BOB FOSSE – MORE SMOKE PLEASE
On Sundays in August, the Revue Cinema and curator Alicia Fletcher celebrate the originator of jazz hands, the godfather of Razzle Dazzle–the multi-hyphenate genius who rose from the ranks of seedy burlesque houses to Hollywood and Oscar heavyweight, the incomparable Bob Fosse. A vaudevillian, choreographer, actor, director, consummate womanizer, and prolific EGOT-tour-de-force, his contributions to dance, Broadway and film are immeasurable. A Footlights Svengali, Fosse and his productions were as notorious as they were celebrated. As a master of erotica, the director channeled the charged environment he was raised within–touring America’s burlesque circuit as a child performer in the ‘30s–into resurrecting and refining the big spectacle musical for the New Hollywood era. With his patented “isolated moves,” Fosse’s contributions as a choreographer and director are fabled–so celebrate his upcoming centenary on the big screen with 35mm and recent restorations, only at the Revue Cinema!
“It’s Showtime!” (Joe Gideon)
Having survived two near-fatal heart attacks and open-heart surgery while editing his previous film, LENNY, Bob Fosse embarked on a surreal, autobiographical fever dream conjured from the darkest depths of his addiction and obsessive passions. A Fellini-esque musical for those who say they hate musicals, ALL THAT JAZZ served as Fosse’s late-career elegy for sex, drugs, and relentless commitment to one’s art. Edited like a hallucination, it serves as the ultimate backstage drama–a film about mortality and legacy, genius and the crushing demands of virtuosic talent. It could only have been made by a man who knew his time on this earth was very limited.
ALL THAT JAZZ charts Joe Gideon’s rapid decline from footlights wunderkind and Hollywood icon to a burned-out, lapsed Svengali on the verge of total heart failure. Conversing with an angel (a cherubic Jessica Lange), Roy Scheider’s Gideon attempts to reconcile with his past and cheat death–with flashbacks of regret involving his wife (Leland Palmer–representing Gwen Verdon), his girlfriend (Fosse’s real-life former lover, the luminously talented Ann Reinking), and his young daughter. And yet, despite the gloomy subject matter, ALL THAT JAZZ is a jubilant musical, with choreographed numbers that stand as some of the greatest ever captured on film (ex, “Bye Bye Life”). This is Fosse editing and directing as though his life depended on it (it did), and Scheider in his career-defining performance (sorry, JAWS). (ALICIA FLETCHER)