GRADE: A

With a decidedly distinct dose of sardonic wit and pathos thrown in for good measure, director Bob Fosse extracts from actor Roy Scheider (playing a character obviously based on Fosse himself) one of the finest performances of his career in the strikingly modern musical drama, “All That Jazz.”

At first blush, it’s difficult to picture the stony faced Scheider—best known for playing hard-bitten cops and the like—as a dancer, choreographer and stage-show director. But he makes the transition to this demanding, multifaceted role with ease, bringing a frenetic zest to the part that binds the story to the incredible, often surreal musical numbers that punctuate the film.

Like Fosse’s “Cabaret” and “Lenny,” “All That Jazz” is a purely adult affair with content that certainly justifies its R-rating. But that content is never simply gratuitous or inadvertently exploitative—it’s simply a necessity for telling this tumultuous tale about the topsy-turvy world one creates when faced with the impossible task of trying to please everyone around you.

Despite the pervasiveness of drug abuse, infidelity, small lies, big deals, and the relentless pressures of show business, “All That Jazz” is really about living your life your own way, on your own terms, even if those terms lead you to an early grave. Whatever the core narrative, “All That Jazz” represents the final chapter in a troika of Fosse films that will forever be remembered for their originality, naked truth and dramatic daring.

Ever since famed Italian director Fredrico Fellini gained acclaim for his self-effacing, semi-autobiographical slice-of-life romp, “8 ½,” filmmakers have been exploring the possibilities offered by the form. In Fosse's case, the result is a phantasmagorical conglomeration of drama and dance concealed in a thinly veiled story about a successful Broadway director driving himself to exhaustion as he tries to juggle family, girlfriends, agents, producers, ex-wives and countless others with an ever-increasing diet of amphetamines, pain killers, alcohol and starlets.

Fascinating from start to finish, “All That Jazz” has an eerie, prophetic subtext to it in view of the fact that its main character suffers a fate Fosse would suffer a few years after making the film. In both cases, it’s a fate infused with many regrets, but no excuses and lots of style.

#