适拢P于一個想要接管這片地盤的強硬的新幫派。Da Boss雇傭槍手來保護他的地盤。巴格斯·馬龍是他不可或缺的人，但他可能也幫不上什么忙，因為另一個幫派有可怕的新武器。在阿爾·卡彭（注：20世紀20~30年代最有影響力的黑手黨領導人）的時代，是機槍。而在這部電影里，是棉花糖槍。像蛋奶派這樣的老式武器在單挑時已經(jīng)不管用了。 電影進行到一半時，我開始好奇怎么會有人想到要拍這樣一部電影。編劇兼導演艾倫·帕克說他的靈感來源于《教父》。我不知道，我認為這部電影對小孩的見解要多于對黑幫的。 小孩玩耍的場景是真實的。這是我們長大后所丟失的一樣東西：把后院當成是OK Corral（注：美國西部經(jīng)典槍戰(zhàn)發(fā)生地）的能力。電影里的小孩并沒有表現(xiàn)得好像這是一場滑稽且虛假的表演。對于他們來說，這是真實的。這部電影以一種奇怪的方式達到了黑幫片的效果，我們記得鮑嘉和卡格尼的經(jīng)典作品也有孩子般的純真。那時的世界比較簡單。而如今這個世界如此復雜，也許只有小孩才能理解鮑嘉的角色。

歡迎關注我的公眾號：電影的審慎魅力