Laurence Harvey is a brash hustler with a stream of snappy patter who takes bongo-playing crooner Cliff Richard out of the coffeehouse and into the big time in this sardonic spoof of the cynical star-making industry. Set amid the sleazy strip clubs and bustling nightlife of London's Soho district, Expresso Bongo is a fab bit of show-biz lampooning that loses its bite and its momentum when it leaves the lively streets for the claustrophobic offices and penthouse suites of the professional music industry sharks. It's still a marvelous time capsule of Britain's pre-rock pop-music scene, and the cast is terrific. Fast-talking Harvey is a dynamo as the small-time opportunist, with Sylvia Sims as his worldly stripper girlfriend growing weary of his schemes and Yolande Donlan as the savvy but aging American sex symbol plotting her comeback on the back of Harvey's naive new star. --Sean Axmaker