SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our MARCH MUSICAL MADNESS Series, Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Also Playing On Monday, March 27th
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
7:20pm CABARET (1972, dir. Bob Fosse, Allied Artists, USA, 124mns, 35mm)
9:45pm ALL THAT JAZZ (1979, dir. Bob Fosse, Fox, USA, 123mns, 35mm)
As we enter the final lap of our March Musical Madness series we must return (as we have from time to time) to the transformational work of director/choreographer/filmmaker Bob Fosse with arguably his two greatest movies: Cabaret and All That Jazz.
It’s interesting to note that at least four Broadway choreographers have made a serious impact on American cinema: Busby Berkeley, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, and Bob Fosse. Though the work of each of these filmmakers is wildly different and uniquely their own, the unifying thread is a willingness to experiment with the movie form, a fundamental understanding that entertainment needs razzle/dazzle, and a near obsessive work ethic to get it right.
This programmer is not exaggerating when he says that the work of the above mentioned moviemakers is every inch as important to the development of our movie language as the work of Orson Welles and Jean Luc Godard.
In Cabaret, Fosse fully committed to the material (based on a 1966 musical which itself was based on a 1950’s movie I Am A Camera which itself was based on the autobiographical writings of Christopher Isherwood). A snapshot of the Bohemian lifestyle of artists and ex-pats living in Berlin during the Weimar Republic and rise of Nazism, Cabaret was one of the first American musicals to explicitly work to entertain with song and dance numbers at the same time it took on formerly taboo subjects for a musical like LGBTQ issues, complicated political issues, nazism, abortion. . .
Cabaret revolves around the Kit Kat Club, visiting British writer Brian, singer and dancer Sally Bowles (Liza Minelli who won an Oscar), and rich German playboy Max. As these three play a cat’s cradle of sexual relationships and pairings, fascism gains mainstream acceptance around them.
We follow this with what this programmer considers to be Fosse’s towering masterpiece (and one of the greatest movies ever made), 1979’s All That Jazz.
Workaholic Fosse was often directing/choreographing Broadway shows at the same time he was preparing or directing or editing feature films at the same time he was catting around on his wife or his long time girlfriend with other women. To keep this frenetic schedule, Fosse took speed, smoked like the aftermath of a forest fire, and ignored the signs of impending heart attacks.
Fosse channeled all of his pent up awareness of his breakneck lifestyle into this semi-autobiographical movie about Broadway director/choreographer and filmmaker Joe Gideon (played by Roy Schieder in what may very well be his best performance).
The movie is a stunning masterclass in editing, musical numbers, performance, pace. It’s a movie that should not work. A clear riff on Fellini’s 8 1/2 that risks toppling over into narcissism, All That Jazz instead somehow miraculously becomes one of the towering 1970’s American works of cinema looking at how our chaotic lives ultimately clash with our chaotic deaths.
Fosse even casts his long time girlfriend Ann Reinking as a thinly veiled version of. . .Ann Reinking. His editor, Alan Heim (who edited the movie), plays his editor in the movie. . .and so on.
But nothing can prepare you for the final thirty minutes of the movie which become a phantasmagoric musical finale as Joe Gideon looks at his life, his choices, and where it all must inevitably lead. . .
Oh! And did we tell you Jessica Lange is in this thing as the Angel of Death! All That Jazz is one of David Fincher’s all-time favorite movies. And Martin Scorsese’s. And many other moviemakers.
It’s the moviemaker’s musical. And we’re showing it on 35mm!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.