Alan Parker’s debut and it is a crazy concept- a gangster film
with one big twist—all actors under 16, most of them younger- Jodie Foster here
at 13 and already a seasoned pro
Tongue-in-cheek for sure, again a wild idea. Scott Baio as the
titular character
A really well-done studio backlot gangster set. Clearly Parker
has esteem for the period and genre
The music is strong—lip-synched dubbed voices of adults, Academy
Award nom for the music
Use of freeze frames
Smart choice by Parker to have the actors do their performances
as straight as possible. It’s already funny- we don’t need them trying to be
funny
Foster’s character is a little like an old Jean Harlow role- or
how Madonna played the role in Dick Tracy
Anyone calling this a masterpiece is out of their mind though—even
at 93 minutes it runs a little thin— one can only take so many pies in the
face, foot petal cars—I have it in the archives obviously but it is far closer to
gimmick than the top 10 of 1976
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