In non-illustrated

Each of us has movies that changed our life. (And please tell me yours at the end of this post.) Some of the seminal movies in my life still have a hold on me, like THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I still get goosebumps every time that crane shot swoops in over Julie Andrews on that mountaintop in the film’s opening moments. Other movies that once had a similar impact on me don’t anymore. I saw GREASE in the theater four times as a teenager, but now I can’t watch the darn thing all the way through. But when I love a movie I really love a movie and will not hesitate to pay to see it over and over again. And in all of my movie-going years, there’s only one movie that has the distinction of being one I saw in the theaters six times. The year was 1979 and the movie was ALL THAT JAZZ.

I was a freshman attending the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. I was a somewhat naïve and sheltered kid from Wisconsin who could draw and had lots of imagination, but I had yet to understand what being an artist was about. I would soon find out. And ALL THAT JAZZ would be as good as any class I was attending.

ALL THAT JAZZ is a movie directed by, written by, and about Bob Fosse. Fosse was a major force in entertainment and a consummate artist.  And boy was he prolific. He was a director of movies like CABARET and LENNY; he wrote, directed and choreographed Broadway shows like PIPPIN and CHICAGO; and he directed TV specials too like LIZA WITH A Z.  He won an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony all in one calendar year. He defined the term “multitasker” before the word was even invented!

Needless to say, Fosse was driven. Thus, so is the character based on him in the movie.  Joe Gideon (a bravura turn by Roy Scheider) is a director of both film and stage, and in ALL THAT JAZZ, he’s working on a LENNY-like movie as well as a PIPPIN-like musical simultaneously. The stress is driving him a little nuts. But work is an addiction to him. So are uppers, downers, sex, booze, cheating, and lying. It’s the portrait of an artist who’s as insecure as he is talented. The same drive that compels him to try to create extraordinary works is also killing him. When he has a heart attack halfway through the movie, the tragedy doesn’t curb his art, it escalates it. Every thought in his head becomes a phantasmagorical production number, a fever dream halfway between brilliance and a body bag.

For a small-town boy like me, this portrayal of an artist and creativity blew me away. Was this the kind of angst and addiction I would have to experience to become an artist? In high school, art seemed easy. I was easily the best art student there and when I created it seemed more like playing than working. But then because of ALL THAT JAZZ, I started to see that the task of being truly artistic required a lot more thought, a lot more effort, and a lot more elbow grease. It wasn’t long before I, inspired by ALL THAT JAZZ, was burning the midnight oil in my own quest for artistic perfection. Luckily I didn’t fall into any drugs or womanizing, but I did consider growing a goatee until I realized I didn’t have any facial hair to speak of.

And as a budding artist, and a movie fan, I was blown away by the absolute artistry in this film. I had never seen a movie so chock full of melodrama, energy, rapid-fire editing, sumptuous production design, bitchy dialogue, show tunes, rock music and all sorts of visual effects – this wasn’t just a movie, it was one mindf**k, a sensational sensory experience. And it was funny and raunchy, I laughed throughout at the virtual cornucopia of copulation, drugs and Ethel Merman. I sure wasn’t in Wisconsin anymore. Or even Minneapolis. I was in the mind of Bob Fosse.

I’ll never forget his brilliantly staged and edited opening. It’s a long scene where Gideon auditions hundreds of dancers for his Broadway show. It is simply one of the greatest edited pieces of film ever put together. Scored to the great song “On Broadway” by George Benson. I’ve uploaded it below for you to watch and be mesmerized by it as I was all six times I saw it in the theater in Minneapolis. Tell me it doesn’t give you an awe-inspiring thrill of something new and over-the-top, the way Oz certainly must have seemed to the farm girl Dorothy Gale when she first walked through her black and white world into a more colorful and vivid existence.

Bob Fosse/Joe Gideon was my introduction to the potential of art. Big, bold, eye-catching, life changing. It showed me what an artist could be. And what a movie could do. It made me aware of technique and discipline and the struggle to find meaning in what you’re creating. Whether you’re a writer, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, dancer or singer, you will be able to relate. And even if you’re not in a creative field, we are all artists, creators in one way or another. And we all know what it’s like to feel insecure and wonder if we are having any effect whatsoever. I entered college a naïf and left ready for the good fight. I knew art would be a struggle. But it would also be beautiful. And ALL THAT JAZZ showed me the way.

That’s why it is the movie that changed my life. It made me realize that despite all the angst, a creative profession was well worth it. ALL THAT JAZZ is a movie about trying to make the most out of life. And sometimes out of art. Do yourself a favor, see it. It may not change your life like it did mine. But it’s a helluva ride.

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