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With round
shoulders and pigeon toes,

Bob Fosse used his
physical limitations

to create unorthodox,
misaligned,

and angular dance moves,

that unleashed a whole new way
of movement onto the world.

From his twist-inspired frug

of the psychedelic
Sweet Charity,

to the decadent risque
routines of Cabaret,

and Fellini-esque set
pieces of All That Jazz,

Bob Fosse was a
revolutionary dancer,

choreographer and director.

Oh blimey, Bob Fosse's
influence contemporary life.

I think he's played a huge part

in the world of dance.

In the dance world,

everyone knows who Bob Fosse is.

Almost like the Picasso
of choreographers.

Completely subverted everything.

He was a rebel.

He rebelled by
using unorthodox dance moves,

that went completely
against the grain,

utilizing twitches, hip pumps,

and articulating hands,

to create a new, highly
personal kind of choreography,

captivating his audience,

and placing himself
firmly on the map.

So, Bob Fosse was an
incredible dancer.

He was a choreographer.

He was a director.

I mean he was just, I
would say, everything.

The first thing that
springs to my mind

would have to be,

sexy, chic, and stylish.

His dance style was also

incredibly energetic,
and athletic.

A beautiful example of this,

is in his 1955 performance
of Alley Dance.

Fosse's style is so unique.

He was able to make
all his dancers

just have a pose,
or just have a look.

That was more powerful

than if they kicked
their legs 20 times.

Throwing up the hat, magically,

so it's anti-gravity.

The way they hit the beat,
that's all Bob Fosse.

He sort of ripped
up the rule book,

and found beauty in ugliness.

Bob Fosse conjures up show biz.

Bob Fosse is show biz,

it's showtime, folks.

Born in Chicago in 1927,

to a Norwegian-American father,

and an Irish-born mother,

who both had failed
show biz aspirations.

Robert 'Bob' Louis Fosse

took his first dance
class at the age of eight,

and in no time,
turned professional,

alongside childhood
pal, Charles Grass,

as part of the Riff Brothers
duo, at the age of 13.

Fosse's experiences
as part of the act,

included working late nights

at seedy burlesque
and strip clubs,

before he'd reached puberty.

He spent a childhood

hanging out with
strippers, basically,

and that's an
aesthetic that seems

to have seeped into
his later work.

I didn't know so much about how

exposed Bob Fosse was to life

and the sort of seediness of it.

I think it's so obvious,

when you see how sexualized,

and the use of the dancers'
bodies, his work is,

that it couldn't have
helped but seep into him.

If I imagined playing out
the scenes in Cabaret,

and how risque they were,

and how openly

sex and drugs and,

multi-sexual groups
and that was so,

it was so big,

and so just everywhere
for everyone to see.

When I think of my 14-year-old

being somewhere like
that, it's horrifying.

So, as a 13-year-old boy he
must have just experienced

so many different things
at such a young age,

which I'm sure really
did stick with him,

and some people might say,

for all the wrong reasons,
he shouldn't have been there,

but actually, look
what it created.

Whilst the
clubs may not have been

the most wholesome
environments for a young man,

Fosse's home life was
also far from perfect.

He even went so far as
to compare his father

to Arthur Miller's
womanizing Willy Loman.

"My father, always a glad hand,

"always pretending to be up.

"When my mother
died, we found out

"he had been seeing
another woman for years,

"you know, stockings and all,

"just like Willy Loman."

After high school,
the restless Bob Fosse

enlisted in the Navy,

working as part of
an entertainment unit

in the Pacific, until his
discharge in 1947.

He caught the acting bug

when he joined the American
Theater Wing in New York City.

But Bob's focus
was always dance,

and he moved to New
York with the aspiration

of becoming the
new Fred Astaire.

It wasn't long before
he came to the attention

of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin,

at the time, the
biggest stars in the US,

who invited him to appear
on their comedy show,

The Colgate Hour,

alongside his first
wife, Mary Ann Niles.

You don't see many clips
of Bob Fosse's early work,

but what's really clear,

is what a technically
accomplished dancer he was.

When he went to Hollywood,

the movie director,
Stanley Donen,

who's most famous
for things like,

Singing in the Rain
and On the Town,

he thought he was going to
be the next Fred Astaire.

It's partly because he
arrived in Hollywood,

sort of towards the end
of the big musicals era,

that that didn't happen.

It may also have been
to do with the fact

that we don't know if
he was much of an actor.

Most people sort of compared Bob

to like, Fred
Astaire, for example,

who could act, talk,

and then sort of slide into
the dance balletically,

and as if there
was no difference

between the character
who was dancing,

and it was the same
character he was playing

in that musical.

Fosse was a bit more
balletic than that,

more like Nureyev, for example,

who could perform
through the dance.

He had a character while
he was doing the dance.

You didn't want to
hear Bob Fosse speak.

Shut up and dance.

Bob Fosse got lucky,
in that he met people

who said, you can do more
than just do a nightclub act.

But he couldn't do
it unless he worked,

and took lessons,
and learned every,

every aspect of the dance,

and every aspect of filmmaking.

You can't just turn up on set,

and point the
camera and suddenly,

hey, you got Sweet Charity.

No, there's a lot of hard
work that goes into it,

so I would say luck is 5%,

turning up is 80%, and
the rest is talent.

In 1953,
Fosse moved into acting,

working for MGM,

but a dance sequence
that he choreographed

in the film, Kiss Me Kate,

brought him to the attention
of Broadway producers,

and it is here that we first see

a fearless demonstration of
his quirky, and angular style.

His move toward
choreography was well-timed,

as he was starting to doubt
himself as leading man material,

blaming his thinning hair,

and ungainly hands as factors.

Fosse is not a
traditionally strapping,

good-looking, handsome man.

There's something very
dynamic about him,

and indeed quite
sexual about him.

Bob Fosse always
said that he put hats

into his choreography to
cover up his hair loss.

He was embarrassed about
that, as many men are,

but I think what that shows
is that you can overcome

any physical deficiencies,

if that indeed is a
physical deficiency.

Did that drive him
into choreography?

Could you even ask the question,

would we be talking about
him today if he wasn't bald?

There's an essay in that.

I don't know where
he was in himself,

if he didn't feel he
was gonna continue

doing well because he
was losing his hair.

So perhaps he did kind
of, it did make him think,

well I'll have to
give up on that,

and concentrate somewhere else.

I'm quite grateful for his

lack of hair then,

'cause he wouldn't have brought

so much joy to my life.

He may not have
been classically good-looking,

but he had no shortage
of female admirers.

By now, already on to
his second marriage,

to dancer, Joan McCracken.

Fosse credited McCracken

as being the one
who encouraged him

to see himself as
more than a performer,

and devote himself
to choreography.

1954, returning to Broadway,

Fosse wins his first Tony
Award for choreography

for the musical, Pajama Game,

and then again, for
the stage musical,

Damn Yankees, the
following year.

It starred Gwen Verdon,

who also won a Tony for her role

as the vampish
leading lady, Lola.

Vernon was to later become
Fosse's third and final wife,

and was a formative
influence on Fosse,

in terms of his career.

A superb choreographer herself,

she encouraged and mentored him,

working closely as dancer,
choreographer, and muse.

When Damn Yankees was adapted
for the screen in 1958,

Verdon once again starred,
and Bob choreographed.

Dancing together
in perfect synergy,

it sealed their reputation

as a mesmerizing and
trailblazing couple.

He was very clever,

he got his foot in the door.

He did what was kind of
expected to make a show work,

and I think he cleverly
maneuvered people's minds,

as in the producers
and the directors,

of where the show should be.

I think as time went on,

and Damn Yankees, and
then from beyond that,

he started to be brave,

and realized that actually
he didn't have to be wafty,

it wasn't all about
big arms, big legs,

he could actually just do
small, intricate moves,

that were really effective.

Out!

Whilst his career was on the up,

self-doubt and anxiety
were never far away.

And he was always
looking for an edge

over other choreographers,

a driving force perhaps, as
his best work was yet to come.

In the 1960's Broadway
was, as it always has been,

the leader of the
world's musicals,

and I think Fosse knew
that there was a toughness

to working in Broadway,

that it was the great white way.

As much as movies in Hollywood

were attracting people
on the Greyhound bus,

Broadway had the pull
on the other coast.

And he was one of those
that had turned up.

You know, you can't
just turn up in New York

and dance on the stage, there
are thousands of people,

and it's hard work.

You want fame, well fame costs,

and you have to sweat for it,

and Fosse did all that.

Bob Fosse isn't known as one
of the great stage directors

in the history of Broadway.

He's certainly known as
a great choreographer,

and I think maybe it was the
dance that attracted him more.

He couldn't be bothered with
the rehearsing of dialog.

All of that took away from
the energy of what he wanted,

which was the dance.

By now, Fosse had forged

what came to be his
signature style,

utilizing striking silhouettes,

moving spotlights, and
groupings of dancers,

in tight synchronization.

Bob Fosse is an immediately
identifiable choreographer.

You see his choreography,

you know in a
nanosecond, it's his.

He's got an incredibly
individual style,

which resonates
through generations.

This included
the use of turned in knees,

which Fosse based on
his own pigeon-toes,

as well as the
famous Fosse amoeba,

sideways shuffling,
rolled shoulders,

and of course, jazz hands.

And then he sort of
created his own shapes,

that were very, very awkward
and tough for dancers to do,

I mean, incredibly,
physically, taxing.

Because sometimes the
movements of Fosse

are quite simple
and quite small,

they think it's not as
difficult or as energetic,

but actually it's harder
because it's about placing.

You can't just throw your
arms and legs wherever

and see where they end up.

But it's not just that, it's
drawing attention to it.

Yes, actually
showing the audience

how that works in the body.

Like shining a torch on
one part of the body a bit.

If you can isolate
areas of your body

and bring performance
through your physicality,

then that's a really
beautiful thing.

Bob Fosse's style
is definitely sexy,

definitely has that
sexual undertone

in every single
movement that he does.

I think he got to the core

of what makes people
want to dance,

and he really nailed that.

I don't think anyone else

in the history of
Broadway, or film,

worked up to the dance.

Most people work
up to the singing.

He worked up to when the
emotions were so strong,

you just had to dance.

Keep left.

Okay, so what we've
been trying to do,

is try and work on
the essence of Fosse,

which was isolation,
isn't that right?

So, rather than great big
grand dramatic movements

like ballet is, it's saying
exactly the same thing

as you're saying, James,
but in a tiny way.

So expressing yourself in a
tiny, tiny, mini-movement,

that says, just as many volumes

as a giant movement in ballet.

One, two, three.

Very nice, turn in more, Claire.

Soft, it's soft,
and it goes through,

it goes through smoke almost.

So one has to try and understand

what's going on in your head,

and you make them
want to understand.

That's what you do.

One, two, three.

Seven, eight, a right, a
left, a right, together.

Okay, so we're...

egg mayonnaising.

So today, we only
had three hours,

and we had two dancers,
they've done a lot of Fosse,

and we had two that weren't,

because we thought that
would be quite interesting,

that it's just a case
of plucking bits,

and amalgamating them,
all parts of his work,

and of Fosse's style,

in a rehearsal space, to see
the process of how it works,

and the process of
putting it together.

That could work.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If we get the bones of it,

and then I'll make
it make sense.

Imagine you're in silhouette.

So we see the hand?

Imagine wearing white gloves.

I would say that
as a choreographer,

you get quite obsessive about
getting it exactly right.

I mean, we could move in again,

and then move out again.

And then we could do
a side in the back,

because that's very
Fosse, isn't it?

The person that's making it,

needs to look at
it, again and again.

They might change it,
they might bring it back.

And a one, left foot,

five, six, seven, eight.

One and two, one and
two, one and two.

Next section, let's go
to the next section,

where we had so much fun in.

Your toes might be bleeding,

or your legs are hurting,
your muscles are aching,

or you've got a
fracture in your foot,

or you've lost a
toenail, or whatever.

And you just carry
on, you just do it,

because that's your job.

Ee-ee.

Let's go from ee-ee.

Let's go from one, two, three.

One, two and a three,

four, five, six, seven, eight.

Well, as a ballet dancer,

you're always working outward.

Turn out.

Turn out.

So the rotation
of the hip socket.

Fosse I think was
taught ballet, and tap,

and then developed his own
style, a bit like Graham,

from his own body.

His hips were quite tight,

and so he choreographed
for parallel,

and some turned in moving.

Standing movement's
very rare in dance.

The only other instance
of it is in Nijinsky's

And in Patrushka.

And Patrushka, yes.

Something you remember.

Slowly for the audience, there.

Cut!

The first thing
that I think about

are the Fosse walks,

like in Chicago, when
you walk forward,

and the hand suggests
moving behind.

That's a simple move that
such a sexy and effective one.

Eggs in the hands, I call it.

Sort of rolling of the wrists,

flapping at the wrists.

Hands up high, as well.

You know, just the tip,

just how you would use the hand.

A rolling of the shoulders.

The weird collapsing,
totally awkward,

and angular, and
bloody brilliant.

But with Fosse, it's a thought,

so you have to really think

what you're trying to say

about whether you're
happy or you're sad

or what you mean,

and that's what you're
giving the audience.

He presents you with a
very sort of sexy image,

the hips, the shoulders, going,

but actually it's got female
agency in it, I think,

and you don't feel that the
woman is being exploited.

I love it.

Lots of dancers have a style,

that I'm naturally drawn to,

and I feel like it sits
very well on my body.

It's an acquired
technique, definitely,

and an acquired style

that takes a lot of practice.

And I don't know, it
definitely can be taught,

and you can break
down the movements,

but there are some people
who I think naturally,

it's in their bones I think,

definitely when I watch
some people do it,

it just sits naturally
in their body.

He confines the
movement very much,

he doesn't use spatial
patterns, except in

- Rich Man's Dog.
- It's got a lot of

sideways and then
forwards and backwards,

but not much diagonal.

Like with ballet,
it's all extending,

but the arm isn't with the leg,

and actually with Fosse it's

about leading with
a shoulder or a hip,

and keeping it quite internal,

but just completely the opposite

of everything I've been
taught for most other things.

The move that we did

with the foot coming
in with the hat,

is a move that Ann Reinking does

in All that Jazz,

and I'm absolutely
her number one fan,

and her execution of
that particular movement

is so stunning.

She's so clean, and she's
so inspiring to watch,

that I think that's my
favorite move, today.

Rolling hips and shoulders,

and an overall
strutting impression,

capped off the cool
and modern feel,

as Fosse amassed an enviable
amount of original dance moves.

Fame beckoned, when in 1966,

he directed and
choreographed Verdon again,

in the smash hit
musical, Sweet Charity.

But as the 60's drew to a close,

he was to make his
debut in the area

for which Fosse is
perhaps best known,

the movies.

Bob Fosse makes his first movie,

as a director, when
he's 41 years old.

He comes to movies late.

He'd choreographed other movies,

but he didn't direct until then,

and he absolutely
learns on the job,

and he turns himself into
a highly skilled filmmaker.

Sweet Charity, a movie that was

unmistakably of the 60's,

was Bob Fosse's
directorial debut, in 1969,

starring Shirley MacLaine.

Featuring psychedelic
dance routines,

flower power hippies,

and scripted hipster dialog.

She doesn't look familiar.

Who can she be?

What happened to Ursula?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

Who is it?

It's me.

Sweet Charity was
actually based on

Federico Fellini's
Nights of Cabiria,

which starred Giulietta Masina

as a prostitute in Rome,
always hoping for the best.

It had a very jazzy feel to it.

It had the wonderful
Sammy Davis, Junior,

playing a preacher
in a car park,

singing the Rhythm of Life,

which is one of
the great numbers.

It had Big Spender,
to start with,

people clicking their fingers.

And it had one of
my all-time favorite

solo dance numbers, which is,

If They Could See Me Now,
with Shirley MacLaine.

♪ If they could see me now

♪ Alone with Mister V

♪ Who's waitin' on me
like he was a maitre d' ♪

♪ I hear my buddies
sayin', crazy, what gives ♪

♪ Tonight she's living like
the other half lives ♪

He was very much of the 60's.

Sweet Charity is a
big, hippy musical,

that was influenced
by things like, Hair,

and the sort of cut up,
choppy editing of the time,

that Richard Lester
was pioneering.

He brought back to
dance, to musicals,

and people were used to seeing

the crane shots, big
establishing shots.

He changed all of that,

and brought a sinewy,
almost documentary flare

to those big dance numbers.

He was very able to
amalgamate lots of styles,

and filter them
through his own camera.

My favorite number
from Sweet Charity is,

There's Gotta Be Something
Better Than This.

The three girls, up on the
roof, dancing their hearts out.

In some ways, it's a very
un-Fosse-like number.

It's got the moves, but it's got

this kind of ebullient joy.

If anyone wants
to wants to watch

how to shoot a choreo number

with those three
women on the roof,

watch Sweet Charity,

'cause you got to
be brave to do that.

No one would do that now.

♪ I've gonna get up, get out

♪ And live

♪ Live it

It was the first time
that I've ever danced,

was in a footlights show,

and we did Sweet Charity.

And yeah, I was

in the frog.

It's unbelievable, that dance.

It is unbelievable,
the journey it goes on.

The music, the way he uses it.

As a musician, the
way he interprets

the percussive element of it.

And the humor, and the darkness,

and the sexiness,
and the intrigue.

It's like looking at a painting.

You can just keep on coming
back to it, time and time again.

Sweet Charity's music
still stands up today.

I mean, Hey Big Spender
is used all the time,

the big band brassy jazz of it.

♪ Hey big spender

♪ Spend a little time with me

The funky rhythms
of Rhythm of Life,

I think they still work.

♪ And the rhythm of life
is a powerful beat ♪

♪ It puts a tingle
in your fingers ♪

♪ and a jingle in your feet

♪ Rhythm in your bedroom,
rhythm in the street ♪

♪ Yes the rhythm of life
is a powerful beat. ♪

What the film looks like
though, is totally of its time,

and yet you think, well no
one else had done that before,

so it has an avant garde-ness,

even as it harps back to
that hippy, 60's, feel.

The 60's was a
time of experimentation,

and free love, but Fosse

was already 10 years
ahead of the curve,

with numerous
addictions, and affairs.

Although having always
been a workaholic,

he was now using amphetamines
to keep himself going,

and Seconal to get to sleep.

All the while, he worked on
his next movie, 1972's Cabaret.

It's really
interesting, going back

and looking at
movies from the 70's.

The ones that you expect
to stand up, don't,

and the ones that you think,

well maybe that
was a period piece,

turn out to be
fantastically strong.

Cabaret is absolutely
in the latter category.

It really works.

I frankly don't think
there has ever been an era,

where Cabaret looked like it
wasn't speaking to the present.

Cabaret is a touchstone.

I refer to it constantly.

It was a wonderful story
by Christopher Isherwood.

But it was made
palpable, made real,

by Fosse's toggling
between the Kit Kat Club

nightclub scenes,

and the growing Nazi
threat from offscreen,

and the innocence of Cliff,
played by Michael York,

in the film, coming
to this city.

So, it's got
everything, this film,

it's got the innocence,

it's got it being tainted
by political actions,

it's got hiding it all away,

and it's also got the
reflection of art and life,

which is what's really going
on in the Kit Kat Club.

And that's what Nazi Germany

stamped down upon,

smashed freedom of expression.

In the clubs like that, even
comedy wasn't safe anymore.

It's an extraordinary
concoction,

from a man who'd only
made his second movie.

He had an expert grasp
of what was important

about dance and show biz

within the context of a
wider political movement.

Tonight we may lose the battle.

Packed with
provocative dance routines,

memorable tunes,

and a gallery of
Fellini-esque grotesques,

Cabaret's Kit Kat Club cemented

Fosse's reputation
as a major talent.

The Kit Kat Club has it all,

and then you've got Sally
Bowles, Fraulein Sally Bowles,

in the middle of it all,

who plays this vulnerable,
and yet brassy woman,

played by Liza Minnelli.

So I got to play Sally
Bowles in Cabaret,

and anyone that's seen Cabaret

knows that Sally Bowles is
a very mixed up, lonely,

kind of sad, but exotic,

I mean she's an incredible
character to play,

and I think she is so,

what was in Bob Fosse's mind.

I think there's a part
of what maybe Bob Fosse

was going through,
Sally Bowles became.

Divine decadence.

I'm Sally Bowles.

I'm Brian Roberts.

Come in, Brian darling.

I think Cabaret, being
the most famous song,

that was when she
was at her lowest,

and she was completely
out of her head,

and she had one
chance to go out there

and get through that song.

She was drunk, and had nothing.

She was on the floor,
she had nowhere to live.

The Germans had come
and were taking over,

the club was gonna shut down.

She was desperate.

I think I played her
at a time in my life,

that even though I couldn't
relate to her lifestyle,

I could relate to
her loneliness,

and just the difficultness
of getting through it,

so I think getting
to play Sally Bowles

at the time I got to
play her was a godsend.

I think everything
in life for a reason,

and it was most probably
the toughest time

I've ever experienced
in my life,

and I got to play a character,

that was completely broken,

yet come out
fighting every night.

♪ What could permitting
some prophet of doom ♪

♪ To wipe every smile away

♪ Life is a cabaret, old chum

♪ So come to the cabaret

Fosse was famous
for his use of props,

and never was this more evident

then in the dance
sequence from Mein Herr.

In a way I think Mein Herr
is quintessential Fosse.

You get her astride a chair,

around a chair, on a chair.

He's very, very famous
for using props.

He shoots it like
a audience member,

in the club,

and very kind of hand held.

He throws the camera
into the action.

And yet Fosse shoots
from between the legs,

under the chair.

He makes the atmosphere
of blue filter,

the smokiness.

It's a tangible atmosphere,

that's both sexy and
decaying at the same time.

'Cause Mein Herr is
just a massive number,

and it's sexy,

and it's cool, and we're
all in our suspenders,

and we're running
up and down stairs,

and the dancers are
doing incredibly

sexy, gorgeous dancing.

Yeah, that piece is
very objectifying.

You're wearing like,
pretty much nothing,

and you're on a chair,

and you think, oh
it's just gonna be,

you're gonna feel
so objectified,

but it was just this,

you just go to this like,

like tapping the floor, if like,

this is your hammer and
you're banging the floor,

and then you're like,

even you're banging
your own body,

and it's like, it
just is this grounded,

deep, strong, female sense,

that I had never
really tapped into,

and I was like, damn it's
nice to be a female, you know.

And just to feel
strong and to be like,

yeah this is who I am,

and let's go for it.

Cabaret was a
multi-award-winning film,

stacking up eight
academy awards,

including, best actress,
for leading lady,

Liza Minnelli, as Sally Bowles,

and best actor in
a supporting role,

for Joel Gray, as the
Kit Kat Klub emcee.

I think if Cabaret
has one big theme,

it's that money
and power corrupt,

but the show goes on,

and that people will be
resilient throughout it.

So you get Sally Bowles and
the emcee singing about money,

and having a buck, or a yen,

and a hole in a roof,

but people can dance
their way through it.

I think that's very Fosse,
that dance is defiant.

Dance is a continuation of life.

Dance goes on, even while
outside the world is crumbling.

And people are falling apart,

and the systems
are falling apart.

The system of dance can live on.

In 1973, Fosse
did what no director

had done before, or since,

winning an Oscar for
the movie, Cabaret,

a Tony for musical, Pippin,

and an Emmy for his TV
special, Liza With a Z.

That's a really big deal.

I also suspect that it
slightly went to his head,

and his workload becomes insane,

which probably leads
to health issues,

which are then reflected
famously in All That Jazz.

In 1974, his
workload was immense,

working concurrently on
stage and screen projects.

This only served to make
his addictions worse,

as his appetite for drink,
drugs, cigarettes, and women,

resulted in the first
of three heart attacks.

As a testament to Fosse's drive,

this did not hold him back,

as he pushed through to
complete his third film, Lenny,

set in the dingy and
desperate comedy clubs

of New York City.

Lenny is the small black and
white, indie-style movie,

which Bob Fosse chose to
follow up Cabaret with.

Rather than adapt another
musical from 42nd Street,

he chose to dive into the old

Greenwich Village comedy
clubs of the 50's and 60's

to bring the story of
Lenny to the screen.

They needed a big star,

so Dustin Hoffman got to play
Jewish comedian, Lenny Bruce.

Would you marry a
woman like that?

Oh yeah, you kidding me?

Would you let your
wife dress that way?

No, are you kidding?

I'd knock her right on her ass.

Lenny is the story

of the nightclub
entertainer, Lenny Bruce.

It captures the
nightclub atmosphere

of those Greenwich
Village comedy clubs,

and that scene, that folk scene.

But it also throbs
with sexuality.

The relationship
between Lenny and Honey,

between Dustin Hoffman
and Valerie Perrine,

is rather electric,
but it's also,

when you look at it now,

a rather poisonous relationship,

because she's
exploited by Lenny.

She looks bruised
by the experience,

and it's quite a bruising
experience of a film.

You could see what
attracted Bob Fosse to it,

because it is about perfection,

and it's about
artistry, and about

not being able to
hold your tongue,

it's very much a sort of
coded letter of defiance

from Bob Fosse, to say this
is really what I'm about.

Court's adjourned.

Because the information
keeps the country strong.

You need the deviants.

Don't shut 'em up.

You need that
madman to stand up,

tell you when you're blowing it.

Fosse was particularly hard

on Valerie Perrine,
who played Bruce's wife, Honey.

Fosse told Perrine
that her boyfriend

had been killed in
an airplane crash,

solely to get the expression
of shock he wanted.

Perrine won an Oscar
nomination for the role.

He was one of those directors

that lived hard, and play hard.

He smoked, he did
coke, he drank.

He had fun, I mean
there's no denying

that he belonged
to that generation

of dictatorial directors.

You have directors that
want what they want,

and they'll make you cry,

and I've seen people been
called fat elephant,

move to the left,
and things like that,

in the most ridiculous
circumstances.

Did Fosse work through
reign of terror?

Possibly.

I don't think you need
to work like that.

But again, I don't think he was

the healthiest of
individuals, at all,

and probably not the nicest,

and many great artists aren't.

I can separate the
man from the work.

The man was probably
very unpleasant,

the work is sensational.

Fosse was described
as a tormented genius,

who often worked in a
state of irritability

and hyper alertness,

with a dependency on
uppers, and drink.

Never was this depicted better,

than in his autobiographical
film, All That Jazz,

astounding in its
daring and scope,

putting all facets of
his life on display.

A return to the musical
format after Lenny,

All That Jazz was
considered by fans

to have invented
modern screen grammar,

and has influenced
directors as diverse

as Tarantino and Aronofsky.

The first thing to say
about All That Jazz,

is that, it doesn't feature
the song, All That Jazz.

That's from Chicago.

But he took that hit
number from Chicago,

and used it as a title of his
most autobiographical work.

It's the title perhaps that
sums up his entire career.

It's the way he worked.

Everything about All That
Jazz, is in Bob Fosse.

All That Jazz
follows the exploits

of director Joe Gideon,

played by Jaws
actor, Roy Scheider,

as a virtual Fosse lookalike,

taking in his rehearsals
for a new Broadway show,

the editing of his movie,

and the inevitable round
of drugs, booze, and women.

Hey.

I should have called first.

Oh.

When you first
see All That Jazz,

you'd think this is
made by someone

who despises the business,

this is someone who
just found it all dirty,

and too difficult,
and hard work.

I mean it's about death.

It's about dance,

and it's about
keeping the two alive,

and how they're sort of
symbiotic, bedfellows,

they're partners in each other.

Bob Fosse's such an artist,

I think this film
was a necessity

for him to continue
living, like,

creating is his
bread and butter,

that gets him through each day.

So in that sense,

All That Jazz backstage footage,

wasn't like a big reveal,

I think a lot of
backstage is like that.

Move down Victoria.

And sing it out, here we go.

Five, six, seven, eight.

♪ And any seat you grab
will be first class ♪

Two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight,

and I don't like it.

When Fosse chose
someone to play himself,

he took Roy Scheider,

so he didn't go for
like the most handsome

actor you could possibly find.

He chose a flawed individual

with a funny nose

and a slightly
hollowed out look.

You see an insight
into Bob Fosse's life.

From the outside it's glam,

and he's producing
and he's successful,

and winning everything.

But, you can see how much

of a struggle it is
on a daily basis.

Bob Fosse used this film to

open up about his life,

behind you, his
life behind doors,

and it was quite honest,

and not this god-like figure.

And I think it might
have been kind of like

a release for him,

to be like, this is who I am.

Showtime, folks.

I mean how do you do a
biopic, biography, whatever,

depict someone who's incredible

in their field?

How do you do that well?

But he managed to do it.

Everything that is
him is in that film,

and it's interesting
that it's embraced,

because not many people
would want to embrace

everything about
them, necessarily.

Flaws, warts and
all, are in that.

I think we can say Bob Fosse
was obsessed with women.

He was brought up by them,

surrounded by them,

and couldn't resist them.

His use of women in every sense,

is actually there in the work,

it's not well, why bring
the private life in?

He brought the private life in.

Just don't kid yourself

that you're doing this
show for any other reason,

except guilt about me.

Guilt?

What guilt?

For never going one day when
you were faithful to me?

Oh, that guilt.

Problematic
by today's standards,

was Fosse's behavior toward
some of his female dancers.

A 1980 People Magazine article

quoted one of his
dancers as saying,

"He's gonna try to make you.

"He tries with every girl,
and gets a fair percentage.

"He doesn't give
you much respect."

Would Fosse's behavior
be accepted nowadays

in the workplace?

I don't know, maybe
he would get away

with being such a womanizer,

and I'm sure there's
many out there.

I think there would
be a lot more women

that would talk up if they
were uncomfortable today.

I think the Me Too movement,

I seriously do think
that has changed things.

I think that would
be different now.

Victoria Porter,

is this your home phone?

All That Jazz is about ego,

it's about rampant ego,

it's about rampant male id.

Roy Scheider, who
plays Joe Gideon,

the choreographer, the
director, the master puppeteer,

at the center of it all.

Everything he does is grist
for his artistic mill.

Every line someone says,
he can use it later.

He steals everything,
it's all-consuming.

It makes life very difficult

when work is what your life is.

And that's what we
see with Roy Scheider,

we see him being consumed

by his commitment to perfection,
or his quest to perfection.

♪ They say the neon lights
are bright on Broadway ♪

The opening scene, set to
George Benson's On Broadway,

is funky, it's alive, it's sexy,

it's got like desperation to it.

And you can hear the sinew
of the dancers, straining,

you can hear them desperately
trying to reach out,

for fame which is
right in front of them.

It's all the leg-warmers that
we associate with such a work,

and it's got also,

it sets Roy Scheider's
character up

as being this grand dictator.

He's saying yes to people.

He's saying no to others.

He's organizing the
troops, left and right.

♪ And I won't quit
till I'm a star ♪

♪ On Broadway

It's a sort of hopeless piece,

because you've got George
Benson singing On Broadway,

the old standard.

But it's set in this
very modern way,

and it doesn't even
necessarily work

with what they're dancing to,

so it takes you
out of the movie.

It brings something different
to the musical form,

an almost documentary-like
examination,

almost anthropological
examination

of these creatures,
these dancers,

who are herded like cattle,

in front of one man
to kind of be picked

and thrown apart.

It's a mass of humanity.

And I think that sort of
almost sums up the entire

career of Bob Fosse, in just
that little five minute bit.

But I think that he does
portray that world very clearly.

And also I think, being
in a ballet company,

you are in the company,

but to have to audition all
the time for different parts

is incredibly hard.

So you know, you look at

the amount of
people on the stage,

trying to audition, and
they whittle them out,

they whittle them out,
they whittle them out.

You wouldn't do it if
you didn't love it.

It's hard.

It's really hard work.

Bob Fosse's All That Jazz

won the Palme D'or
at Cannes in 1980,

and I think what
appealed to that

very cinephile, very
French audience,

is its behind the scenes
look at the struggle,

the artist tortured
in the middle of it.

I think that's what appealed
to the jury at Cannes in 1980,

that this is a dirty business,

but it's one really
worth fighting for.

I think that it's just
typical of Bob Fosse,

the whole backstage stuff,

'cause I think he liked to shog,

and I think that
was kind of maybe

the darker side of Bob
Fosse letting people know

really what goes on,

snorting cocaine off of
their dressing room tables,

and making out.

The manicness of what happens

before you go in his stage.

So I think that
was most probably

the darker side of Bob Fosse

letting us all know, it's
not all what it appears.

It's not all twinkle
lights and smiles.

1983 saw Bob
Fosse's final movie, Star 80.

Once again, focusing
in on the dark side

of the entertainment industry,

but minus the dance
routines and humor,

that had lifted
his previous films.

Star 80 is probably the least
known work by Bob Fosse,

mainly because it doesn't
really feature dancing,

it doesn't feature jazz hands,

and it doesn't feature
big choreographed moments.

Except when you look
at it, it's all there.

It's a story of a Playmate of
the Year, Dorothy Stratton,

who was taken from
small town Canada,

where she was
discovered by a pimp,

played by Eric Roberts,

who sends off naked Polaroids
of her to Hugh Hefner,

and suddenly she becomes a
star in Playboy Magazine.

But he doesn't stop
there, he wants more.

And he tries to push her to
become a movie star, an actress,

and it's a real-life story,

that Bob Fosse saw in a
Village Voice article,

and decided to take
that to the big screen.

And it became an infamous
case, that of Dorothy Stratton,

who was, there are
spoilers here I'm afraid,

but murdered by her husband.

But this is a real
timepiece movie, it's 1983.

It has jazz funk
on the soundtrack,

played by Chuck Mangione.

It has Bob Fosse
choreographed moments,

sort of roller disco
and pajama party scene,

which was at the Hugh
Hefner's Playboy Mansion.

All of that's there,

and what really is
Bob Fosse about,

this is this desperation,
this underbelly,

the power of show business,

and power the seedier
side of show business,

desperation to succeed,

the desperation to make it big,

the desperation to become,
like the title says,

a star of the 80's.

So it's about all the mechanisms

that are involved
in becoming a star.

So the star themselves,
played by Mariel Hemingway,

as Dorothy Stratton.

It's about the boyfriend,
played by Eric Roberts,

who wants her money,
who kind of powers her

at all costs to the love
relationship, jealousy.

It's also about the impresario,

Cliff Robertson
playing Hugh Hefner,

who can make her star,
and the hangers-on.

And that's all show biz.

So while Bob Fosse clearly
was in love with show biz,

he also hated it,

and that comes out in Star 80.

I have this terrific idea.

I'm your manager, right?

Well, as your manager,

I think you should
go to New York

and become a big movie star.

I'll stay here and work on
the Dorothy Stratton poster.

It's gonna make us a fortune.

Good idea?

Star 80 is a huge
disappointment.

I think it's a sad end to
Fosse's directing career.

And it's largely because, again,

we have a lack of perspective
from Fosse, on his material.

He's made up his mind,

about how innocent the girl was,

and how terrible
the murderer was.

Now whilst both
those facts are true,

a better script would have
made those characters stronger.

It's actually
quite a hard watch,

because you know what the
director thinks at every point.

There isn't room for the
audience to make its mind up.

Eric Roberts works
really hard in Star 80,

and delivers a good performance.

It's not his fault that the
material is so unyielding.

It's also not his fault

that Fosse puts terrible,
doomy music on the soundtrack.

So his character
is kind of squashed

by the music that's added,

which is a real
sign of a director

being over-controlling
in all the wrong ways.

Look, if you've had an affair,

that's okay with
me, I understand,

but that doesn't
mean that we should

throw the whole marriage
down the toilet.

Please, Dorothy,

at least tell me where I stand.

I have to have more freedom.

Although Star 80 was to be

the final movie Fosse directed,

this was not intentional.

Despite its box office failure,

he was still in demand,

and considered directing
many more movies

during his final years.

Amongst these was Chicago,

with Madonna, Michele Pfeiffer,
and Jack Nicholson attached.

However, the project
never materialized,

and Chicag the movie,

was eventually directed
by Rob Marshall.

Chicago eventually hit
the screen in 2002,

in Rob Marshall's film that
went on to win six Oscars.

But, virtually
everybody in Hollywood,

and in the UK, had done
a version of the script.

There were dozens flying around

in the whole development period,

which went on for
literally decades,

before Marshall's film.

One of them was Fosse,
he wanted Madonna,

and all sorts of people in it.

Who knows what that
would have been like?

But I do think there's
a case for saying

that Chicago is the
quintessential Bob Fosse work.

The stage version,
which was written,

and directed, and choreographed
by Fosse, is his monument.

Bob Fosse's
distinctive choreography

is still recognizable in
Rob Marshall's Chicago,

with a thanks to Fosse
in the closing credits.

♪ All I care about is love

One of the great pities,
I think,

is that Bob Fosse
never got to do

his own movie
version of Chicago.

He did it on Broadway,

and that's the play we're
still seeing revived

now on the London stage
and the Broadway stage

in '96 and 2009, all over the
world they're doing Chicago.

But he never got to
commit that to film.

It was left to Rob
Marshall to do it with

Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere,
and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

It still was a big success
for Miramax in 2002,

but I got a feeling that Fosse
would have done it better.

What would Chicago
have been like

if it was Bob Fosse,
not Rob Marshall?

I don't think it would
have been as shiny.

I think it would have
been more enclosed,

more of a sense of being closed,

that Fosse would get,
the intoxicating,

the slightly claustrophobic,

but also like really putting
the audience member into it.

It probably would have been
too cool for Hollywood.

Fosse would have
brought it right back.

Rob Marshall, because he was,

I don't know, he embraced
the theatricality of it,

and the bigness of what
you get in theater,

and took that onto the screen.

There was a story that
originally Jack Nicholson

was gonna be Billy Flynn,

for Bob Fosse, and Madonna
was gonna be in it,

and Michelle Pfeiffer.

So maybe that would have
turned out different,

but what I think
Fosse would have done

is shot the dances better
than Rob Marshall did.

Rob Marshall, you couldn't
really admire the dance,

you couldn't quite see what
the dancers were up to.

And I think Fosse would
have given it that distance,

and that pull between
the public and private

that Chicago's about, that
would have had that toggle,

that Cabaret had between the
Kit Kat Klub and the outside.

Chicago would have had
that with the jail,

and the outside world,

with the show business that
Billy Flynn was obsessed with,

the mask behind it,

or Fosse would have
gone underneath

that mask I think a bit more,

so it's one of the
enduring shames

that we never got to see
his production of Chicago.

In Bob's own words,

dance expresses joy
better than anything else.

And nothing could be truer
for a man who lived his life

almost like a performance.

Although his final
act was played out

in Gwen Verdon's arms,

as he succumbed to a
heart attack in 1987,

a complex man,
and a true artist.

If you want to know what
Bob Fosse was all about,

watch Liza With a Z.

It's a TV special he
made with Minnelli,

and in it, there's a
number, Bye Bye Blackbird,

and it has every element
of Fosse's choreography,

and it's actually much
simpler and less elaborate

than many of his numbers,

and it doesn't have
the self-indulgence.

Because it's a TV
special, it's very simple,

and it's there to
showcase her talent,

and that of the
dancers with her.

It's got finger-clicking,
it's got teacup hands.

It's got the amoeba-like
move across the stage.

The dancers are in white gloves,

and it just works.

It's a completely
delightful number,

and Minnelli is
leading the number,

and looks supremely confident,

and supremely happy.

It's a really tiny
moment, but a great one.

♪ Make my bed and
light the light ♪

♪ I'll be home late tonight

♪ Leave your perch
and take the sky ♪

♪ Too-Da-Loo, bye bye

♪ Blackbird

♪ Go take a fly
little blackbird bye ♪

It is very interesting
hearing of people

who are really
lauded and applauded,

to think that they would
have their own insecurities.

They might be perfectionists,

or they never think that
they're doing it well enough,

or they beat themselves up.

As a fan, and as an onlooker,

is like how?

How could you think that?

But I think for lots of people
that's what drives them,

'cause they're constantly
looking for affection.

I know I have huge anxiety
if something's not right.

It takes over my life.

I will lose sleep and
it will really panic me,

so I think there's
such a fine line,

which maybe is what
makes people like Fosse,

and anybody else in this
industry so passionate

about what they do.

There's such a fine line,

because you put so much
pressure on yourself.

And then when it
doesn't work out,

and you beat
yourself up terribly,

and it can really
affect your mood,

and bring the
whole company down.

Fosse had his personal battles

with addiction, anxiety.

I think Fosse was on a
path to self-destruction,

smoking, drinking, everything.

Sex, womanizing, the
whole thing, overworking.

I don't know, some people just
wouldn't go any other way.

I don't know if he knew
any other way, actually.

That's how he operated.

Would he have ever had a
sort of epiphany moment?

Been like, I think I
might take up Buddhism.

I don't think so.

His lifestyle to his
work, were linked,

intrinsically.

Fosse became an icon,

an archetype of the
driven director hoofer,

achieving cultural impact
long after his demise.

If living on after
death is possible,

Fosse's legacy could
be proof of this,

as his influence
has filtered through

to many areas of
popular culture today.

We see Fosse's influence now

across all genres
of performance,

so, pop music, theater, film,

styling, fashion.

He's kind of seeped
into the everyday life,

probably without 99% of people

knowing who Bob Fosse is.

He died when most of the
youngsters coming up today,

he died long before
they were born,

so they haven't got
that sort of background.

For the new generation
of dancers coming in,

I think, you're just
saying how important it is

to find their voice
and to be individual,

and obviously Bob Fosse
would be such a good

person for them to
research, and learn about,

because he was the
quintessential person who

stayed strong to who he was,

and brought a unique style,

that made him so
unique and different.

Yeah, Fosse can be cliche.

It's about how it's done,

and how it's respected,

and whatever is being taken
from his work at any stage.

Fosse's legacy lives on.

You can see it literally in
the work of Ann Reinking,

remaking Chicago, in his image.

But it also lives
on in the sense that

his style is so clear,

and so obvious,

and referenced by other people.

I can give you an
examples actually.

I mean you see it in pop.

The Single Ladies,
Beyonce video.

Her video was
based on Bob Fosse.

I don't know if she
name-checked him or not,

but I hope she did.

So it's rife throughout pop.

The Little Prince,

where Bob Fosse is dancing
with the little prince.

It is so Michael Jackson.

I mean there is no way
that Michael Jackson

did not watch that
video and be inspired.

I mean down to the
shoes, to the trousers,

to the leg flicks,

to the hands, to the typical
Michael Jackson hip hop.

It's all there, right?

You could replace
them sometimes.

From the back, they're
kind of identical.

They're quite the same.

I mean Michael Jackson is the
ultimate dancing pop star,

ultimate.

No one approaches.

And where did he get,

his most essential move from?

Bob Fosse.

So, I guess that shows
the reach of the man.

Yeah, Fosse's completely
influenced my stage shows.

And I say that unabashedly.

If fact, I say it proudly.

I want people to
see the references,

'cause everyone's
referencing people.

I want people, it's like,
he used a cool reference.

I hope he'd like it.

I thing he would.

First of all, I think Bob Fosse

is getting stronger
and stronger, again.

I think the remake
of everything,

I feel that he's becoming
more and more well-known.

I think the more
it's talked about,

the more people think about
the likes of Michael Jackson,

or Beyonce, and people that
still really see music,

and putting on west
end shows today,

Chicago's currently out there.

Cabaret's just been on.

And jazz hands,
that's Bob Fosse,

he invented jazz hands,

and now that's vernacular,

that's something that
people say in the street.

That's very unusual
for a choreographer

and a filmmaker to
have invented a thing

that people talk about.

When I think of
Fosse ultimately,

I think of someone who

is anti-establishment,

and working within
the establishment.

And those are the
most powerful people.

He just lives on, and I think

it's kind of like he
just keeps on giving.

I think the Fosse legacy
will just carry on and on.

Yeah, and I would say the
part that makes him so unique,

is the spirit behind Bob Fosse.