Expresso Bongo – 1959 | 111mins | Drama, Musical | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Adaptation of Wolf Mankowitz and Julian Moore’s 1958 satirical showbiz musical centred on Soho’s thriving coffee bars and an agent who thinks he has found a musical star. Mankowitz’s crackling script is bristling with energy and abrasive period flavour, whilst Val Guest skilfully directs, capturing the fads and fashions of the late 1950s. Laurence Harvey does a terrific job as the impeccably smarmy would-be impresario, and 19-year-old Cliff Richard is credible in the first half of the film as the bongo-thumping boy pushed to stardom, but he subsequently struggles when the role requires him to portray a more wayward rock star.

Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey) is a fast-talking opportunist talent agent hoping to get rich quick through a rookie rocker, Bert Rudge (Cliff Richard), he spots in a Soho skiffle and coffee bar. Johnny gives Bert the stage name “Bongo Herbert”, and puts him on the fast track to teenage stardom by persuading his record company and radio connections to come and see Bongo perform at the Tom Tom expresso bar.

Bongo’s first single, “Voice in the Wilderness”, is  a smash hit, but Johnny then decides that a little image adjustment might make him a bigger draw, sohis follow-up is a sugary, religious tune, “The Shrine on the Second Floor.”The new image hardly fits with Bongo’s newfound fondness for strippers and love-starved American variety star Dixie Collins (Yolande Donlan). Johnny thinks he has a meal ticket for life, but when record company exec Gus Mayer (Meier Tzelniker) discovers that Bongo’s agent is earning fifty-percent commission he demands the kid is exclusively signed to his record company. Finally, Dixie decides to outwit Johnny when she discovers that Bongo is really a minor, making his contract null and void. As a result, Bongo breaks his contract with Johnny heads to America under contract to Mayer.