The MoFo Top 100 Musicals Countdown

Von Trier's films are certainly not very accessible to the general population who typically wants escapism, something on in the background, or just watches movies casually and just occasionally.

Your post is what I experienced with The Blues Brothers. I was in high school when the movie came out and the kids were really excited about it, I remember people talking about it and wanting to see it. I seen it at the cinema first run and thought it was fun. Then I caught it when it started to play on cable.

The 'cult' of John Belushi and his passing had nothing to do with my love of TBB as I already liked the film before he died...and I was never a big fan of Belushi anyway. I was much more of a fan of Dan Aykroyd. When Belushi died I was like, bummer...but he was a fool for doing hard drugs. I've not really liked any other movies with Belushi and never really liked his characters, not even on SNL that much. So his death didn't make TBB a cult film for me, as I already liked it. What won me over as an adult was the R&B performers, the fantastic stunts and a crazy off the cuff story with colorful, roguish but likeable characters.

1979's All that Jazz is definitely one of my favorite films, a permanent part of my video collection and a film I can watch over and over again without tiring of it.

This dark, twisted, self-indulgent, musical version of Fellini's 8 1/2 seems to be Fosse's exploration of his own personal demons as he lays his life out there for all to see in a not too flattering light as a career-driven, hard drinking, smoking, womanizing director/choreographer who is only alive when he's on a Broadway stage creating dances or behind a camera lens but is clueless on how to deal with regular life and the little imperfections that most regular folks are able to cope with and accept.

Roy Scheider delivers a brilliant performance as the Fosse alter-ego Joe Gideon, who is trying to stage a new Broadway musical and put the finishing touches on a movie he directed and the stress of all this work puts him in the hospital after a heart attack. This story was based on the period in Fosse's career when he was beginning to mount the musical Chicago for Gwen Verdon and was still editing his 1974 film Lenny with Dustin Hoffman and had a heart attack shortly afterwards.

This film sucks you in from the beginning with shots of dancers warming up onstage as the opening bars of George Benson's "On Broadway" begin to fill the audio. Soon the camera pulls back to reveal hundreds of dancers onstage as Gideon weeds out the dancers he wants to cast in "NY to LA", the fictionalized version of Chicago. This number is just brilliant and is a wonderful introduction into the world of NY theater auditions for the uninitiated. Fosse, is, more than anything, a choreographer, and his dance direction in this film is nothing short of astonishing. I can watch the "Take Off With Us/Air-Rotica" scene over and over again and never tire of it. I also enjoyed when Ann Reinking (as Joe's girlfriend, basically playing herself) and Erzsebet Foldi (playing Joe's daughter, Michelle (Nicole))do a dance for Joe to Peter Allen's "Everything Old is New Again" in his living room. Joe's fantasy production numbers after he enters the hospital are also dazzling, especially long-legged Reinking's rendition of "You Better Change your Ways".

There are also small quiet moments in the film that are equally effective, in particular a lovely scene in a dance studio with Joe and his daughter where she tries to talk him into getting married and giving her a little brother. This is not a side of Gideon we see much of (Fosse either) and it is a lovely moment. Jessica Lange's ethereal quality was used to great advantage in her small but showy role as Joe's Angelique. Leland Palmer (who starred in Fosse's Pippin on Broadway) registers as Audrey Paris, Joe's ex-wife and Michelle's mother, a fictionalized Gwen Verdon. Her scene with Scheider in the dance studio where she calls him on his constant infidelity is a gem.

Cliff Gorman scores as Davis Newman, the star of Joe's film, THE STAND UP (this film's version of Lenny), who is seen visiting Gideon in the hospital and psychoanalyzing him at the same time.

The "Bye Bye Love" finale is a little over the top and WAY too long but I like the end of it when he says goodbye to everyone before his death (especially loved the looks exchanged with John Lithgow and his hug with daughter Michelle). All in all, All that Jazzis a must for Fosse-ites and fans of musical theater..whether it's stage or screen. Not as good as Cabaret, but still a unique movie experience to be savored.

There were no "sketches" with Aykroyd & Belushi as The Blues Brothers. They appeared several times on "SNL" as a musical act, just like any other band.

I love both of their albums (there are four, total, if you count the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and a "Best-of" compilation). The original release, Briefcase Full of Blues, reached number one on the Billboard Album chart and to date has sold well over three-million copies (I am responsible for more than one of those purchases). Their cover of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" hit #14 on the Hot 100 - the original hit #2 in 1967 (co-written by Isaac Hayes). Without the phenomenal success of the band as a musical act, likely Universal never would have developed a feature film for the characters. Frankly the continued success of the concept as a commercial entity is due almost entirely to the fact that the music aspect of it was always taken seriously, never done as a spoof or goof. There would not be any House of Blues establishments anywhere in the world had it not always been primarily about the love of and respect for Soul, Blues, and Rhythm & Blues music.



But to each their own.

Dude, lol, for the third time, I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, I'm respecting your opinion. I'm not taking away from anyone's love of the film or challenging anyone's reasons and so forth. But yes, the death effect does exist on a 10,000 foot macro level in regards to the film's legacy. However, what I won't respect is mischaracterizing, misrepresenting what I wrote or straw manning it, but it's a free country as they say. I casually mentioned the death effect in regards to The Blues Brothers and its lasting legacy in my initial take/semi-review of the film, and my gawd! In comes the swarm! You'd think I had stepped on a landmine or committed a sacrilegious act. Thank you for sharing your feelings and please forgive me for mentioning the death effect and my philosophical belief of objectivism as opposed to relativism. And also thank you for loving The Blues Brothers and I believe you and everyone else when they say they love The Blues Brothers. I also think it's a film worthy of being loved and I'm glad people love The Blues Brothers and many people who love The Blues Brothers have many awesome, amazing, and valid reasons for doing so outside of the context of John Belushi's all too tragic and early passing.

There... maybe... I hope? Please?

So, ANYWAY (a second time now), what do you think of Dancer in the Dark? It was my number six and I think it's brilliant.