In celebration of the Criterion releases announced last week, I would honestly do the greatest favor and review one the most fresh, fluid, and nightmarish movies I have ever seen, “All That Jazz”. Truth be told, my favorite director Stanley Kubrick said that this was the greatest movie he has ever witnessed. I would not blame him. Bob Fosse is probably one of the greatest directors to ever tackle on a simple topic like music because he paralyzes your vision like it isn’t your typical MGM musical like “The Wizard of Oz” nor “Singin’ in the Rain”.
Released in December of 1979, this would display Bob Fosse’s realistic stresses about filming his 1974 film “Marty” and directing the 1975 musical production of “Chicago”. The actual character in this film is actually not called Bob Fosse. Instead, he is called by the fictional name Joe Gideon, played by the electrifying, charismatic Roy Scheider. His emotions showcase alarming nervous traits that it can potentially direct his life into a chaotic mess. When the viewers first see him in the first shots in the film set to George Benson’s live take of “On Broadway”, he is flaming with hot energy since his character’s passion is to direct musical and film productions.
Bob Fosse’s 1972 hit film “Cabaret” displayed a typical musical, but the tones were very manic and intrepid. An example of this is the opening musical number where you hear a long drum roll, then you just see a startling look at Joel Grey’s character, the Master of Ceremonies. That is true signature Bob Fosse film making.
With “All That Jazz”, it is not entirely a mainstream musical like “Cabaret”. Remember what I said about it being “a music-based film”? All That Jazz took that genre in the highest degree with Fosse stamping an R-rating because of its detailed character study and the many different tones depicted in the film. Just because the film is music-based doesn’t mean the film has extremely energetic moments of choreography when Gideon is employing the dancers. The sequences are done with pure passion and honesty especially when in the final scene, it is set to a cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love”.
Fosse also incorporates dark comedy elements in this film to showcase the ironic tone of the film. The greatest element of dark comedy is that there are three distressed critics whom comment in a very sarcastic remark. A piece of dialogue they communicate to one another is that they comment about a witch’s odd part. That alone cites genius comedic writing from Fosse since to portray a harrowing story about a stage director, there needs a perfect amount of oregano spice like this to add. It might have inspired Mary Harron to illustrate one of the best films of the 2000’s, “American Psycho”, when Patrick Bateman’s body movements in his personality occur when listening to Katrina & The Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine” in comedic effect.
Joe Gideon’s character study is mentally nervous, rushing his occupation as chaotic as it can be. He is usually smoking or taking mischievous drugs when watching test screenings of his film “Lenny” or preparing for an outrageous rehearsal of “Chicago” (which is the reason why this film was called “All That Jazz” is because one of the titular songs in the musical is called “All That Jazz”) with potential high-class dancers. Gideon’s behavior progresses throughout the film in terms of when he prepares during his hyperactive morning regimes set to Vivaldi’s “Concerto alla rustica” while repeating the quote positively, “It’s showtime, folks!” while looking himself at the mirror. Not only that, but he has somewhat of a compulsion whenever he encounters any women whether its Katie Jagger or Angelique aka The Angel of Death.
The film is for granted a character study, but there are particular characters including O’Connor Flood, played by the dynamically motivating Ben Vereen, who get involved into Gideon’s life secretly as haunting reminders if he is going to evaluate as a acceptable piece of society. Personally, this is one of my favorite aspects of the film because it matches the ironic tone of the film where the viewers are supposed to believe this is a mainstream music-based film.
“All That Jazz” is one of the most creative and progressive motion pictures I have ever seen since the marketing tools for a music-based film somewhat do not have a legitimate existence whatsoever. Sometimes, out-of-character films like these are some of the greatest films ever made because they seem to perceive or mind-bend your perspective of the film industry. Bob Fosse can be ranked with Charlie Kaufman and Peter Weir to authorize this bold statement. So can this movie.
Grade: 10/10
