BOB FOSSE: the films

There's a generation out there that identifies "If They Could See Me Now" w/Kathie Lee and cruise ships.

In the Fosse/Verdon TV series, the Tony-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz is playing Paddy Chayefsky. I didn't know he and BF were friends, but Fosse tapdanced at his funeral, per agreement. Imagine that crowded room when the two of them and their egos were around...

Bob was not a great dancer himself, so I think Rockwell can get by, but it'll be intriguing to see if Michelle can fake Gwen's chops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_w3UNHPIXQ

are you joking? fosse was an amazing dancer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItaESaGWMk

I just meant he was never gonna be Astaire or Kelly in Hollywood. Verdon was his ticket, performance-wise.

from the frank gilroy book im reading

"I bumped into Bob Fosse en route home after a day of shooting All That Jazz. He looked spent but happy. Was carrying an open wine bottle and glass. 'Want a drink?' he invited. I declined. 'How's it going?' I asked. 'Great,' he said with a joy that was almost reverent."

I could swear Fosse did an American Express commercial around 1980, but it doesn't appear to be online

well, cable dudes?

I know it's not about that end of it, really, it's about the interpersonal relationships, but I really wish Fosse/Verdon had more singing and dancing in it.

I don't know if this is the correct thread to talk about it.

TIL: Bob Fosse’s goyishe staple at Carnegie Deli was corned beef with mayo on white, which jesus christ

— Matt Prigge (@mattprigge) May 20, 2019

Anyone watching Fosse/Verdon?

Watched it all when it ran here earlier this year -- sometimes hard in that Fosse himself was just too much the asshole in real life and what are you going to do, but I'm glad I did see it all, its best moments are stellar.

I got tired of it and didn't make it to the end. Mostly it felt like an excuse to recreate musical numbers that were better in their original performances.

2 eps in, enjoying the hell out of it. It's surprising how popular Verdon was, as she's not hugely well known here in the UK. Rather brilliantly it's showing on the BBC. The whole thing is gratis right here if anyone fancies it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00077ch/fosseverdon-series-1-1-life-is-a-cabaret

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIiZuAVZH4w

I need to watch the show while it's still on iplayer, there was a great doc about Gwen on the BBC last month, she was an absolute force

It's no great movie musical... the numbers are mostly flatly staged. But Verdon is the best reason to watch.

Yah so sad that her and Haney have such a small legacy on film

Lenny is more bearable than it might have been in other hands, thanks to Fosse's direction and the lead performances. The writing is definitely the weak link, which is odd considering that it was based on (what I assume was) a well-regarded play. Glad I saw it, though; another one of the key American 70s films I can check off my list.

Cabaret remains the best film I saw for the first time this year. Stunning.

watched All That Jazz again tonight after many years. It is one of those films that is not available on streaming but I was still able to rent the Netflix dvd 12 days before they close their service forever

It is an awesome film. I thought the best extended scene in it was the spectacular opening sequence with the massive number of striving dancers performing ~somewhat~ in unison on stage in a big theater, who are seen from a distance and who are hoping to be cast but are mostly categorically rejected…

but after that it was also the two-part “Take Off With Us” dance scene, the first part being a very pleasing anodyne Broadway jazz number and the second being a much more daring erotic piece that had the showrunners covering their eyes.

and the somewhat cringy "Bye Bye Love" surreal scene at the end was utterly amazing

Yes, it's aired on Reel 13 on PBS a couple of times recently. Concur re: Take off with us and the surreal extended "Bye Bye Love" at the end.

The scene where his girlfriend and daughter perform choreography stood out for me

I know the first half of “Take Off With Us” is meant to be saccharine and corny but, damn, it really works in spite of itself

It does. It was an ears-pricking-up moment in the film

The scene where his girlfriend and daughter perform choreography stood out for me

― Deflatormouse, Sunday, September 17, 2023

It was really nice, maybe the single most happy scene

I had to watch "Take Off With Us" both parts multiple times. There was so much going on in those scenes

Yeah i had the same instinct after seeing the film for the first time, cued Take off with us on Youtube right away

Fosse seems like the progenitor of all of the short-cut clips so prevalent in videos and movies in the last 30 years, which have chopped dance sequences up so you can't really see anything. He did it really well, but it has become ubiquitous and degraded since then

FYI, It's been available on Tubi to stream

...and there's a loaded Criterion DVD/BluRay that's been available for almost 10 years.

Fosse was in The Little Prince!

Just was looking at the DVD Beaver comparison page for ATJ, this is framegrab from one of the featurettes from Fox's special edition DVD that was ported over to the Criterion:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/dvdreviews28/a%20all%20that%20jazz%20bob%20fosse/menu%20new%20%20%20ALL_THAT_JAZZ-7.jpg

IMAGE HERE