Savagely witty on backstage life and audaciously edited.
All That Jazz (1979)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:26
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Director Bob Fosse and star Roy Scheider are at the top of their games in this dazzling, self-aware stage drama about a death obsessed director-choreographer.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film celebrates show business stripped of glitz or giddy illusions. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider) is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and... Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film celebrates show business stripped of glitz or giddy illusions. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider) is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theatre. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him--his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going. As he struggles to right his relationships with his ex-wife, his lover, and his daughter, he also has to cope with his failing health. Soon it's clear he'll have to make a choice: his art--or his life. A talented director and choreographer of both film and stage, Fosse was perhaps best known for helming the film version of CABARET and creating the musical CHICAGO. [More]
Starring: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer
Starring: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer, Cliff Gorman, Ben Vereen, John Lithgow
Director: Bob Fosse
Director: Bob Fosse
Producer: Robert Alan Aurthur
Composer: Ralph Burns
Reviews for All That Jazz
Energetic Fellini-esque autobiographical examination of the life (and near death) of Bob Fosse
Though Scheider is a wry, sensitive actor, he soon gets lost in the vulgar theatrics.
The dancing is frenzied, the dialogue piercing, the photography superb, and the acting first-rate, with non-showman Scheider an illustrious example of casting against type.
Almost every scene is excruciating (and a few are appalling), yet the film stirs an obscene fascination with its rapid, speed-freak cutting and passionate psychological striptease.
A self-important, egomaniacal, wonderfully choreographed, often compelling film which portrays the energetic life, and preoccupation with death, of a director-choreographer.
Self-reflexive, narcissistic, and entertaining, this film is Fosse's 81/2 (he even uses Fellini's cinemtographer Rotunno). High production values and superb acting by Roy Scheider as the artist's alter-ego makes this morbid musical Fosse's best work.
All That Jazz compels us to deal emotionally with our own death and the values which give meaing to our lives.
Latest News for All That Jazz
February 13, 2008:
Roy Scheider: 1932-2008
Actor Roy Scheider, who earned Oscar nominations for his work in The French Connection and All That Jazz, passed away of undisclosed causes over the weekend. He was 75 years old. More...
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