What Don't You Like About The 'A Chorus Line' Movie?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 1:57am

What's wrong with the film? I saw it. The only part I didn't really like was the "I Hope I Get It" sequence. And I didn't like the actress who played Cassie - I think? - she had big puppy dog eyes and sang in "At The Ballet" - the best song in the score, I think.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 1:59am

I LOVE it! I don't see anything wrong with it!

[PARISinNYC]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 2:03am

I know that it's one of the worst stage to screen musicals but I really don't care.

If I had never heard of the musical before, I would have thought it was amazing.

But I agree, I don't like the I Hope I Get It sequence, nor the fact they changed The Music and the Mirror.


RentBoy: Cassie doesn't sing in "At the Ballet". It's either Sheila, Bebe, or Maggie. I think you mean Maggie.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 2:31am

It just has this cheesy feel to it, the orchestrations sounded completely 80's vamped and it lost that cool 70's feel that accompanies the piece very well.

Umm, no Music and the Mirror, but instead some crappy song that keeps repeating Let Me Dance for You. There was a whole unnecessary sideplot that pushes the dancers to the side as well when they are the whole show. The romance stuff was corny and another biggie:

SURPRISE, SURPRISE. Yes that guy could dance, but do you hear the lyrics?! "Icicle hot, smooth as lemon pie"? Sorry but could someone please clear up what icicle hot means?

and edit; I didn't want this to turn into a comparison of movie-musicals, but take a look at Cabaret for example, the stage and film. They managed to have unique differences and yet they both create a fascinating vision to the same material. They each stand alone as brilliant pieces, are done slightly differently, and co-exist without putting the other counterpart to shame. Instead of acting like complements, the Chorus Line film just disgraces the name by shifting a lot of the primary focus off the dancers which remain the heart of the piece. As opposed to using the magic of the stage show and using that valuable resource, the movie just reroutes the story in a miserable direction and comes off totally shoddy. The filmmakers just seemed lazy with it and didn't add any vision to the piece. That sounds familiar doesn't it? Thanks Chris Columbus :/

Updated On: 7/25/06 at 02:31 AM

[Kringas]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 2:41am

"Forget about it. We did it in the graveyard."

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 2:41am

Oh okay. Yeah I'm not that familiar with all the names, there's so many freakin' people.

Which sideplot? The one about the dancer who comes back? I'm not familiar with the difference between the show and the movie. Is there a director/ Michael Douglas character in the show? Does the old dancer come back?

[Kringas]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 2:44am

Yes, but they aren't the main focus of the stage show.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 3:20am

Gotcha. I need to see this show, or the inevitable tour. I can't wait for the revival recording. I wish someone could master the "singing on film" trick. It was in the same in the RENT movie, whenever they started singing it just looked so fake.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 7:43am

My mother was so entirely crushed by the movie that she never allowed me to watch it.

I'm almost 26 years old and I've still never seen it. Irrational fears, and all. Though the fact that Cassie apparently sings "What I Did For Love" (IS THAT TRUE?) turns me inside out. That's... not.... right.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 7:49am

I've never seen the musical but I know the music like the back of my hand. I hated it. I couldn't even finish it. It was nothing like I thought it should be. I can't even put my finger on why I hated it. It was just bad.

On a side note, from the first time I heard the music, I thought Cassie should sing What I Did for Love. I always thought it would have made more sense. But then again I've never seen the show.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 8:14am

I interviewed Marvin Hamlisch in, oh, around 1980. I asked him about "What I Did for Love" - since I expressed the opinion that it didn't really "fit" in the show. The lead in to the song is incredibly awkward. He agreed, and said he had to fight very hard to keep the song in the show. He told Bennet that he needed a "hit" and felt that was going to be it. He was right about the song being a "hit". I didn't ask him if he knew why Cassie didn't sing it.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 8:15am

Where to begin...changing 'What I Did For Love' into a torch song for Cassie was a mistake. This only added to the over-emphasis on the Cassie/Zach relationship. 'Let Me Dance For You' is very inferior to 'The Music And The Mirror'. The flashbacks break up the flow and draw attention away from the dancers. As mentioned earlier, too much emphasis on Cassie/Zach.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 8:30am

No comment.

Updated On: 7/25/06 at 08:30 AM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 8:49am

And I didn't like the actress who played Cassie

Cassie was played by Alyson Reed, who went on to star as Sally Bowles in the 1988 revival of CABARET, and who I believe is now on that show HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:03am

I like the song NOTHING, better in the film than in the show. Otherwise, I hate everything about the movie. Even if you never saw the stage show (which I would imagine most people here have not), I still can't imagine liking that film.

[Christoph]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:05am

I found the whole thing just plain tedious and lacking in any energy. Granted, I have not seen the stage show, so I may have thought the same thing with that - but then perhaps not. I found that I really did not give a hoot about the ex-love affair between Cassie and Zack. Alyson Reed was OK (not great), but what the heck was Michael Douglas doing in this film? Also, with only one or two exceptions, I thought that the supporting cast blended together into a blur with few stand-outs. I must admit I feel that the majority of problems came from the directorial style. I think Richard Attenborough is a fine actor, but I find that many of his directorial efforts tend to be draggy, self-important and staid. Those are not exactly descriptions that I would want to apply to a movie musical.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:28am

They made so many wrong choices in the movie, it's hard to know where to begin!

WRONG LIST:

1. "What I Did For Love" isn't about a woman's love for a man, it's about dancers' love for dance.

2. "Music and the Mirror," a song/dance for Cassie expressing her fundamental need to dance, was replaced by "Let Me Dance For You," which focused more on her past relationship with Zach than it did on dancing, with head-slapping lyrics like, "We made a lot of music dancing, you and I."

3. Cassie was given the star treatment from the beginning with her "late entrance" into the theatre, something Bennett had tried and cut in the workshop. He made it clear that the audience should see Cassie as "just one of the dancers" at first, until they slowly begin to find out that she was a star-dancer and a former love of Zach's. The movie focused on her relationship with Zach from the very beginning, which trivializes the other dancers and their stories and makes them all "secondary plot" points to the love story.

4. They cut away from Mike's "I Can Do That" to show (you guessed it) Cassie, trying to decide if she should confront Zach.

5. They cast some killer dancers in this movie, but only one or two of them could really sing. It made Kristine's song "Sing" (about the fact that she CAN'T) look silly, since MOST of them couldn't. And it was a MOVIE, and they could have dubbed many of them easily.

6. (Probably the worst crime of all) They removed ALL of Bennett's brilliant choreography and staging, and replaced it with Hornaday's "Flash Dance" bumps and grinds.

7. They kept cutting away from the stage, either in unnecessary flashbacks or to other areas of the theatre, to "open" the story up. They removed all the documentary-style immediacy as a result.

8. They updated the orchestrations, hairdos and costumes to make it feel more modern/trendy to "current" movie audiences, and forever locked it in the kitchy '80s, which does't fit the show or the material at all.

[fiesta1]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:29am

The opening montage (I Hope I Get It) played like a a rip-off of the 'Broadway' sequence from All That Jazz. And I much preferred the All That Jazz version.

And I second (third?) the Cassie/Zach focus ehich distracted from the purpose of ACL. The show is not called "Cassie and Zach".

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:47am

I agree with everything best12 said- but there's an even worse crime than those -- I didn't notice it until someone showed me, but most of the dancing in the film is shot from the waist up! That's ridiculous!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 9:54am

An excellent thread on this same subject with lots of great analysis:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=876127#1607329

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 10:27am

I think some film treatments of a musical will suffer becuase there is no way to translate energy and intimacy and connection on film. I think this is why ACL and RENT failed. There's no translation for the kinetic energy that is produced in the live theatre. And 'Music and The Mirror" is such a killer number in the show that by losing it, you lose alot. However, the energy of that number live probably wouldnt resonate the same way on film and would feel flat. I am glad the musical is being revived and hope they do not try another film version.

Oh, also another issue the film: one of the Landers sisters was cast. Now that is some serious stunt casting. She was a pin-up girl from Love Boat and Fantasy Island. That is like today casting Cindy Margolis in the revival of ACL.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 10:34am

ugh, where do I start. The song surprise, surprise makes me sad, as does Cassie's song. I wish they kept the music and the mirror in, it's one of my favorite songs.

Updated On: 7/25/06 at 10:34 AM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 11:28am

Attenborough was the wrong choice to direct a musical as was John Huston doing Annie. Both were out of their element. Both great directors but it takes a special talent to do a musical. Sadly both of the above were lacking

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 11:32am

I agree with b12b...

But, was SING in the movie? I don't remember Kristine ever mentioning her singing voice...?

Though you are right, most of them couldn't sing. And the whole Paul issue really lacked emotion.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 7/25/06 at 11:35am

I simply CAN NOT believe the negativity and snobbery on this board and the need people feel to start threads like this *sigh*

Stone me to death, rip my heart out- whatever... I am sorry I have my opinion... I love the movie as much as I love the stage show.

I have so much I want to say in defense of the movie, but you all won't care. But I will say this: If you would all take a step back from the masterpiece that is the stage show and watch the movie knowing it is a DIFFERENT version of the story, you'd see it in a whole new light.

This thread makes me sad