Expresso Bongo

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TOMATOMETER

Total Count: N/A

42%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 178

Movie Info

In this witty music-business satire, Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey) is a talent agent down on his luck who thinks his tide may have turned when he spots a teenage rock & roll fan wailing away in a coffeehouse. Dubbing him "Bongo Herbert" (Cliff Richard, in a role the now knighted and born-again pop icon would probably prefer to forget), Johnny puts Herbert on the fast track to teenage stardom, using his record company and radio connections to make Herbert's first single a smash hit. Johnny then decides that a little image modification might make Herbert a bigger draw, so his follow-up is a treacly, inspirational tune, "The Shrine on the Second Floor," which hardly gibes with Herbert's newfound fondness for strippers and love-starved American actresses. But just when Johnny thinks he has a meal ticket for life, it's discovered that Herbert is really a minor, making his contract with Johnny null and void. Cliff Richard was at the height of his first wave of popularity as "The British Elvis" when Expresso Bongo was released, leading to a great deal of speculation about how closely it mirrored his own career (the answer probably is: not very much).

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Classics, Drama, Musical & Performing Arts
Directed By:

Val Guest
Written By:

Wolf Mankowitz
In Theaters:

Dec 1, 1959 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Mar 8, 2005
Runtime:

111 minutes
Studio:

Continental

Cast

Laurence Harvey
as Johnny Jackson

Cliff Richard
as Burt Rudge / Bongo Herbert

Sylvia Syms
as Maisie King

Hermione Baddeley
as Penelope

Yolande Donlan
as Dixie Collins

Meier Tzelniker
as Mayer

Ambrosine Phillpotts
as Lady Rosemary

Eric Pohlmann
as Leon

Gilbert Harding
as Himself

Reginald Beckwith
as Rev. Tobias Craven

Wilfrid Lawson
as Mr. Rudge

Martin Miller
as Kakky

Avis Bunnage
as Mrs. Rudge

Barry Lowe
as Beast Burns

Kenneth Griffith
as Charlie

Susan Hampshire
as Cynthia

Peter Myers
as Cynthia's boy friend

Susan Burnet
as Edna Rudge

Lisa Peake
as Chinese Rose

Patricia Lewis
as Woman Columnist

Wolf Mankowitz
as Sandwich Man

Norma Parnell
as Secretary

Roy Everson
as Miss Collins' chauffeur

Copeland Lawrence
as Toastmaster

Katherine Keeton
as Alma

Christine Phillips
as Drusilla

Sylvia Steele
as Intime Girl - Dancer

Paula Barry
as Intime Girl - Dancer

Rita Burke
as Intime Girl - Dancer

Maureen O'Connor
as Intime Girl - Dancer

Patty Dalton
as Intime Girl

Pamela Morris
as Intime Girl

Esma Cannon
as Night Club Cleaner

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Critic Reviews for Expresso Bongo

All Critics (3)

In broadening the humour of his original play and watering down some of its more savage satire, presumably in the hope of appealing to a mass audience, Wolf Mankowitz has fallen between two stools.

Jan 23, 2018 | Full Review…

MFB Critics
Monthly Film Bulletin
Has a charm all its own, but that's not enough to take the ringing of the bongo drums out of my ears.

Dec 20, 2007 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews