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Expresso Bongo by Wolf Mankowitz5/11/2023 A chubby, lip-curling Cliff just plays himself – and rather well too, in his second film, after Serious Charge (1959). Perhaps he deserves a re-assessment and a new second opinion. Old smoothie Harvey doesn’t have much of an acting reputation, but here he is in his element: stylish, slightly sinister and convincing. Laurence Harvey stars as a seedy, cynical London Soho talent agent called Johnny Jackson, who discovers a bongo-playing teenage singer named Bert Rudge (the 18-year-old Cliff Richard) and turns him into an international music hit star as Bongo Herbert. It is far more fragrant of its era than the Eighties homage movie Absolute Beginners and a much more interesting film altogether. Expresso Bongo **** (1959, Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan, Cliff Richard) – Classic Movie Review 3952ĭirector Val Guest’s 1959 British black and white musical drama Expresso Bongo is a fascinating period piece, and snapshot of a long-ago time and place.
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