Bob Fosse, Posterized

Today would have been Bob Fosse's 82nd birthday if he hadn't smoked and sexed himself to death while choreographing dirty musical numbers and flirting with angels of death in Nineteen-Seve... oh wait, I'm thinking of Joe Gideon, his All That Jazz altar ego. Fosse died of a heart attack at 60 in 1987. He's best remembered today as the most important choreographer of the 20th century this side of Martha Graham, totally affecting everything that came after him. But he was also a brilliant film director and in the realm of cinema he rarely gets his due. When great actors die young they often become legendary. When great directors die after just a handful of movies, not so much... especially if they made their mark in the musical genre.

Fosse acted and danced in other movies but these are the six filmed entertainments he directed. All are worth seeing and two are among the greatest films ever made.

Sweet Charity (69) | Cabaret (72) | Liza With a Z (concert telefilm, 72)

Lenny (74) | All That Jazz (79) | Star 80 (83)

How many have you seen? If the answer is less than six, do yourself a huge favor, and put them on your rental queue. Have a Fosse completist festival at home. You won't be disappointed. And maybe you'll even wonder why he's not lumped in with the biggies when people talk about the great 70s directors. I know I do.

I like Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) just fine but it's hard not to think about what Fosse's version would have been like. And if they do remake Damn Yankees like they keep saying they will, will they keep his awesome choreography, or chuck it and go with unskilled dancers in the big roles?

God... it's so great when you can see entire bodies in dance scenes.
Almost no filmmakers understand this anymore.

If you've seen all of Fosse's films, why not a double feature of Damn Yankees! (1958) and All That Jazz. Think about it: In the former you can watch Fosse and the legendary Gwen Verdon together (like in the scene above) and then in the latter you can watch Roy Sheider and Leland Palmer pretend to be them, acting out their very difficult relationship with Oscar calibre aplomb.

As a takeaway please enjoy Bob Fosse doing a minute of Fosse-isms in 1953's Kiss Me Kate.



Incidentally, that musical was in 3D. I actually saw it in 3D the very first time I saw it at a special showing in the 80s (there was a mini 3D fad ... i think it lasted about a year and half round about 1984 or something?). I'm reading that 3D might die out again and am crossing my fingers that history repeats itself. I like my movies flat. The best performers burst out of the screen in multiple dimensions anyway. You don't need glasses to witness those miracles. Now if only they'd give me film grain back... if anyone ever tries to clear the grain from Cabaret it won't even remotely be Cabaret, you know?
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Say a Prayer for Natasha Richardson

Update March 18th Natasha Richardson has officially passed away.

Reports are coming fast and furious and not all of them agree on details but the lovely Natasha Richardson was in a skiing accident Monday. Liam Neeson, her husband, left the set of his latest film to be with her [LA Times]. Natasha hasn't been onscreen a lot lately but she triumphed on stage in the revival of Cabaret on Broadway in the 90s (and Sally Bowles isn't an easy part to play, despite the numerous women who took turns filling her shoes when she moved on). Just a few years ago she was radiant and center stage in the underappreciated Merchant/Ivory picture The White Countess (pictured left) opposite Ralph Fiennes. Here's a great fansite.

Let's hope that some of the more ominous reports, some mentioning traumatic brain injuries and death, are incorrect. Official details from her family are expected to emerge soon.

Natasha and her mother, the legendary Vanessa Redgrave,
last March in London. [Photo source]

Update March 18th @ 2:56 Still no official word from her family according to the NY Times but many news sources are still proclaiming worst case scenarios such as "brain death" or "on life support". Here's an explanation of how these delayed brain injuries operate. Terrible terrible news.

Mein Herr

There'll never be another Liza Minelli



Mein!

Happy 63rd birthday to the kooky wondrous enduring talented divinely decadent and inexplicable spawn of Judy G.

Oscar Did You Knows?

a few pieces of useless trivia for you!


...that in the elite community of actors who've won more than one Oscar, all thirty-eight of them with Sean Penn as the newest club member, the average wait for the second statue is 9 years. Kate Winslet for the win in 2017, baby! Of course, for some actors the love affair with the Academy is intense and feverish and the statues are back to back (Tom Hanks, Luise Rainer, Jason Robards, Spencer Tracy) as if the voting body wanted to seal the deal before they started showing... if you know what I mean. The most common wait time though is strangely but a 3 year span. That's happened to five goddesses of the silver screen (Glenda Jackson, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Bette Davis and Olivia DeHavilland).

Only four actors have won three or more Oscars (Katharine Hepburn, Walter Brennan, Jack Nicholson, and Ingrid Bergman) and though most sentient beings expect Meryl Streep to become the fifth to achieve that rare honor, she'll set another record when she does. The longest wait after the second Oscar for that third -- well, besides eternity -- was Ingrid Bergman's 18 year delay. It's been 26 years since Streep's second win so she's already shown more patience than Bergman had to.

Penn's second win also makes him the fourth straight man to win the Lead Oscar for playing a gay man. He follows William Hurt in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985), Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (1993) and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005) to that distinction. Now if they'd only give the Oscar to a gay actor playing a gay man for once. Sir Ian McKellen's loss for Gods and Monsters still stings. Especially since it's better than any of those performances.

[cue music] Onesies beats twosies but nothing beats three [/music]

Cuteness alert: Kate, Sean and Penélope reenact the Vicky
Cristina Barcelona menage a trois with their gold men.

I haven't double checked this statistic (where would one check it?) but I believe that Penélope Cruz is now only the second actress to win an Oscar for a film in which she engages in threesome loving -- the first being Liza Minelli in Cabaret (well, depending on how you interpret the events of Cabaret). Unless I'm forgetting someone. Which I might be.

These random pieces of trivia are brought to you by a ferocious hangover sponsored by Absolut Vodka. I shall try to collect myself for further Oscar post-show business.

Breakfast With... Sally Bowles

Prairie Oysters, darling!


It's an egg with worcestershire sauce all sort of whooshed up together!

Sally thinks you'll adore them and she recommends them for sinister hangovers -- Not that you were out drinking last night dear reader!
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In the Musicals

Since the TONY AWARDS are arriving Sunday (another actor showcase later today) showtunes are playing on a loop in my head. So with that in mind...

Thursday Triple: Movie Musicals


(my hearty apologies to the glorious Singin' in the Rain which I love almost as much as these three but still in copious amounts)

Those are my three favorites movie musicals of all time: West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz and Cabaret. If you had to choose only three, what would yours be?

In the Musicals

Since the TONY AWARDS are arriving Sunday (another actor showcase later today) showtunes are playing on a loop in my head. So with that in mind...

Thursday Triple: Movie Musicals


(my hearty apologies to the glorious Singin' in the Rain which I love almost as much as these three but still in copious amounts)

Those are my three favorites movie musicals of all time: West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz and Cabaret. If you had to choose only three, what would yours be?