A long-unseen landmark of British cinema has undergone a new 2K restoration and is ready to be embraced by audiences once more. Bronco Bullfrog, the feature debut of Barney Platts-Mills (who sadly passed away last fall), was a selection at Cannes Critics’ Week back in 1971 and got strong reviews upon its release, but sadly faded into obscurity for many decades until it got revived for a U.K. run about a decade ago. Now, undergoing a new 50th-anniversary restoration, it’s coming to U.S. theaters beginning at Film Forum on March 25th and we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
A largely improvised film led by non-professional actors, the film captures the “suedehead” subculture as we follow 17-year-old welder’s apprentice and petty thief Del (Del Walker), a product of London’s overcrowded East End slums, who relieves the boredom by helping his fresh-out-of-Borstal pal “Bronco Bullfrog” (Sam Shepherd) clean out an idle freight train. But what he really longs for is some impossible-to-find time alone with his 15-year-old girlfriend (Anne Gooding). Earning comparisons to both Mike Leigh and Ken Loach as it depicts a shifting British culture, the soundtrack is by early 70s art rock band Audience.
Scanned and restored in 2K from the original negative preserved in the BFI National Archive under the supervision of Platts-Mills, watch the exclusive trailer below.
The new restoration of Bronco Bullfrog opens on March 25 at Film Forum and will expand.