Expresso Bongo
1959
Enter the world of the Fabulous 50's - hip coffee bars, beat girls, shady Soho nightclubs - and the creation of a teen idol. Read more
| Starring | Cliff Richard, Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan |
|---|---|
| Director | Val Guest |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
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Expresso Bongo
Enter the world of the Fabulous 50's - hip coffee bars, beat girls, shady Soho nightclubs - and the creation of a teen idol.
| Starring | Cliff Richard, Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan, Hermione Baddeley, Eric Pohlmann |
|---|---|
| Director | Val Guest |
| Studio | CARLTON VISUAL ENTERTAINMENT LTD |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 41 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Music/Musical |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 15 Nov 2004 Production year: 1959 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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This isn't only a fascinating snapshot of Soho in the skiffle and coffee bar era, but it's also one of the best musicals ever produced in this country. Oozing the easy charm and shiftless opportunism that had just served him so well in Room at the Top, Laurence Harvey is perfectly cast as the talent agent hoping to get rich quick through rookie rocker Cliff Richard, who, for all his raw appeal, is also very religious. Val Guest captures the fads and fashions of the late 1950s, but it's Wolf Mankowitz's crackling script that gives the film its authenticity.
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Heavily vulgarized version of a stage skit on the Tommy Steele rock phenomenon, divested of most of its satirical barbs and only intermittently amusing.
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Most helpful member's review
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7 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Soho in the 50s
Based on a successful stage musical by Wolf Mankowitch, Expresso Bongo is set amid the coffee bars and strip clubs of 50s Soho. Lawrence Harvey gives an outstanding performance as a low-life hustler, Johnny Jackson, who signs up rock singer Bongo Herbert (an early role for Cliff Richard)on a 50/50 basis. The first half is a sharp satire on the pre-Beatles pop music industry but as Harvey is sidelined by director Val Guest's wife, Yolande Donlan, as a fading Hollywood star, the film faulters. Sylvia Syms is remarkably sexy as Harvey's stripper girl friend. Warning: some songs (including the marvelous Nausea)have been omitted from the DVD and the sound quality is poor.
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Most recent members' review
View all -
7 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Soho in the 50s
Based on a successful stage musical by Wolf Mankowitch, Expresso Bongo is set amid the coffee bars and strip clubs of 50s Soho. Lawrence Harvey gives an outstanding performance as a low-life hustler, Johnny Jackson, who signs up rock singer Bongo Herbert (an early role for Cliff Richard)on a 50/50 basis. The first half is a sharp satire on the pre-Beatles pop music industry but as Harvey is sidelined by director Val Guest's wife, Yolande Donlan, as a fading Hollywood star, the film faulters. Sylvia Syms is remarkably sexy as Harvey's stripper girl friend. Warning: some songs (including the marvelous Nausea)have been omitted from the DVD and the sound quality is poor.
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Expresso Bongo
Enter the world of the Fabulous 50's - hip coffee bars, beat girls, shady Soho nightclubs - and the creation of a teen idol....
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