All
That Jazz
(1979/Fox/Criterion Collection/Blu-ray, Double DVD Dual Format
Edition)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: A Film: B+
Bob
Fosse's 1979 semi-autographical film All
That Jazz
is another fabulous addition to the Criterion Collection and
celebrates theater, love, lust, cinema, and life all in a top tale
comparable in tone and story to Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8
1/2
(which is also available from Criterion). What makes this film
notable is not only its incredible choreography, camera work,
editing, and overall filmmaking but its ability to capture the
essence of the life of the director and choreographer himself, Bob
Fosse, and the life of a man who is dedicated to the arts to
unhealthy and extreme lengths. As mentioned in the booklet that
comes with this great set with an essay by critic Hilton Als, All
That Jazz
is a world
of bodies.
All
That Jazz
stars Roy Scheider (Jaws)
as Joe Gideon who is a famous theatre director and choreographer
trying to balance work on his latest Broadway musical with editing a
Hollywood film he has directed. He is a workaholic who chain-smokes
cigarettes and sleeps with a number of his dancers. Without a daily
dose of Vivaldi, Visine, Ala-Seltzer, Dexedrine, and sex then he
wouldn't have the energy to keep up the biggest show of all - his
life. After quick cutting montages of taking his daily drugs (an
inspiration for the editing in Requiem
For A Dream
for sure) Scheider inevitably sells his character by looking at
himself and proclaiming in the mirror - It's Showtime!
Joe's
gorgeous girlfriend Katie Jagger, his famous dancer ex-wife Audrey
Paris, and cute as a button daughter Michelle try to pull him back
from the brink, but it is too late for his exhausted body and
stress-ravaged heart to kept the showing going. Decades of overwork
and constant stress have gotten to Gideon. In his imagination,
throughout the film in a set that looks like a backstage disaster
area, he flirts with a white angel of death named Angelique (played
by Jessica Lange) and slowly gives himself to her.
Gideon's
condition gets progressively worse. He is rushed to a hospital with
chest pains after a particularly stressful script rehearsal (with the
penny-pinching backers) and admitted with severe attacks of angina.
Joe brushes off his symptoms, and attempts to leave to go back to
rehearsal, but he collapses in the doctor's office and is ordered to
stay in the hospital for three to four weeks to rest his heart and
recover from his exhaustion.
The
show is postponed, but Gideon continues his antics from the hospital
bed. Champagne flows, endless strings of women frolic around his
hospital room and the cigarettes are always lit. Cardiogram readings
don't show any improvement - Gideon is playing with death. As the
paltry reviews for his feature film (which has been released without
him) come in, Gideon has a massive coronary and is taken straight to
coronary artery bypass surgery. In an excellent sequence of
crosscutting between surgery and a meeting - the backers for the show
must decide now whether it's time to pack up or replace Gideon as the
director.
The
producers realize that the best way to recoup their money and make a
profit, is to bet on Gideon dying - which would bring in a profit of
over $500,000. Meanwhile, elements from Gideon's past life are
staged in dazzling dream sequences of musical numbers he directs from
his hospital bed while on life support. Realizing his death is
imminent, his mortality unconquerable, Gideon has another heart
attack. In the glittery finale, he goes through the five stages of
death, which are anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance
all that are featured in the stand-up routine he has been editing.
As death closes in on Gideon, the fantasy episodes become more
hallucinatory and extravagant and in a final epilogue that is set up
as a truly monumental live variety show featuring everyone from his
past, Gideon himself takes center stage.
The
last act admittedly is a bit of a drag and there are one too many
musical numbers that seem to all kind of be beating you over the head
with the same message but the first two acts are so strong, it makes
the long winded-ness forgivable. From a filmmaking and theatrical
standpoint, the film is simply incredible.
The
image on Blu-ray is so crisp that you feel like the dancers are going
to jump off the screen and into your living room. The startling
new 4K digital restoration in 1080p high definition preserves the
original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and was taken from the original film
negative to ensure restoration accuracy. The sound is very good with
a lossless 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
and a lossy Dolby Digital track for the DVDs. The Blu-ray contains
the film and the supplemental materials while the DVDs in the set
divide up the content with the feature on one disc and the
supplements on the second. Total running time for the film clocks in
around 123 minutes.
The
special features on the disc are on par with previous Criterion
Collection releases including Audio
commentary featuring editor Alan Heim, Selected-scene audio
commentary by actor Roy Scheider, New interviews with Heim and Fosse
biographer Sam Wasson, New conversation between actors Ann Reinking
and Erzsebet Foldi, Episode of the talk show Tomorrow from 1980,
featuring director Bob Fosse and choreographer Agnes de Mille,
Interviews with Fosse from 1981 and 1986, On-set footage, Portrait of
a Choreographer, a 2007 documentary on Fosse, The Soundtrack:
Perverting the Standards, a 2007 documentary about the film's music,
and an Interview with George Benson from 2007, about his song On
Broadway, which opens the film. PLUS:
A terrific booklet featuring an essay by critic Hilton Als of The New
Yorker as noted above.
If
you are a fan of theater then this is a film that is a must see -
especially in this excellent Criterion release.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv