He is never too nice to seem dumb and he is never too mean to become unlikeable. His performance is spot on for the whole film. The center of the film is Laurence Harvey (the original 1962 The Manchurian Candidate) as Johnny. The whole film feels like a mix of A Star is Born and Sweet Smell of Success. We see how shallow all the agents are and all the busy talk to distract the more honest people, like the owner of the espresso bar. The script by Mankowitz also keeps the line between those thin as we see the sleazy side of record producers and the media circus. From the films of his I’ve seen, there has always been wild energy and sharp direction. Val Guest is one of the most interesting of British directors who handled comedies, Hammer films including The Quatermass Xperiment, and even handled most of the trippy 1967 Casino Royale. All fine-toothed by director Val Guest and screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz. It is actually a fine mix of stage-bound Hollywood-type glamor and also the realism of some of the Kitchen Sink dramas. So going into the film I was curious to see how it played out and if it would be stagy. Musical theater and musical adaptations are still a blind spot for me. Bongo soon gets a taste for the high life and comedy soon follows.Įxpresso Bongo (1959) is a hilarious and sharp comedy from multi-talented director Val Guest and is based on a play and book of the same name.
The young man is naive enough to befriend Johnny and change his name to Bongo Herbert. Johnny’s big chance comes when he discovers a singer (Cliff Richards) at a club. His would-be singer and stripper girlfriend Maisie (Sylvia Syms) waits patiently for him to make her a star, but instead, he keeps putting it off.
But they can’t wait for him to pay up or leave. It seems like everyone in Soho knows him. Down on his luck manager and hustler, Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey) is always looking for the next hit.
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