| Buster | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Green |
| Produced by | Norma Heyman |
| Written by | Colin Shindler |
| Starring | Phil Collins Julie Walters |
| Music by | Anne Dudley |
| Editing by | Lesley Walker |
| Distributed by | Hemdale Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | November 23, 1988 |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $540,000 (domestic) |
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.
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Buster Edwards (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.
A stage production of Buster was produced between 2000 - 2004 at various locations across the UK starring (amongst others) Ray Quinn in the main cast. The production was an adaptation by Kieran Woodbury of the original screenplay penned by Colin Shindler.
Several Phil Collins singles were released from the soundtrack, 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.[1] 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.
The opening sequence was filmed in Broadway Market, 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.
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