All That Jazz turns 30 years old this month, and Matt Zoller Seitz has a wonderful appreciation/analysis of the movie, and its influence (with great quotes from other directors and editors about how that movie impacted their art) in The New York Times.
Fosse was so pleased with the result that he and his screenwriter partner, Robert Alan Aurthur, built time shifts into the early screenplay for All That Jazz, essentially treating the script into an uncommonly detailed shot list. Mr. Heim said the filmâs high-speed rifling through Gideonâs recent past, childhood and deathbed fantasies (in which heâs interrogated by Jessica Langeâs bombshell angel of death on a set that looks like the Kit Kat Klub from Cabaret as redecorated by Fellini) was so flexible, and so distinctively Fosseâs, that the directorâs regular composer, Ralph Burns, hung a label on it.
“Ralph said there are flashbacks and flash-forwards, and then there is Fosse time,” Mr. Heim said. “When we were working on Bob’s films, we were working in Fosse time. The phrase has to do with not really being locked into any particular time frame but taking full advantage of what you can do with film, which is mess around with time. That’s one of my favorite things to do, and you don’t get too many chances to do it in straight narrative movies. I got to do it on Bob’s last movie, Star 80, also. It was all very exciting for me as an editor.”
Go read the whole thing.
I love the bit about Sofia Coppola and Sarah Flack, working on Marie Antoinette.
All That Jazz is one of my favorite movies.
very timely considering Nine is like ersatz All That Jazz except with out a lead character to care about and without dancing!
First of all, don’t say “ersatz”.
Second of all – really?? I have to say I’m not surprised. Fergie sings the shit out of her song, as does Cotillard – but as I remember the musical when I saw it on Broadway, I found it rather “eh”, and not at all Fellini-esque, which is the whole damn point.
I want to hear more from you. I agree it’s hard to care about any of those people (I haven’t seen the movie though …)
It’s ALWAYS Fosse time! On Christmas Day we watched “Kiss Me Kate”, where a young Fosse steals the show completely in a third-act dance number that lasts all of one minute. Completely lectrifying, and you can see his new style of dancing on the horizon, overshadowing the previous styles. Ann Miller taps up a storm in the film and she’s fantastic (as per ush), but when Fosse does his thing…wow.
Anyway, “All That Jazz” is one of my Holy Trinity films. I love love love it, and I’ll always remember the first time I watched it. I was crying throughout the entirety of ‘Bye Bye Life’ – though it was a kind of joyful crying – and then cried throughout that long tracking shot towards Angelique…then BAM. That quick-zip of the body bag and the Ethel Merman music cue. It’s so harsh and so cruel, that I almost stopped crying out of sheer shock. Such a brave, uncompromised ending. You can’t fault it.
That “Jagger and Gideon…mmmGideon and Jagger” scene between Ann Reinking and the little girl who plays Gideon’s daughter is my favourite scene in a film ever. I’ve rewatched it more times than I can count and I can’t really pinpoint why I adore it so. It’s something to do with the gorgeous open space of the apartment and the theatre memorbilia propped up on the walls, and the choice of music, and the feeling that you’re watching people actually dance in real life – not like Rob “All actual song scenes take place in people’s heads” Marshall’s mode of musical direction – with all the possible flubs and whispered stage directions that involves. But most of all, I love it because of the implied relationships embedded in the scene. At no point at we hit over the head with how good a stepmother Ann Reinking might make for the little girl, it’s just very obvious from the time they must have spent together choreographing that dance, and from the tender way Reinking dances with her. Similarly, it’s never explicitly stated how guilty Gideon feels, but we see this on his face. It’s heartbreaking. I love this scene so much.
I think Ann Reinking is doing amazing work in this film. I mean, she’s not really an actress, but it does not show. The way she makes her voice crack when she’s having an argument with Gideon is so real, so upsetting to hear. Of course, Leland Palmer and Ben Vereen and, duh, Roy Scheider are all magnificent too.
The whole thing makes me unbelievably sad, but at the same time it’s suffused with such a joyful energy and stamina that I always feel better after seeing it; more prepared for the struggle of life. I’ll admit that from time to time, on certain grey or sluggish mornings, I’ve re-enacted “It’s showtime, folks!” in my own bathroom.
Simply cannot imagine living without this film¬
Dammit, I had a huge comment and the server dropped the connection.
Catherine – LOVE your comment and all of your thoughts. I agree that the “all songs are happening in the character’s minds” is a huge cop-out in many of today’s movie musicals, showing a lack of confidence in the genre, in general. That was my problem with a lot of Dream Girls – when the songs were supposed to be actual performances, the movie knew what it was doing. But the second it was supposed to be a private moment, or a soliloquy – the movie lost its footing.
But anyway, back to All that Jazz:
I love that you remember how Rheinking says that line – with the “mmmmmmGideon and Jagger” – that scene had a HUGE impact on me as a child (I know I wrote about it once somewhere) – I saw that and thought, ‘That is how I want my life to be.” I somehow overlooked the rampant infidelity, the artistic anxiety and the pill-popping – and saw only the joy, the gloriousness of that apartment – and how fun it would be to have a leotard on at all times, ready to go create some art. I loved how Fosse handled the young girl (Erzebet Foldi) – the film totally respected her innocence, yet she wasn’t a toddler or a school girl – she was juuust on the cusp of womanhood, in that awkward blossoming time, she has already seen a lot – and the movie manages to keep her innocent while also dealing with that reality. I LOVED her relationship with Ann Rheinking – yes yes yes your comment in spot on.
There is all of that in Scheider’s weary used-up face as he watches their dance – sadness, joy (has he forgotten how fun it is to create something just for the hell of it), guilt (is he worthy of the love of these two spectacular creatures) – and also a baffled confusion – who is he to be so lucky? and yes I think you are so right, that Rheinking would be a great stepmom – never considered that that might also have been on his mind as he watched them prance around wtih top hats and ballet shoes.
MAGICAL scene.