“All That Jazz”
Columbia Pictures and 20th Century-Fox, 1979
Starring: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Leland Palmer, and Ann Reinking
Directed by: Bob Fosse
The plot: Film and theater director/choreographer Joe Gideon (Scheider) is attempting to balance early work on a new Broadway musical with the final, overdue edit of his new movie. He is also trying to balance his relationships with his ex-wife (Palmer), who is starring in the musical; his girlfriend (Reinking), and his various one-night stands. Exacerbating these tensions are his heavy drinking, heavy smoking, and daily speed habit. In the midst of all this activity, he suffers a massive heart attack. Bed-rest and open-heart surgery bring his productions to a halt, but put into overdrive his hallucinatory, show-biz fantasies featuring Death in the guise of a voluptuous blonde woman (Lange).
Why it’s good: Fosse showed his amazing chops in “Cabaret” and “Lenny” before this, but his egomaniacal, self-destructive theatrical flair went over the top in this film. The script (co-written by Fosse and Robert Alan Aurthur) beautifully balances the professional, personal, and imaginative worlds of the driven, cruel, guilt- and doubt-riddled Gideon as he drives and dances his way to an early death. (The film’s structure is often compared to Fellini’s “8 1/2.”) The colors, costumes, sets, and editing are sumptuous. The three big Busby Berkeley-style production numbers — performed by Gideon’s ex-wife, girlfriend, and daughter, respectively — are stupendous. Fosse’s singularly distinct, erotic choreography is on perfect display in Gideon’s Broadway musical number, “Take Off With Us.” The acting is across-the-board excellent, ranging from veterans like Cliff Gorman to newcomers John Lithgow and Erzsebet Foldi. The film was a box-office and critical hit; nominated for nine Oscars, it won four. Stanley Kubrick reportedly mused that “All That Jazz” was “the best film I think I have ever seen.”
The legacy: In 1973, Fosse did something no one had done before or has done since — he won the best director Oscar for “Cabaret,” the best director Tony for “Pippin,” and the best director Emmy for “Liza with a Z.” Clinching this triple-crown only added to his self-doubt and anxieties. No matter what heights of fame he achieved, Fosse always seemed unsure of his position in show business and in life. When he was felled by a near-fatal heart attack while simultaneously editing “Lenny” and staging “Chicago,” he found the perfect story to lens for his legacy. Reinking, one of Fosse’s real-life girlfriends, played Gideon’s girlfriend, and Palmer’s character is clearly Gwen Verdon, Fosse’s ex-wife and ongoing collaborator. Scheider might have seemed an unlikely choice for a song-and-dance man, but he acquits himself beautifully and, as a result, earned his second Oscar nomination. Fosse went on to helm one more film and Broadway show before his 60-year-old heart finally gave up in 1987. There are several DVDs available, but go with the Criterion edition, which includes the most perfectly cut-together trailer ever made.