All That Jazz (1979)
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87% of critics liked it
(30 reviews) -
83% of users liked it
(10,939 ratings)
"It's showtime!" In this part film à clef, part musical phantasmagoria, director/choreographer Bob Fosse takes a Felliniesque look at the life of a driven entertainer. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider, channeling Fosse) is the ultimate work (and pleasure)-aholic, as he knocks back a daily dose… More "It's showtime!" In this part film à clef, part musical phantasmagoria, director/choreographer Bob Fosse takes a Felliniesque look at the life of a driven entertainer. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider, channeling Fosse) is the ultimate work (and pleasure)-aholic, as he knocks back a daily dose of amphetamines to juggle a new Broadway production while editing his new movie, not to mention ex-wife Audrey (Leland Palmer), steady girlfriend Kate (Ann Reinking), a young daughter, and various conquests. Joe cannot, however, avoid intimations of mortality from white-clad vision Angelique (Jessica Lange) that lead him to look back at his life as he heads for a near-inevitable coronary and his departure from this mortal coil with the appropriate razzle-dazzle. Taking his cue from Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963), Fosse moves from realistic dance numbers to extravagant flights of cinematic fancy, as Joe meditates on his life, his women, and his death. Following a similarly dark revisionist vein as Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977), Fosse shows the stiff price that entertaining exacts on entertainers (among other things, he intercuts graphic footage of open-heart surgery with a song and dance), mercilessly reversing the feel-good mood of classical movie musicals. Critics praised Fosse's daring even as they damned his self-indulgence, while Scheider was lauded for giving the best performance of his career. Though not a disastrous failure, All That Jazz came nowhere near the popularity of 1978's Grease, as late '70s audiences increasingly turned away from "difficult" movies. For all its excesses, Fosse's fiercely personal approach turned All That Jazz into another striking work from one of the few directors able to make, and experiment with, movie musicals after the 1960s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Directed By
- Bob Fosse
- Genres
- Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Science Fiction & Fantasy
- In Theaters
- Dec 20, 1979 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Frank Rich, TIME Magazine
Though Scheider is a wry, sensitive actor, he soon gets lost in the vulgar theatrics.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
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.
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Variety Staff, Variety
A self-important, egomaniacal, wonderfully choreographed, often compelling film which portrays the energetic life, and preoccupation with death, of a director-choreographer.
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, Time Out
It's very pleased with itself.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Some of it makes you wince, but a lot of it is great fun.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Roy Scheider
as Joe Gideon
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Jessica Lange
as Angelique
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Ann Reinking
as Kate Jagger
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Leland Palmer
as Audrey Paris
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Cliff Gorman
as David Newman
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John Lithgow
as Lucas Sergeant
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Erzebet Foldi
as Michelle
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Ben Vereen
as O'Connor Flood
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Michael Tolan
as Dr. Ballinger
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Max Wright
as Joshua Benn
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William Le Massena
as Jonesy Hecht
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Chris Chase
as Leslie Perry
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Deborah Geffner
as Victoria
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Kathryn Doby
as Kathryn
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Anthony Holland
as PaulDann
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Robert Hitt
as Ted Christopher
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David Margulies
as Larry Goldie
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Sue Paul
as Stacy
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Keith Gordon
as Young Joe Gideon
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Frankie Man
as Comic
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Alan Heim
as Eddie
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Sandahl Bergman
as Sandahl
- Nicole Fosse
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Ben Masters
as Doctor Garry
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Theresa Merritt
as Cast of NY/LA
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CCH Pounder
as Nurse Blake
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Wallace Shawn
as Assistant Insurance Man
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Sloane Shelton
as Mother
