A classic

Since this movie is a classic, I was really eager to check it out. To be honest, it took me a while to get into the damned thing. It probably had to do with the fact that I’m not a huge fan of musicals in general but Bob Fosse is one director who was really able to flawlessly combine musical numbers within a straightforward story. On top of that, his musicals were quite dark, at least, the ones he filmed, much darker than your average musical and it made them much more interesting to behold. Finally, I was quite impressed by Roy Scheider who played something completely different than his usual characters and he gave here probably his best performance. To be honest, the whole thing still felt like a huge egotrip obviously inspired by ‘8 1/2’ from Federico Fellini but, eventually, what really sold the movie to me was the final scene. Indeed, it was an impressive dance sequence involving some hallucinations and it was just so dark and thrilling at the same time. Futhermore, since it was about Bob Fosse’s life and since he was still alive to direct this movie, I expected the main character to make it so I was really surprised that the guy actually died at the end which was seriously bleak but also really bold and fascinating. To conclude, I think I will re-watch it at some point to make up my mind about the damned thing but it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre or if you are interested in Bob Fosse’s work.