If you have not seen Alan Parker’s 1976 film Bugsy Malone, I command you to netflix that sucker NOW. It combines the gangsters and showgirls of the late 1920′s with amazing 70′s-style musical numbers, with cast of all kids. It’s like Xanadu meets Goodfellas…meets Sesame Street. Oh yeah, and it stars Jodie Foster and Scott Baio!
I’ll let Jodie give you the details:
I know that I am not alone with my Bugsy Malone obsession, because the amazing soundtrack has been surfacing like crazy in commercials and pop music. Lily Allen and rapper Dizzee Rascal remade “So You Wanna Be a Boxer” into the very less-awesome “So you Wanna Be a Gangster“. And last year, “You Give A Little Love” was used prominently in a Coca-Cola commercial which aired during the Super Bowl.
And that brings us to the man who created the soundtrack for Bugsy Malone, Mr. Paul Williams:
Other than Bugsy Malone, here’s a few more reasons why Paul Williams is cool:
-He co-wrote the song “Rainbow Connection“, “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song”.
-He appeared in Smokey and the Bandit, and on The Muppet Show, The Odd Couple, The Love Boat and Match Game.
-He’s from Omaha, Nebraska
-And most importantly, nobody, and I mean NOBODY wears tinted aviator glasses like Paul Williams. Ya hear that Kanye?
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There was a stage version of that in Seattle earlier this year. I vaguely remember seeing the movie once on TV and just kind of scratching my head. Paul Williams has a following among some of the cartoonists I hang out with on Wednesday nights here in Seattle. I don’t understand the fascination, but Shane, you are not alone.
Don’t forget he wrote the soundtrack for brian depalma’s “Phantom of the Paradise” for which he won both an academy award and a golden globe!
yes! phantom of the paradise! it really deserves its own blog post. wow -i had no idea it got an oscar & a golden globe though! i figured it was too wacky for that kind of mainstream approval. good info. thanks for the comment. i feel like googling some of the scenes on youtube right now…
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