ianlouisiana Review of Expresso Bongo

Expresso Bongo (1959)

"Ven I see this little bleeder&compare him to "Aida"-nausea"

[9/10 · 12 December 2005]

"Expresso Bongo" belongs to my youth.I idolised jazz musicians like Johnny Jackson and derided little poppets like Bongo Herbert.Johnny's ambivalence towards his protegee was perfectly understandable to me as an extension of the jazzers'ideals of not compromising their art for filthy lucre(well,I was only 19). This is the Soho movie par excellence.I'd walked the same streets and been to the same clubs as Johnny on the fringe of "The life" as they call it now.And in 1960 a certain innocence still prevailed in much of the square mile.OK,there were no tarts with hearts,but strippers and song-pluggers,wannabe drummers,agents,bookers,and their like filled the coffee bars and blocked Archer Street every day.It is a world that no longer exists,but if you stand around the "Red Lion" at midday you can still see their ghosts.So this isn't going to be an objective review then. Laurence Harvey was extremely good-looking and extraordinarily ill-used in movies.A ludicrous "Romeo",badly miscast in "Room at the top",sleep walking in "The Alamo"...the list of his bad films is very long indeed. With "EXpresso Bongo" it all came together for him.Unfortunately it was a once-in-a-lifetime deal.Fast-talking jazz drummer Johnny Jackson was meat and drink to him.Skintight trousers,porkpie hat,drooping cigarette,Johnny talked the talk and walked the walk in 1960 Soho. Discovering Bongo Herbert (Cliff Richard playing a mooncalf pop singer) seems to be his ticket to riches,but when Johnny has to swim with the sharks he finds himself outclassed. The dialogue is taut and sharp,the musical numbers(particularly the above quoted"Nausea")rather clever.Wolf Mankiewitz wrote the original show and he had a gift for the telling lyric which is used to its fullest.Sylvia Sims is very sweet and 1960 sexy as Johnny's long-suffering girlfriend.Ten years later she would have been portrayed as a hooker and he as a pimp. Meier Tzelnicker is quite wonderful as an agent who hates pop music but loves money and has absolutely no principles - a breed that has proliferated to this day. Yolande Donlan has a difficult line to tread as Herbert's patroness,obsessed by his youth and beauty and at the same time jealous of his popularity and aware of his commercial value.She is not much remembered today which is rather sad because she had a certain vulnerable brassiness that never teetered over into caricature. Cliff Richard seizes his big chance and is very good in the title role.He is,of course sui generis.There is no one even remotely like him in the world of English pop,capable of reinventing himself endlessly but remaining basically the same.The camera isn't particularly kind to him,leaving him looking oddly chubby and unappealing,but he and the Shadows make a strong impact. "Expresso Bongo" isn't the sort of show that gets regularly revived,unlike,say,"My Fair Lady" which is comparatively cast-proof. I saw the stage production of "Bongo" with Tommy Steele's brother in the Cliff Richard role,and it was frankly awful. But,on that rare occasion when cast and material blend perfectly,it results in a movie that is a pleasure to watch and listen to,doesn't insult your intelligence and is a record of a man at the top of his game exceeding everybody's expectations,except perhaps,his own.