review for Expresso Bongo on AllMovie

Expresso Bongo is very much a product of its time, which fact may limit its appeal to most modern audiences; but that very "other era-ness" is also part of the fascination it holds for many, and is partially responsible for its cult status. It also must be admitted, however, that in spite of a number of very worthy things, Bongo as a whole doesn't come off. It starts out like gangbusters, with a long tracking shot that takes the viewer into the heart of the seedy London nightclub world of the late 1950s. We quickly meet Johnny Johnson, who as portrayed by Laurence Harvey in a knife-sharp performance is a lowlife heel but one that is hard to resist: his ambition is so naked and his desperation so keen that he radiates an attraction that demands submission. It's a mesmerizing performance, and one of the finest Harvey ever committed to the screen. He's well matched by Sylvia Sims as his girl friend, and their bantering has real spark. For the first half, Bongo is on track to being a good film, Harvey's nerve smoothing over the familiar plot points. But midway through, the focus switches too much toward Cliff Richard and Yolande Donlan. Richard is good when singing, but his dramatic performance is poor, flat at best and inept at worst. He derails the picture when it shifts to him, and it never recovers.