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4 Brilliant Films About Showbiz!
Written by Greg McIver. Published: December 15 2014
Recently, the
Hollywood Foreign Press and the Screen Actor’s Guild released their
official list of nominees for the Golden Globes and SAG Awards,
respectively, and to nobody’s surprise, Birdman has been
cleaning up left and right. For those of you unfamiliar with this
film, Birdman is the latest cinematic offering from
directorAlejandro González
Iñárritu, the filmmaker who has brought us such films as Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel. Birdman tells the story of Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton), a former movie star best known
for his portrayal of a fictional superhero (aren’t they all
fictional?) known as “Birdman” back in the late-'80s and mid-'90s.
Unfortunately for Riggan, his career quickly fizzled after he hung
up his wings, and now he is attempting to scare up some last minute
street cred by adapting and starring in a Broadway
show.
It’s a familiar sounding tale
that we’ve seen time and time again, and yet, like any good
filmmaker, Mr. Iñárritu and his wonderful cast (it is so good to
have Keaton back in the limelight) have presented it to us in a way
that is truly akin to being swept up in a strong current. Time and
transition matter little in Birdman, for it is the essence
of character and the larger themes that the characters represent
that take the spotlight in what is easily one of the best movies
ever made about show business. Well, that’s as good a setup as I’ll
ever have, so take a look below at 4 other films about showbiz that
are every bit as phenomenal!
All That Jazz (1979)
Directed by the great and
legendary Bob Fosse and starring everyone’s
favorite shark-killing sheriff, Roy Scheider, All That Jazz is a wonderful examination of a man more in
love with his own self-destruction than he is with his family or
even his art. Scheider plays a man named Joe Gideon, a director of
both Broadway shows and films, who is apparently trying to do both
at the same time and it’s slowly killing him. He’s dedicated to
seeing both projects through, but, of course, family and personal
relationships are sacrificed as a result. And while he still values
his own craft, his growing obsession with a figure named Angelique,
a seductive woman who lives in the mind of Gideon and is the
embodiment of his own doom, slowly takes the spotlight from the
truly important things in his life. All That Jazz is an
incredible tale of an artist who has become lost in his own chaotic
world, and a film that can easily stand toe-to-toe with some of the
best films ever made.
All About Eve (1950)
A wise Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn
once said, “There’s always a bigger fish”. Well, possibly somebody
else said that before him, but what matters most is how that quote
pertains to All About Eve, an absolutely riveting and
brilliantly crafted film that explores the great fear that all
actors and actresses have -- no longer being relevant in the eyes
of the public. The film stars Bette Davis as Margo
Channing, an aging actress of the stage who, for years, was the
toast of the theatre world until a woman named Eve Harrington
(Anne Baxter) entered her life. Eve is a quiet,
shy young woman who absolutely adores Margot, to the point of
seeing every single performance of Margot’s latest play. After
hearing Eve’s sad backstory, Margot welcomes her into her life and
offers her a job as her personal assistant. It’s a fine time for
all involved, but all good things must come to an end as Margot
slowly begins to suspect that the poor innocent girl that she let
into her life is actually a succubus who is intent on replacing
Margot as the First Lady of Theatre. This is a
multi-narrative-driven story that gives us a painstakingly crafted
look at the heartache and paranoia that are manifested when one
feels like that all of their years of hard work are suddenly going
to be trumped by some newer model. The movie is about theatre and
theatre is an art form that depends primarily on memories. Margo
doesn’t have a film reel that she can point to when she wants to
remind everyone of how great she is. She only has the memories of
those who have seen her, so when people stop talking about her, it
really does make Margot feel like she’s disappearing. It’s a
terrifying idea and one that is portrayed with absolute perfection
by Bette Davis. There are few perfect films that exist in this
world, but All About Eve can be easily counted as one of
them.
Noises Off... (1992)
Now I can’t really say that
this next film contains the profundity of the first two films on
this list, but it is an incredibly funny flick and one that I could
almost count as a weirdly spiritual godfather to Birdman,
because whenever people have asked me to describe Birdman to them, I’ve told them that it reminded me of a Neil
Simon play on acid. More specifically, the constant flow
and movement of Birdman reminded me of the “flapping doors
everywhere” in Neil Simon’s brilliantly funny play Noises
Off.... The play was adapted in 1992 by the great Peter Bogdanovich and features an insanely
talented cast consisting of Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Carol Burnett, Denholm Elliot,
and Julie Haggerty. It’s a madcap farce about a
theatre company trying to put on a show and how all of the
figurative and literal behind the scenes nonsense that keeps them
from doing so. It’s a whirlwind film filled with hilarity and some
interesting factoids about what it takes to actually put on a
theatrical production.
The Last Tycoon
(1976)
This film is based on an
unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which
centers around one of the great movie producers of the Golden Age
of Cinema. Robert De Niro stars as Monroe Stahr, a
film producer in the 1930s who exercises total control over every
aspect of every film that he oversees. From temperamental actors to
depressed writers, Monroe knows how to get those that work
underneath him to follow his tune. It’s a quiet film about a sad
man who happens to have mastered the art of manipulation but has
done so in a way that is not necessarily filled with malice or
ill-will. His ability to control multiple movies at any given time
comes from a wellspring of energy that is slowly becoming more and
more dry as the days go by. And as Monroe’s life starts to come to
an end, you see that it’s not just the death of one man, but an
extinction of a type of man. No longer will one person be
able to rule the world of cinema with absolute autonomy. The story
itself was based upon the life of legendary producer Irving
Thalberg, a man who wielded such great power that even the
heads of MGM (the most powerful studio at the time) didn’t dare
cross him. This is a fantastic movie that pays tribute to a time
gone by, and it does so with a visual poetry and a leading
performance from De Niro that is easily one of his
greatest.
(Screenshot via YouTube)
- Greg McIver, YH Staff