"The great Roy Scheider in the lead role of Bob Fosse’s musical autobiography. Ruthless, sexy and ultimately very true."

"A kinetic masterpiece by Bob Fosse. One of the best-edited films of all time. Roy Scheider deserves more recognition for his work. First saw this in a double feature with Lenny, which every art-house theater programmer should schedule."

"Straight up Bob Fosse goodness. Roy Scheider is amazing in this movie. (It’s my favorite performance of his though I have many a good friend who would argue it’s in Jaws, but check it out and I think you’ll agree with me.)”"

"Bob Fosse’s long, dark look in the mirror is a perfect bookend to 8½. Roy Scheider gives the performance of his career and an all-new meaning to the phrase “It’s showtime, folks!” This came out the year I graduated from high school, and it literally changed my life."

"Magical realism is very important to me, and here you have some wonderful fantasy sequences—including Roy Scheider talking to Death, played by Jessica Lange. And there’s so much humor in this movie. It’s very serious on one level, because the protagonist is reflecting on his own mortality and the constant presence of death in his life, but it’s also very funny. Even when the hero is having a heart attack, the movie can’t help but break into a bit of musical theater! And as someone who used to dance before becoming a filmmaker, I’m in love with the choreography—how Scheider watches it all happening and participates in it, and how sexy it is. The dancing is very of the period—it’s maybe even a little dated—but the movie itself is not. It completely holds up."

"All That Jazz (1979) is a perfect film, in my book: insanely well acted, incredible art direction, great writing, beautifully shot, just a director firing on all cylinders. Did I mention the amazing song-and-dance sequences? And Bob Fosse does all this, in a movie that is a very autobiographical account of his own struggle juggling: multiple productions, girls, booze, and pills; all of which lead to a series of heart attacks that culminate in the most spectacular and fantastical deathbed scene ever, with Jessica Lange as the loveliest angel of death. Forget Jaws: Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon, Fosse’s alter ego, is equal parts heroic captain and man-eating shark in this masterpiece."

"This is probably my favorite film in the whole collection. It’s a solid kick in the seat. Stellar staging, camera, choreography. Every inch of this film has a pulse. It’s the story of a director (Roy Scheider) who, at the end of his life, is editing a film and mounting a production. He knows he’s dying, but he doesn’t engage with that fact. That’s exactly how I would like to go: deep in my work. There were at least two periods in my twenties when I listened to Ben Vereen’s closing number, “Bye Bye Life,” multiple times a day for months on end. Looking back I don’t think I was having the best time in my head, but the song was very danceable."