Bob Fosse took the creative maxim “write what you know” to the extreme in his marvelous, nakedly autobiographical 1979 film about a Broadway choreographer and film director (Roy Scheider) working himself to death. That’s not metaphor: The film concludes in a hallucinatory funeral-cum-variety show song-and-dance number, “Bye Bye Life.” Inspired by Fellini’s 8 1/2, All That Jazz is at once of its era – Dexedrine and womanizing are major topics of interest – but also eternal in its exploration of the extremes a person will go to in pursuit of the creative life... and just how much bad behavior people are willing to excuse in a “Great Man.” (Turns out a lot.) All apologies to Cabaret, but this is Fosse’s masterpiece. – Kimberley Jones
