Barney Platts-Mills’ film about a 17-year-old Eastender and his gang met with great critical acclaim on its release in 1970. Other than Mike Leigh, it’s arguable that no one has better portrayed the true agony and ecstasy of British teenage wastelands than Platts-Mills, who paints a stark yet humorous canvas of working-class East-End values and perfectly captures the Mod-influenced fashions that dominated the late 1960s.
Featuring an entirely non-professional cast, the film grew out of a documentary the director made about Joan Littlewood’s ‘Playbarn’ workshop for local teenagers in Stratford, East London. Inspired by Littlewood, Platts-Mills encouraged the actors to come up with a story based on events taken from their own lives. Today, with a considerable cult following, Bronco Bullfrog is considered one of the most important British films of the 1960s.
Import Dual Format Disc
DVD – Pal All Region
Blu-Ray – All Region (playable worldwide)
Extras
* Everybody’s An Actor, Shakespeare Said (1968, 30 minutes): Platts-Mills’ documentary charts Joan Littlewood’s theatre work with the teenagers who would star in Bronco Bullfrog.
* Joan Littlewood interview (1968, 21 minutes): the formidable and outspoken theatre director discusses her career
* Seven Green Bottles (Eric Marquis, 1975, 35 minutes): a cautionary tale of seven young delinquents, played by non-professional actors
* Fully illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays, photographs and film credits.
