Dir: Bob Fosse, 1980 (8*)
Palm d'Or (Cannes)
Fosse’s most self-involved film, so it may delight some, bore others, but it’s certainly autobiographical. Roy Scheider plays choreographer/director Joel Gideon who works hard, balances a heavy workload (completing the editing of a movie, which is Lenny, putting together a new musical, while trying to keep in touch with his only daughter requiring attempting to get along with his ex-wife and his new lover (Anne Reinking), a dancer in his musical), and he does all this with smoking, drinking, and popping pills. Eventually exhaustion and heart attack follow, which gives him visions of death’s angel (Jessica Lange), and musical numbers based on his life, kind of like this movie. Features some of his best dance scenes (Air Erotica), yet also stretches audience credibility. Received eight Academy Award nominations, winning four Oscars.
Quote: ...a fine humanitarian, and a close personal friend for many years (Ben Vareen)
At the Oscars, someone said, "when he died, an autopsy revealed that Fosse's ego had spread throughout his entire body."