Based loosely on his own hard and fast life, director/choreographer Bob Fosse indulges himself with an array of chorus line girls, ex-wives – and a potentially explosive and controversial new Broadway hit.
A breathless opening sequence sets the scene. George Benson’s jazz version of On Broadway creates the mood as auditions see a stage of 120+ dancers, male and female, whittled down to a handful. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), cigarette permanently in hand, smiles, shakes his head, touches an elbow, nods. Producers, seated in the stalls, look on nervously. But then Gideon’s gone – off to the editing suite to work on his latest feature.
Yet, as hard as it tries, All That Jazz never quite reaches the exciting dizzy heights of those opening minutes as Gideon flirts, works, cheats, argues, choreographs, cajoles his way through a new musical, a film and affairs with two women as well as sustain a relationship with his teenage daughter and an ex-wife (Leland Palmer – Valentino). She also happens to be the lead in his latest production.
Terrific song and dance numbers punctuate a somewhat stodgy, stagey theatrics of a late-life biography as Fosse attempts to mix Broadway musical, Fellini-esque surrealism and arthouse realism (an explicit open heart surgery moment). Now dated, All That Jazz, winner of the 1979 Palme d’Or at Cannes, now comes across as flashy, dull, dated and safe.
Nominated for 9 Oscars in 1980 including best film, actor, director, won 4 for best score, art/set direction, costume and editing.
Rating: 53%
Director: Bob Fosse (Cabaret, Lenny)
Writer: Robert Alan Aurthur (Grand Prix, Warlock), Bob Fosse (Star 80)
Main cast: Roy Scheider (The French Connection, Jaws), Leland Palmer (Valentino, TV’s James Dean), Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Marlowe)
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