Expresso Bongo (1959)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Wolf Mankowitz (play)
Wolf Mankowitz (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 May 1960 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Laurence Harvey in an outstanding and different motion picture that takes you into a world of burlesque houses .. jazz dens ... and flesh-and-blood people!

Plot:

Johnny Jackson, a sleazy talent agent, discovers teenager Bert Rudge singing in a coffee house. Despite...

Plot Keywords:

Soho | Stripper | Bar | Agent | Satire

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

Laurence Harvey	...	Johnny Jackson
Sylvia Syms	...	Maisie King
Yolande Donlan	...	Dixie Collins
Cliff Richard	...	Bert Rudge / Bongo Herbert
Meier Tzelniker	...	Mayer
Ambrosine Phillpotts	...	Lady Rosemary
Eric Pohlmann	...	Leon
Gilbert Harding	...	Himself
Hermione Baddeley	...	Penelope
Reginald Beckwith	...	Reverend Tobias Craven

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1986) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, Mayfair, London, England, UK

Company:

Val Guest Productions

Trivia:

Marty Wilde was first considered for the role of Bert Rudge but was dismissed when it was believed his height (6ft 3ins) would make his character less sympathetic.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Love Goddesses (1965)

Soundtrack:

Nausea

People say this is the worst film ever made.

A British radio show asked for people to ring in to tell them what they thought was the worst film ever made. Several people mentioned Expresso Bongo. This might not be the best film ever made, but let us be fair: I can think of at least a couple of hundred films worse than this.

The story tells of the exploits of an unscrupulous theatrical agent (Laurence Harvey) and how he tries to exploit a young rock 'n' roll singer (Cliff Richard).

Even if you don't like the film, you can play "spot the uncredited performers." Burt Kwok is in there, as is Susan Hampshire. Carole Ann Ford is supposed to be there, but I am yet to detect her. If you think you have seen the TV psychiatrist somewhere before...it's Patrick Cargill.

Some parts of the film are right. It gets the atmosphere of the 2i's coffee bar from which the British rock scene sprouted more or less right. But the show is stolen not by Harvey or Cliff Richard but by Cliff Richard's backing group The Drifters (later to become The Shadows.) There is a scene in a coffee bar where they rock out an instrumental. That's worth watching in itself. This scene also includes some rare footage of Jet Harris's Framus bass guitar. Rock historians take note.