Buster (film)
Encyclopedia
Buster is a 1988 comedy-drama
film
starring musician Phil Collins
, Julie Walters
, Larry Lamb
and Sheila Hancock
. The soundtrack
featured two Phil Collins singles which eventually topped the Billboard 100 singles chart.
(Phil Collins
) is a petty criminal from the East End of 1960s London. His long-suffering wife June (Julie Walters
) thinks of him as a loveable rogue and cannot believe it when she learns of his involvement in the Great Train Robbery
.
For several months after the robbery, Buster and June are in hiding with their young daughter Nicky (Ellie Beaven
) until they are turned in to the police by a suspicious neighbour. Buster flees to Acapulco
where he is met by fellow Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds (Larry Lamb
) and his girlfriend Franny Reynolds (Stephanie Lawrence
) who are also on the run and living it up in the sun with the profits of their crime.
June and Nicky arrive despite the disapproval of her mother (Sheila Hancock
) and although Nicky seems to love her new life in the sun, June is immediately not keen on their new way of life, resolving to return to England, despite knowing that if Buster is to return with them, then this will mean imprisonment for him.
Buster remains in Acapulco for some time after June leaves, until realising (while celebrating England's 1966 World Cup triumph) that despite him having money and the sun, it means nothing if he doesn't have his family and returns to England to accept his punishment.
The film closes, 12 years after Buster's release from jail, seemingly content and running a flower stall near Waterloo Bridge on the Thames. The real Buster Edwards had a less happy ending in real life, as he died by hanging in 1994, in a possible suicide.
in the main cast. The production was an adaptation by Kieran Woodbury of the original screenplay penned by Colin Shindler.
, including "A Groovy Kind of Love
" and "Two Hearts
", which reached #1 and #6 on the UK Singles Chart
, respectively. Both songs were Number One singles in the US.
Phil Collins also co-wrote "Loco in Acapulco
", performed by The Four Tops for the soundtrack. Two Hearts received an Oscar nomination for Best song in 1988.
, Hackney. The robbery scenes were filmed on the Great Central Railway
, using British Rail Class 40
, D306, as a stand-in for D326 which was actually involved.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
starring musician Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Julie Walters
Julie Walters
Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
, Larry Lamb
Larry Lamb (actor)
Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous...
and Sheila Hancock
Sheila Hancock
Sheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...
. The soundtrack
Buster (soundtrack)
Buster: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the 1988 British film Buster. The album is essentially a collection of oldies, tucked in between two Phil Collins songs that were recorded for the film, in which he starred...
featured two Phil Collins singles which eventually topped the Billboard 100 singles chart.
Plot
Buster EdwardsBuster Edwards
Buster Edwards was a British criminal who was a member of the gang that committed the Great Train Robbery. He had also been a boxer and nightclub owner.-Early and private life:...
(Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
) is a petty criminal from the East End of 1960s London. His long-suffering wife June (Julie Walters
Julie Walters
Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
) thinks of him as a loveable rogue and cannot believe it when she learns of his involvement in the Great Train Robbery
Great Train Robbery (1963)
The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a £2.6 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered...
.
For several months after the robbery, Buster and June are in hiding with their young daughter Nicky (Ellie Beaven
Ellie Beaven
Ellie Beaven is an English actress. She was educated at St. Mary's R.C. Primary School in Isleworth then at Gumley House Convent School, Isleworth.-Film & television:...
) until they are turned in to the police by a suspicious neighbour. Buster flees to Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
where he is met by fellow Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds (Larry Lamb
Larry Lamb (actor)
Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous...
) and his girlfriend Franny Reynolds (Stephanie Lawrence
Stephanie Lawrence
Stephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.-Background:Stephanie Lawrence was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, the daughter of a singer and classically trained dancer.She was from an early age close friends with another Famous Islander Peter Chilvers who in 1958 invented the...
) who are also on the run and living it up in the sun with the profits of their crime.
June and Nicky arrive despite the disapproval of her mother (Sheila Hancock
Sheila Hancock
Sheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...
) and although Nicky seems to love her new life in the sun, June is immediately not keen on their new way of life, resolving to return to England, despite knowing that if Buster is to return with them, then this will mean imprisonment for him.
Buster remains in Acapulco for some time after June leaves, until realising (while celebrating England's 1966 World Cup triumph) that despite him having money and the sun, it means nothing if he doesn't have his family and returns to England to accept his punishment.
The film closes, 12 years after Buster's release from jail, seemingly content and running a flower stall near Waterloo Bridge on the Thames. The real Buster Edwards had a less happy ending in real life, as he died by hanging in 1994, in a possible suicide.
Stage Version
A stage production of Buster was produced between 2000 - 2004 at various locations across the UK starring (amongst others) Ray QuinnRay Quinn
Raymond Arthur "Ray" Quinn is an English actor, singer, and dancer. He finished second in talent show The X Factor in 2006, and won the 2009 series of Dancing on Ice. He also appeared as victimised teenager Anthony Murray in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside...
in the main cast. The production was an adaptation by Kieran Woodbury of the original screenplay penned by Colin Shindler.
Cast
- Phil CollinsPhil CollinsPhilip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
as Buster EdwardsBuster EdwardsBuster Edwards was a British criminal who was a member of the gang that committed the Great Train Robbery. He had also been a boxer and nightclub owner.-Early and private life:... - Julie WaltersJulie WaltersJulie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
as June Edwards - Larry LambLarry Lamb (actor)Lawrence Douglas "Larry" Lamb is an English actor who has worked frequently in television. He is best known for playing one of the greatest villains of British soap Archie Mitchell in the BBC television soap EastEnders, Michael Shipman in the BBC television show Gavin & Stacey and Mischievous...
as Bruce ReynoldsBruce ReynoldsBruce Richard Reynolds was part of the gang behind the 'Great Train Robbery' in 1963 in £2.6 million was stolen.... - Stephanie LawrenceStephanie LawrenceStephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.-Background:Stephanie Lawrence was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, the daughter of a singer and classically trained dancer.She was from an early age close friends with another Famous Islander Peter Chilvers who in 1958 invented the...
as Franny Reynolds - Ellie BeavenEllie BeavenEllie Beaven is an English actress. She was educated at St. Mary's R.C. Primary School in Isleworth then at Gumley House Convent School, Isleworth.-Film & television:...
as Nicky Edwards - Ralph BrownRalph BrownRalph William John Brown is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked, and the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace...
as Ronald Biggs - Christopher EllisonChristopher EllisonChristopher Michael Ellison is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Frank Burnside in the popular ITV police series The Bill and short lived spin off series Burnside....
as George - Sheila HancockSheila HancockSheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...
as Mrs. Rothery - Martin Jarvis as Inspector Jack Mitchell
Soundtrack
Several Phil Collins singles were released from the soundtrackBuster (soundtrack)
Buster: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for the 1988 British film Buster. The album is essentially a collection of oldies, tucked in between two Phil Collins songs that were recorded for the film, in which he starred...
, including "A Groovy Kind of Love
A Groovy Kind of Love
"A Groovy Kind of Love" is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi...
" and "Two Hearts
Two Hearts (song)
"Two Hearts" is a song performed by Phil Collins, written and produced by Collins and Lamont Dozier for the 1988 crime comedy film Buster. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song alongside the Carly Simon song "Let the River Run" from Working Girl...
", which reached #1 and #6 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, respectively. Both songs were Number One singles in the US.
Phil Collins also co-wrote "Loco in Acapulco
Loco in Acapulco
"Loco in Acapulco" was a 1988 hit song by The Four Tops. It was written by Phil Collins and Lamont Dozier , for the film Buster that also starred Phil Collins in the title role...
", performed by The Four Tops for the soundtrack. Two Hearts received an Oscar nomination for Best song in 1988.
Filming locations
The opening sequence was filmed in Broadway MarketBroadway Market
Broadway Market is a street running from London Fieldsto the Regent's Canal in Haggerston in the London Borough of Hackney, east London.Before the late 20th century it was the site of a busy fruit and vegetable market, but this slowly dwindled over time - in the early 2000s, market activity was...
, Hackney. The robbery scenes were filmed on the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway (preserved)
The Great Central Railway is a heritage railway split into two adjacent sections, one in Leicestershire and the other Nottinghamshire.The Leicestershire section is currently Britain's only double track mainline heritage railway, with of working double track, period signalling, locomotives and...
, using British Rail Class 40
British Rail Class 40
The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel locomotive. Built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962, and eventually numbering 200, they were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet...
, D306, as a stand-in for D326 which was actually involved.