All That Jazz DVD (1979)

All That Jazz

1979

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

from 2236 members

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, All Movie Guide

All That Jazz details

Format:	15 DVD
Starring:	Roy Scheider, Ben Vereen, Cliff Gorman, John Lithgow, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer
Director:	Bob Fosse
Genre:	Music/Musical - Music - Rock/Pop
Studio:	20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT

DVD 1 disc

Name	Discs
All That Jazz	15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 58 minutes
Rental release:	30 Jun 2003
Main languages:	English
Subtitles:	Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish
Hearing impaired subtitles:	English

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Most helpful review All That Jazz

Musical masterpiece

By unprinted from London , 01 Nov 2003

[Highly rated reviewer]

Despite winning a pile of Academy Awards, it took a year for this to get a decent release outside London.

The wait was worth it.

A stunning self-examination by a genius of the musical, made even more raw by using several of his real life partners in the film.

Bob Fosse was at the top of his career. He'd won everything except the FA Cup for Cabaret. He was editing his next film (Lenny), directing a new musical from the duo responsible for Cabaret (Chicago) featuring his ex-wife, while living with his new live-in partner... and having numerous other affairs.

Then he had a heart attack.

It's all there in the film. Only the names have been changed. Well, nearly.

Throw in some stunning musical numbers - but as in Cabaret, no-one just bursts into song - and you have a masterpiece.
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Flirting with the death

By a customer , 19 Feb 2012

Great movie, choreography, music!!!!! Perfect casting! Jessica Lang is wonderful as the angel of death. It is a great movie how Mr Gideon is getting ready to die. During the whole film you know it is inevitable and he knows it as well, but keep flirting with it. Worth to watch.
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Like watching a drunk get run over in Soho

By Shantavira (3 reviews) from Birmingham , 02 Mar 2011

Joe Gideon, around whom this movie is centred, is such a thoroughly unpleasant character that after the first five minutes it's difficult to care what happens to him and I saw this one out only for the musical numbers, which end up being too glitzy and stylish for their own good.
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Chief Brody wears sequins

By Oldbloke (313 reviews) from Sidmouth , 17 May 2010

A celebrated musical director is seeking inspiration for a new stageshow whilst at the same time cutting his latest movie. Unfortunately, his chainsmoking, pillpopping, bedhopping lifestyle has finally caught up with him and he has a heart attack. At the centre of this movie is an enigmatic performance from Roy Scheider full of humour, cynicism and wisdom. Problem is the late 70's disco era inspired musical/dance numbers now appear desperately cheesy and will render this unwatchable for most.
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Clever yet dated

By a customer from London , 26 Jan 2010

Saw Nine in Jan 2010 and wanted to compare it to this earlier imitation of Fellini's 8 1/2 , the original masterpiece that spawned both these children. All That Jazz like Nine is a clever remake, but I'd have to give Nine the edge - though if you're new to this genre of the tortured director/dictator trying to re-find his muse - do yourself a favor and watch Fellini to catch the source.
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jazz

By a customer from London , 10 Jul 2009

Life gets no better for Roy Scheider after Marthon Man and Last Embrace. Unfortunately perhaps.
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