There has never been a shortage of film depictions concerning the gang-ridden streets of Chicago during the prohibition era. But only one managed to relive these days through a light-hearted musical comedy starring a bunch of pie-throwing kids, and that certainly makes the film, Bugsy Malone, released in 1976, a one-of-a-kind. 

Starring Scott Baio (Chachi from Happy Days,) a very young Jodie Foster, and featuring the lyrics and music of Paul Williams, Bugsy Malone was a tongue-in-cheek ode to a violent era, and full of loving jabs at 1930s gangster films.

In the film, two rival gangs led by Fat Sam and Dandy Dan are waging an ongoing battle against each other for control of the windy city and Sam is losing. He recruits a poor, down-on-his-luck boxing promoter named Bugsy (Baio) to be his driver and help protect his business interests from Dan, who has developed a seemingly invincible pie-shooting tommy gun (Custard, as it turns out, is the deadly weapon of choice around these parts.)

Sam sends Bugsy to steal this weapon from Dan and the war is on. Complicating matters for Bugsy is the fact that, although he has a girlfriend named Blousey Brown, who he hopes to take to Hollywood one day, he is also getting a little flirtatious with Fat Sam’s lady, Tallulah (Foster), a singer at the local speakeasy. And along the way, there are plenty of pie battles to be waged and plenty of songs. Somewhat strange (OK, it’s all somewhat strange) is the fact that all of the songs are actually sung by adults and lip-synced by the kid actors in the film.

It’s hard not to wonder how a film about singing, pie-throwing, prepubescent gangsters actually got green lighted in the first place. It must have been an interesting sell to the studio executives. And yet, Bugsy Malone somehow found its way onto the big screen, in all its custardy glory. It didn’t do quite as well as Hollywood had hoped but memories of this quirky film remain. And in the 90s, it even managed a resurgence - this time on the stage and with an entirely new soundtrack. And with today’s love of all things retro, a remake is likely right around the corner.