EXPRESSO BONGO is one of many British films made at the turn of the 1960s to be set in a strip club, thus taking advantage of new relaxed censorship laws allowing near-nudity. This film feels very much like a dry run for the similar, and better, SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEES, which at least had a proper story and some tension to drive it forward. EXPRESSO BONGO follows the life of dodgy-accented Laurence Harvey as he attempts to make the big time by signing up a new act, the ultra-clean Cliff Richard, youthful and trying to convince as a guy with edge. The film is episodic at best, with some memorable moments here and there and tedium elsewhere. There's some kitchen sink drama with girlfriend Sylvia Sims, some fairly explicit scenes at the strip joint, and the usual talent show drama. A snapshot of the era, perhaps, but not a film that makes much of an impression.
Review of Expresso Bongo
