B-Movie Gazette: "ALL THAT JAZZ" TURNS 45 - THE GENIUS THAT WAS BOB FOSSE WILL NEVER GROW OLD WITH THIS MASTERPIECE

B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - KLONDIKE FEVER (1979)

Canadian director Peter Carter was best known for the B-movie masterpiece Rituals, which, many movie lovers think beat Deliverance at its own game. He died sadly at 49 of a sudden heart attack but not before leaving us with a few other gems like Highpoint with Richard Harris and this sorely overlooked Western drama. Klondike Fever tells the story of Jack London (Jeff East) and his partner (Robin Gammel) as they journey to stake their claim and hopefully take home their weight in gold. It's adventurous, epic in scope with a huge cast and suitable for the whole darn family. Of particular note is Robin Gammel, excellent and funny, Gordon Pinsent who kills it as the crafty "Swiftwater" and an '80's actress who I never tire of mentioning, the lovely Lisa Langlois. It's super cornball along the way and sometimes feels like an afternoon children's special but this is a great film and surprisingly it won a bunch of Genie awards to back that up. Klondike Fever, playing above and on Tubi which recently uploaded a much nicer version than the VHS transfer that they used to have. 2.75 stars/2.75

Monday, July 22, 2024

"ALL THAT JAZZ" TURNS 45 - THE GENIUS THAT WAS BOB FOSSE WILL NEVER GROW OLD WITH THIS MASTERPIECE

It's showtime, folks and don't forget the Dexedrine. Here's another one I saw in the theaters when it came out, I was 17 and in a boarding school in Arizona and they took us into town on a Saturday night to see this. I was probably one of the only kids that really dug it and was reeling about it afterwards. The more profound lessons of death the film runs it's battery on I would learn later on with subsequent viewings.

Threw it on last night (it's a good Sunday night movie, death of the week) and I have quite a few versions but this I found in a thrift store long time back called the "music:edition," which has some real sweet special features, the best of the lot being a huge collection of behind-the-scenes still photos, if I remember correctly from Roy Scheider's collection.

Speaking of Roy, this is his film. He owns it on the same grand level as Liza Minelli did in Fosse's Oscar-winning Cabaret. Not only did he never do something again as good as this performance, he didn't even come close! Some of the stuff he did in the last eighties and later on in his career was downright embarrassing. I actually think 52 Pick-Up of all films is probably his closest best performance to this.

There are more than a few scenes in the movie that by themselves, yes by themselves, warrant a 5-star rating, for example, the incredible "Air-Otica" music piece. The "Everything old is new again" scene with Ann Reinking and the girl actually made me cry last night, it's that beautiful, Reinking was the greatest dancer probably that ever existed and her work in this scene still blows my mind.

And then there's Ben Vereen in the closing number. In just seven minutes he steals what's left of the picture and creates a forever iconic piece of art with his body. His moves would literally make Mick Jagger jealous.

Pretty much everyone above the line is long gone, so at age 45, we raise our glasses to All That Jazz and the cornucopia of star talent inherent within - your mark on cinema is indelible. 5 stars/5

"ALL THAT JAZZ" is free right now on Tubi and only for the rest of July.