As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

"All That Jazz" is a strange sort of autobiographical, self-referential, kind of surreal black comedy musical and character study of sorts. If that sounds really weird, that's because it is. But as strange as the film is, it's also incredibly original, and I kind of loved it.Joe Gideon is self centered and a sex addict. He won't let anyone else love him because he hates himself. And he loves to hate himself. He's also an insane perfectionist. No scratches that. He's not just a perfectionist, no one can please him, not even himself. His goal seems to be to create something he considers perfect, but he can't help but hate everything he does. He doesn't seem to care much about his life, and the only thing he seems to think about is dance. We get a look into his mind and all we see is a lady that Joe thinks is perfect (and that we never see in his real life) and a stage. Oh, also, it becomes increasingly obvious that Joe is actually Bob Fosse, the director of this film.The film charts his sort of trip into insanity, and as he begins dieing, his life becomes more and more consumed by his dance numbers, until eventually he can't tell whats even real and what's fake. The show business and dance numbers eventually become his life, and before he can reach what he considers perfection, it cuts to his dead body.Speaking of the editing, it's absolutely fantastic throughout the whole film. It's fast and mirrors the way that the character feels, such as the morning routine. It starts with close ups of him showering, taking pills, eye drops etc... Then it cuts to a wide shot of Joe standing before he says "It's show-time, folks!". This shows how he is not truly himself until he has entered the show business, and also shows that he thinks about his life as just a show, a production. As the film progresses, it becomes harder for him to continue in his "show" and the editing reflects this. There are many clips quickly edited together of him coughing and trying to say "It's show- time" but he can't quite get it out. As well as a slow motion close up of him taking the pills, and many other fantastic editing moments, not only in this scene, but in the whole film. It connects past, present, future, memory, and fantasy with ease and it's amazing to watch.This also contains easily Roy Scheider's greatest performance. He becomes this suffering, lonely, self indulgent character and it blew me away. This film may be very strange, and as self indulgent as the main character, but its also really great and there's nothing quite like it.

While I was watching All That Jazz, I was reminded of a quote that Howard Hawks said. Hawks said that in order to make a good movie, you must have 3 good scenes and no bad scenes. Bob Fosse's All That Jazz has, what I believe, three good scenes and no bad scenes. However, the move itself has a depressing mood to it, which is similar or not with Fosse's other works like Cabaret and Sweet Charity. The movie centers around a deeply troubled dance choreographer, (Roy Scheider), who spends most of his life dedicated to his work in the theater. Yet, outside his life, his wife, (Ann Reinking), and his daughter are seeing himself fall into a world of self-destruction. Scheider is trying to create a Broadway show called "Airotica", which will debuted in the beginning of February. Scheider's character is a drug addict and cigarette-smoking womanizer, who tries to do the best he can by putting on a show. But, as he begins to put the show together, his life starts to take a turn for the worse. Edited in between the movie are moments when Scheider speaks to an angelic woman, (Jessica Lange), about his troubles and his virtues.The movie is torn apart by its portrayal of a man that is not only falling under the spell of self-destruction, but also falling into a near-death experience. This creates the movie's depressing tone, yet it does make us feel bad that Scheider is hurting himself more and more as he feeds his life and heart into his production. Toward the end of the movie, without giving much more away, the main character finds exactly what he is looking for. Like most of Fosse's work, this movie centers around the dark side of show business. What Fosse shows us in this movie is his own vision of his life in the showbiz industry. We understand fully throughout the movie that for all of the razzle and dazzle specialty that this movie has to offer, there's a dark undercurrent lying underneath the movie. The three scenes that I think makes the movie worth watching are when Scheider shows his agents his idea of the show and he lets the female and male dance performers do the number, which is called "Take Off with Us (Reprise). That scene is so energetic that as the scene went on with the dancers moving their bodies suggestively in the light and especially in the dark, I realize that Fosse's direction creates much of the scene's energetic mood. The movement of the hands. The way the female dancer move to the left and right of the room. The scene oozes with a sense of extreme sexuality that we get completely lost in a world that is showered by movement and energy. That is one of the three scenes that I like in the movie.The second scene that I like so much is when Scheider's lover and daughter dances in his apartment. The musical number in this scene is called "Everything Old is New Again." I thought that of all of the scenes that were in the movie, this one was probably the best one in the movie. That scene is so well shot by Fosse and so well choreographed that it breaks through the depressing mood of the story. That's why the movie works for me. It has that ability to breaks through the depression and somehow feeds us a happy moment in the movie. Not only happy and jubilant, but also tragic. The third scene that I also like was when Scheider is shooting his own production number and like the scene that I mention before, his lover and his daughter also appear in this scene too. The wife and daughter do a number together, called "After You've Gone". The three scenes for me illustrates how much life and also feeling is being into this musical. Unlike Grease, which came out before this film, All That Jazz draws a tragic, downbeat and depressing tone to the musical genre. It also leaks sexuality since a lot of the numbers in this movie especially the rehearsal scene are very sexy.Roy Scheider give a outstanding performance as the main character. For a while, Scheider has been remembered as playing the police chief in Jaws or playing Gene Hackman's police partner in The French Connection. His performance make us want to care for him even though his response to the audience and to the supporting characters in the movie is ignored. This is a man who is walking on fire. He doesn't whether he makes it or not. I think what Bob Fosse shows us in this movie is that show business isn't about the stars and the razzle and dazzle. Showbiz can have a dark side, too. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.

All that Jazz is such a good film. It is about the life of an accomplished theater (stage) choreographer Joe Gideon. We see him in his professional endeavors on a day-to-day basis but also his personal life as well with his family and lovers.Gideon is a hard-working professional unforgiving to others and also to himself and is also a very gifted one and he knows it. He is not a perfect individual (he cheats his wife) but still loves her as well as his mistress. He is a man of passion and he is aware of the fact that we have a finite time (before we die) to leave our mark on this life.Roy Scheider gives the performance of his career in this film. The final song 'Bye bye Life' and choreography (10 minutes before the closing credits) that Gideon 'sees' in his bed in the hospital is captivating.

I had never thought much of Roy Scheider till I saw this movie late one night, quite by chance. It was inspired casting on Bob Fosse's part I think, cant imagine anyone else as Joe Gideon.Although I do not usually enjoy "musicals" I do thoroughly enjoy this slightly surreal, slightly gritty movie that presents a series of colorful tableau culminating in a memorable final scene.Although the story is considered to be autobiographic the underlying study of a self destructive psyche and approach of death is intriguing, set in a back drop of modern dance and music.Probably has to find a place in my 100 favorite movies.