Review of All That Jazz (1979) by Jeff H — 02 Jun 2008

Bob Fosse, we miss you. A giant of choreography and Broadway, his cinematic output was relatively modest, with only 5 films under his directorial belt at the time of his heart attack death in 1987 at the age of 60. But what extraordinary films they were: Cabaret, Lenny and this (I am yet to see his first and last films, Sweet Charity and Star 80 respectively), a sumptuous meditation on the director's chaotic life and impending death. Prescient; All That Jazz was released in 1979.

Fosse drew on his experiences trying to direct Chicago on Broadway and shoot Lenny at the same time, and his re-emergence after open-heart surgery. Enter Roy Scheider as director Joe Gideon, who chain-smokes, drinks, takes speed, womanises and overworks his way to a massive coronary and surreal encounters with Jessica Lange as the most beautiful Angel of Death ever. Fosse essentially turns the camera on himself with a vision that is ruthless, funny, sprawling and ironic, juxtaposing over-the-top song-and-dance routines with images of Gideon's slow fade in a hospital bed, and exploring death in a non-maudlin way with big musical numbers and excerpts from a stand-up comedian's nightclub routine.

This is bold, brash, dynamic stuff, and quite beautiful too: the scene between Gideon and the dying old lady is an arresting piece of poetry, and the recurring morning routine sequence set to Vivaldi's "Concerto alla rustica in G major (RV151)" is a giddy thrill. Like all good art which deals with mortality and death, All That Jazz is ultimately about life - sweet, stinking, rotten, absurd, exciting and wonderful life.