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By PAUL BRENNER
In 1972 director and
choreographer Bob Fosse won the entertainment
world's version of the triple-crown -- winning an
Oscar for "Cabaret," a Tony for "Pippin," and an
Emmy for "Liza With a Z." After those history
making wins, Fosse continued on with his
workaholic lifestyle, which culminated with Fosse
suffering a massive heart attack that necessitated
undergoing open-heart surgery. The result of
Fosse's heart attack and ensuing painful recovery
ended up on celluloid in 1979 as the musical "All
That Jazz."
Only a man as driven by creativity, booze and
drugs as Fosse, could ever conceive of a big,
splashy, autobiographical musical epic about his
own heart surgery, let alone actually get it made.
But Fosse did it. Not only that, but he took his
real life one step further by imagining the
protagonist not only undergoing heart surgery but
dying at the end of the film -- as the climax of
an endless showstopper of a production number
called "Bye, Bye Life," a reworded "Bye, Bye
Love." It ain't anyone who can make a musical
version of his own death.
When "All That Jazz" was originally released at
the end of 1979 most of the critics were dazzled
by the high-octane musical numbers but deeply put
off by Fosse's supposed egomania in fashioning the
film upon his own life and troubles. Roy
Scheider's character of Joe Gideon looked just
like Fosse, the women in his life reflected the
women in Fosse's life (Ann Reinking played
Gideon's mistress in the film and was Fosse's in
real life, while Leland Palmer chillingly
channeled Fosse's estranged wife Gwen Verdon) and
the projects Gideon is working on in the film
reflect previous Fosse ventures (Cliff Gorman
plays a Lenny Bruce like comedian in a film Gideon
is working on, and, as we all know, Fosse directed
Dustin Hoffman in the film "Lenny," which
incidentally was based on a Broadway play that
starred Cliff Gorman). At a distance of over two
decades, the egomania can still be cut with a
knife but the self-indulgence of the enterprise
doesn't feel as uncomfortably obvious now as it
did then.
What does hold the film together both then and now
are the electric musical numbers. The film starts
off with a bang with the cattle call audition of
dancers to George Benson's "On Broadway."
Brilliantly edited, vibrantly staged,
encapsulating the entire Broadway musical "A
Chorus Line" in five minutes, this is Fosse and
the film musical at its best. All the other
musical interludes fall into place behind "On
Broadway" and charge the film forward. On the
distaff side is the final number, with Ben Vereen
genuflecting like, well, Ben Vereen, as Gideon
slides around a stage and glad-hands associates as
he prepare to meet Death, in the all-white form of
Jessica Lange. The number goes on and on in
varying degrees of hysteria and even includes
graphic footage of open-heart surgery and ends
with Gideon being zipped up in a body bag. But
musicals come in all forms (cf. Sondheim's
"Assassins"). As Roy Scheider exclaims at one
point in the film, "Whatsa matter? Don't you like
musical comedy?"
The special features include sporadic audio
commentary by Scheider, three quick promotional
interviews from 1979 with Scheider, and the
theatrical trailer. Also included are five
fascinating clips of Fosse on the set, directing
the "On Broadway" number. The DVD is available in
English Dolby and French Mono and subtitled in
English and Spanish. |
