BRONCO BULLFROG (1969)

The debut film by Barney Platts-Mills—“one of the forgotten heroes of British cinema” (Matthew Sweet, BBC Radio 4)—Bronco Bullfrog is “remarkable” (Mollie Panter-Downes, The New Yorker), a “breathtaking time capsule” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian), and a “revelation” (Kieron Corless, Sight & Sound).

Seventeen-year-old Del, with no money and nowhere to go, breaks into train cars with his cool, fresh-out-of-borstal (reform school) pal Bronco Bullfrog. Then one day he meets the lovely Irene, and after getting an earful from his dad (and her mum), the young lovers run away together… but to where?

Shot in London’s East End in 1969, cast with Doc Marten–wearing “suedehead” locals and set to a dynamic soundtrack by art-rock band Audience, Bronco Bullfrog has been compared to the work of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, but with a punk rock spirit. After a minuscule American release following its Edinburgh and Cannes premieres, this “lost gem” (Dave Calhoun, Time Out) returns as a cult landmark, in black and white and Cockney—with subtitles.

directed by: Barney Platts-Mills
starring: Del Walker, Anne Gooding, Sam Shepherd, Roy Haywood
1969 / 87 min / 1.33:1 / English DTS-HD MA 2.0