All That Jazz

 All That Jazz 1979

• Director: Bob Fosse
• Seen by the director: Lenny, Cabaret, Sweet Charity
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer, Max Wright, Erszebet Foldi
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Roy Scheider – Romeo Is Bleeding, Jaws, Klute
• Jessica Lange – Broken Flowers, Big Fish, Titus, A Thousand Acres, Rob Roy, Frances, Tootsie, The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Max Wright – The Norm Show, Snow Falling on Cedars, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alf and other series
• Why? It’s a musical
• Seen: Once before. Now 10 June 2022      

       Not so much a musical as a song-and-dance film about choreographer Bob Fosse himself. Evidently, he was a hard-driving boss, arrogant womaniser, chain-smoking pill-popping heart attack waiting to happen, with a deep sense of inadequacy.

       Some have described it as self-indulgent, others as brilliant. It’s a bit of both. I don’t like the narration frame of him telling his story to a kind of bride/angel/vamp figure (Lange) and the film comes nowhere near two of my all-time favourites, his Cabaret and Sweet Charity.

       Still, it’s interesting to see into the head of the great showman and you must admire the guts it took him to present this less than flattering picture of himself.      

3 ½ * of 5