All That Jazz (1979)

Merry Solstice, everyone!  I know I technically missed my post deadline (self-imposed, of course) by about 38 minutes at time of typing but I wanted to wait.  I'm not a very good pagan, but I do so love a holiday.  It's a full moon, in an hour an eclipse will begin, and it's about 17 degrees outside.  But you don't really care for any of that; you're here for the movies.

  This continues my Netflix trend of grittily depressing 70's movies.  This one is a fantastical autobiographical musical co-written and directed by Bob Fosse.

Did you ever play the game where you think of which dead celebrities you'd invite to a dinner party if you could?  No?  That's because most people are fucking boring and would only pick Marilyn Monroe or Hitler.  But let's leave that aside and consider:  you're having a party.  Time, space, and language are not an issue.  The doorbell rings.  In walks Bob Fosse, arm in arm with the Earl of Rochester, already drunk, chain-smoking, and singing something that would make you blush.  Now that's a party.

All That Jazz is based around the time Fosse was trying to edit a movie and choreograph a Broadway show at the same time and ended up giving himself a heart attack.  It is very cynical, sometimes funny, and superbly well-acted.  Roy "Jaws" Schneider plays the speed-popping perfectionist, Joe Gideon, with a weary, self-deprecating charm.  He knows his life is shit and that it's mostly his fault, but there's a twinkle in his eye that says "Eh, what am I going to do?  Cry about it?"

Ann Reinking, Fosse's real-life girlfriend, had to audition for the part of Gideon's girlfriend.  That pretty much sums up everything you need to know about the man.

Most of the movie is him trying to explain --justify-- his life to the Angel of Death that's waiting for him. She's played by Jessica Lange.  There are interspersed scenes of the movie he's editing, The Stand-Up, about a failing comedian trying to make a come-back.  Most of the monologue deals with the 5 Stages of Death, which was a bit heavy-handed for me in the foreshadowing department.  That's really the only criticism I have for the movie from a technical stand-point.

Sex and death are threads running through the whole film.  The monologue about death cuts over to a dance number for the airline musical that goes from family-friendly to...not... in about half a minute.  Keep your eyes peeled for Sandahl Bergman, yeah, that's right, "Do you want to live forever?" from Conan the Barbarian.  If you need a little help spotting her, she's the one writhing topless on the scaffolding.

Now you see why I think Fosse and Rochester would be best buddies in the afterlife?

Incidentally, the movie-within-a-movie was based on Lenny, a Dustin Hoffman vehicle that was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and the musical-within-a-movie was based on Chicago, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 6 as a movie, and won 6 Tony Awards as a revival under the choreography of Ann Reinking "in the style of Bob Fosse".