At the end of the seventies, Bob Fosse, director of "Cabaret," created the most strikingand certainly the most controversialoriginal musical film to appear in many years
Audacious or intimidating, dazzling or simply bewildering, depending on one's point of view, "All That Jazz" was Fosse's extravagant homage to the musical stage he loveda love tempered by wit and ironyand an autobiographical account of one man's hectic travail in the theater, ending with the ultimate experience of his death
His Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), egotistical, selfish, and womanizing, but also guilt-ridden and striving for a perfection he can never achieve, perceives his entire life in terms of show business
This obsessive view is his gift, his burden, and his tragic flaw
"All That Jazz" is the most cinematic musical in a very long time In a style clearly influenced by Italian director Federico Fellini, Fosse uses the camera with brave insurance, moving from naturalistic scenes of frenzied theatrical activity to flights of fantasy, without signaling the audience when the realism ends and the fantasy begins
Viewed entirely through Joe Gideon's brilliant, disorderly mind, the world is composed of the important people in his lifehis ex-wife, his present girlfriend, his young daughter, and all the slightly mad, flamboyant show people he works with, as well as figures from his past and future, most especially the ravishing young woman who represents the Angel of Death
"All That Jazz" has some painful moments, and is not easy to follow; it demands the attention that many viewers, irritated by Fosse's self-indulgence, were unwilling to give
Splendidly photographed, "All That Jazz" follows Gideon through the exhausting, driving day-to-day routine There are a few quiet momentsin one of the film's best scenes, he gives a private dance lesson to his young daughter Michelle (Erzsebet Foldi) , showing a pride and a tenderness he usually conceals But all of his energy is given to choreographing the movie's most outstanding musical number, "Take Off with Us." Brilliantly conceived, the number involves a group of dancers in sensuous choreographed movement
"All That Jazz" has flaws, but no musical since "Cabaret" has worked so assiduously to weld all the elements of a musical film into a single entity that could only be done on the screen: a personal statement that could be dismissed or even mocked but that could not be ignored
"All That Jazz" is the most cinematic musical in a very long time In a style clearly influenced by Italian director Federico Fellini, Fosse uses the camera with brave insurance, moving from naturalistic scenes of frenzied theatrical activity to flights of fantasy, without signaling the audience when the realism ends and the fantasy begins
Viewed entirely through Joe Gideon's brilliant, disorderly mind, the world is composed of the important people in his lifehis ex-wife, his present girlfriend, his young daughter, and all the slightly mad, flamboyant show people he works with, as well as figures from his past and future, most especially the ravishing young woman who represents the Angel of Death
"All That Jazz" has some painful moments, and is not easy to follow; it demands the attention that many viewers, irritated by Fosse's self-indulgence, were unwilling to give
Splendidly photographed, "All That Jazz" follows Gideon through the exhausting, driving day-to-day routine There are a few quiet momentsin one of the film's best scenes, he gives a private dance lesson to his young daughter Michelle (Erzsebet Foldi) , showing a pride and a tenderness he usually conceals But all of his energy is given to choreographing the movie's most outstanding musical number, "Take Off with Us." Brilliantly conceived, the number involves a group of dancers in sensuous choreographed movement
"All That Jazz" has flaws, but no musical since "Cabaret" has worked so assiduously to weld all the elements of a musical film into a single entity that could only be done on the screen: a personal statement that could be dismissed or even mocked but that could not be ignored