All
That Jazz
1979
Director: Bob Fosse
Starring: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange,
Leland Palmer, Ann Reinking
I
love musicals. I really do. They are so wonderful, such fantastic
entertainment. I love the classic MGM
musicals (but I’m not a fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein – more on that later), I
love the early black and white musicals, I think the recent dabble into
musicals again is great, but when you talk about Bob Fosse, then we’re talking
an entirely different level of musicals altogether. When I was in college, I took a one-off
theater studies course, and in it, we spent a bit of time discussing
Fosse. Since then, I’ve been utterly
fascinated by him. Having this set up
for this film, this autobiography of Fosse, his incredibly cruel portrayal of
himself, with plenty of that sublime choreography thrown in for good measure,
and, um, yeah, I’m a fan.
The
story follows Joe Gideon (Scheider), a hard-working theater
director/choreographer/ filmmaker, as he gets his new Broadway show started in
rehearsals during the day and edits his latest film at night. His ex-wife Audrey (Palmer) loves and
respects him but can’t stand him, his young daughter Michelle worships him, and
his live-in girlfriend Kate (Reinking) adores him despite the fact that he
continually cheats on her. Surrounded as
he is by people who support him, Gideon cannot help but drive his health into
the ground, not getting enough sleep, hooked on painkillers, and continually
smoking and drinking. He carries on a
fantasy dialogue with Angelique (Lange), the Angel of Death (or Life, based on
your interpretation), which intensifies when Joe is hospitalized.
