grantss Great drama on the life and death of an artist (loosely based on Bob Fosse's own life, without the death part, of course, at that point). Original plot, which demonstrates the decadence, pitfalls and back- stabbing of showbiz. Very original direction by Bob Fosse, complete with musical dream sequences and time jumps. A bit too innovative sometimes, as it can be confusing.Roy Scheider acts out of his skin in the lead role. You can actually imagine Scheider inflicting the damage to himself that the movie portrays, so convincing is his performance. He was unlucky to lose the Best Actor Oscar to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs Kramer.Supporting cast are good too. Jessica Lange's part is not overly major, but All That Jazz did revive her career after King Kong almost killed it. Interesting to see John Lithgow in an early role.Great movie.

blazesnakes9 While I was watching All That Jazz, I was reminded of a quote that Howard Hawks said. Hawks said that in order to make a good movie, you must have 3 good scenes and no bad scenes. Bob Fosse's All That Jazz has, what I believe, three good scenes and no bad scenes. However, the move itself has a depressing mood to it, which is similar or not with Fosse's other works like Cabaret and Sweet Charity. The movie centers around a deeply troubled dance choreographer, (Roy Scheider), who spends most of his life dedicated to his work in the theater. Yet, outside his life, his wife, (Ann Reinking), and his daughter are seeing himself fall into a world of self-destruction. Scheider is trying to create a Broadway show called "Airotica", which will debuted in the beginning of February. Scheider's character is a drug addict and cigarette-smoking womanizer, who tries to do the best he can by putting on a show. But, as he begins to put the show together, his life starts to take a turn for the worse. Edited in between the movie are moments when Scheider speaks to an angelic woman, (Jessica Lange), about his troubles and his virtues.The movie is torn apart by its portrayal of a man that is not only falling under the spell of self-destruction, but also falling into a near-death experience. This creates the movie's depressing tone, yet it does make us feel bad that Scheider is hurting himself more and more as he feeds his life and heart into his production. Toward the end of the movie, without giving much more away, the main character finds exactly what he is looking for. Like most of Fosse's work, this movie centers around the dark side of show business. What Fosse shows us in this movie is his own vision of his life in the showbiz industry. We understand fully throughout the movie that for all of the razzle and dazzle specialty that this movie has to offer, there's a dark undercurrent lying underneath the movie. The three scenes that I think makes the movie worth watching are when Scheider shows his agents his idea of the show and he lets the female and male dance performers do the number, which is called "Take Off with Us (Reprise). That scene is so energetic that as the scene went on with the dancers moving their bodies suggestively in the light and especially in the dark, I realize that Fosse's direction creates much of the scene's energetic mood. The movement of the hands. The way the female dancer move to the left and right of the room. The scene oozes with a sense of extreme sexuality that we get completely lost in a world that is showered by movement and energy. That is one of the three scenes that I like in the movie.The second scene that I like so much is when Scheider's lover and daughter dances in his apartment. The musical number in this scene is called "Everything Old is New Again." I thought that of all of the scenes that were in the movie, this one was probably the best one in the movie. That scene is so well shot by Fosse and so well choreographed that it breaks through the depressing mood of the story. That's why the movie works for me. It has that ability to breaks through the depression and somehow feeds us a happy moment in the movie. Not only happy and jubilant, but also tragic. The third scene that I also like was when Scheider is shooting his own production number and like the scene that I mention before, his lover and his daughter also appear in this scene too. The wife and daughter do a number together, called "After You've Gone". The three scenes for me illustrates how much life and also feeling is being into this musical. Unlike Grease, which came out before this film, All That Jazz draws a tragic, downbeat and depressing tone to the musical genre. It also leaks sexuality since a lot of the numbers in this movie especially the rehearsal scene are very sexy.Roy Scheider give a outstanding performance as the main character. For a while, Scheider has been remembered as playing the police chief in Jaws or playing Gene Hackman's police partner in The French Connection. His performance make us want to care for him even though his response to the audience and to the supporting characters in the movie is ignored. This is a man who is walking on fire. He doesn't whether he makes it or not. I think what Bob Fosse shows us in this movie is that show business isn't about the stars and the razzle and dazzle. Showbiz can have a dark side, too. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.

dwpollar 1st watched 8/23/2014 -- 7 out of 10(Dir-Bob Fosse): Dark comedic musical about the downfall of a Broadway musical director written and directed by Bob Fosse is very well done for the most part. Roy Scheider plays the overworked, overmedicated, playboy director who just refuses to give less of himself to his work and his body can't deal with it. This is advertised as a musical, but it's more a portrayal of a man who really has no direction to go but down because of his refusal to change his way of life. He admits to his faults but just doesn't deal with it. He cheated on his ex-wife, doesn't give enough time to his daughter, cheats on his current girlfriend, and is majorly obsessed to giving everything to his work to these faults. This movie does exactly what it wants to do almost perfectly. The only flaw, in my opinion, is an overlong slightly corny ending number. Fosse choreographs the dancing numbers -- which there are plenty of -- but they complement the story rather than just being an addition. The beautiful Jessica Lange portrays death and is used throughout to help show what's going on inside Scheider's character and introduces the inevitable very early on. The movie could be considered depressing but it's all done tongue-in-cheek(almost laughing at itself because of the choice of the subject matter). The two hours fly by because of the way the director presents the main character and gets your interest in his life. Pieces are revealed as the story moves forward and by the end you get a complete picture of the man's life. This movie is so much more than a musical even though these parts aren't bad either --- it should be held in acclaim as one of the better of it's kind -- don't miss this one.

MartinHafer This film is about an EXTREMELY manic Broadway producer (Roy Scheider) who burns the candle at both ends--pushing himself in such an extreme and unhealthy way that eventually he has a heart attack in the midst of a production. Will he survive? Well, while waiting to find out, the film takes an amazing turn. Up until the heart attack, it's a SOMEWHAT conventional film about the making of a play. BUT, after the attack, it suddenly becomes VERY surreal--with many song and dance numbers that explore death! In this sense, the film really is a lot like Fellini's "8 1/2"--but with song and dance numbers! I could say more...but don't want to spoil what happens next. Just hold on...the final scene is one of the most amazingly stunning in film history!!"All That Jazz" is one of those rare films that I didn't particularly enjoy BUT I really respected what it tried to do. While it is similar, in some ways, to a few other films (such as "42nd Street"), the total package is wholly unique--and for that reason alone it deserves to be seen. But, I am warning you, it's very possible you won't like a lot of the film because the leading man is pretty awful--drinking to excess, using drugs to excess, using women to excess--heck, doing EVERYTHING to excess! Interestingly, the film's director, Bob Fosse, intended this as a sort of autobiography--so I assume Fosse was a very talented but incredibly screwed up man...AND, he welcomed the world to see this!! This was either a case of incredible narcissism or perhaps a cry for help or understanding--I have no idea which the case might be! I mentioned how "All That Jazz" is a lot like "42nd Street". This is because in "42nd Street" (the film), Warner Baxter is in many ways the manic Broadway producer that Scheider is in "All That Jazz"--and, in the end, he burns himself out and dies--all for the sake of the show. As far as "8 1/2" goes, it's much more likely you've seen that and it's a very strange film that explores a film director whose life is VERY hectic and he retreats into fantasy and day dreams to cope with his out of control life. All these films are well worth seeing and would make a great triple-feature.By the way, less than a decade after "All That Jazz", Fosse really DID die of a heart attack at age 60. Talk about art imitating life!! NOTE: This film has many adult themes, language and nudity. Think twice before showing this to your mother or kids.