A Chorus Line (1985) on TCM tonight!

It's a beautiful movie.

And the music is wonderful.

It’s terrible. The hit song was changed to mean something completely different. And for a show about dancing, you never actually see Audrey Landers dance.

I remember thinking that Michael Douglas was so hot in this movie.

And "Cassie" was a bitch for getting on the Chorus Line because she was fucking Michael Douglas.

In the "what might have been" category, Bob Fosse was coming off Star 80 which made him persona non grata and later said he would have loved doing the movie of ACL but was never asked. Then again, we might have had to contend with Ann Reinking as Cassie. Vicki Frederick said that nothing made him madder than when fans came up to him and said that his show A Chorus Line was their favorite show of all time. He would be able to claim the show. I can see it. The finale with bowlers.

20 minutes until showtime!

5 6 7 8 go!

Starting now!

r2 you sometimes see Audrey Landers dance. She disappears when it gets too hard. At the end of Surprise, Surprise when they come back to their pose positions she is totally missing!

oh and her tits weren't big enough

This is really one of my favorite musicals of all time.

The music, the dancing, the choreography.

It gave me life!

I love the guy in the USA athletic shirt and headband.

He was always the hottest to me.

This movie is so awful, so misguided and terrible I could barely get through it, such a waste of Michael Bennett's legacy.

I hate Cassie!

It always seemed unfair that she got to audition.

It's the first time it's being shown on TCM.

The athletic guy in the yellow and gray sweats could really dance.

One of the worst movie adaptations ever. Everyone who saw the play got it. The director of this movie never saw the play, or else he was mentally-retarded.

Bebe can really dance well too.

I love this movie R16.

I don't care what you say.

It did a lot for gay visibility.

He saw the play r16. Some of the cast were picked from people who were in the current Bway cast. (Maggie, Bobby)

Okay, the movie was about the heterosexual romance between the director and Cassie.

And it had fags, so it was just as gay as the original.

[quote] The athletic guy in the yellow and gray sweats could really dance.

I think he was the best dancer in the cast.

Very Donald O'Connor-esque.

A colossal bomb at the time and still one of the worst film adaptions of a B’way musical, which was dazzling- easily one of the two or three best shows I ever saw.

Trivia Tidbit:

Janet Jones who played Judy Monroe is married to Wayne Gretzky.

[quote]It did a lot for gay visibility.

Jesus Christ it came out in 1985, not 1935!

"Judy Monroe"? In the stage version the character is named "Judy Turner". Why the hell would you change something like that?

[quote]And it had fags, so it was just as gay as the original.

No it wasn't. For example about half of the dialog for the character Paul was cut for the movie.

What in the hell was so damned special about Cassie?

Her story was exhausting. Especially the drama with her and the director.

Ugh.

The best part of this movie was getting to see the grueling audition process.

It was eye opening.

[quote] "Judy Monroe"? In the stage version the character is named "Judy Turner". Why the hell would you change something like that?

In fairness, it's very possible that the E&O attorneys asked for this change as there may have been a Judy Turner who was deemed too close a resemblance to the character. (In short, it may not have been a creative choice.)

What's an E & O attorney?

I love the movie, esp the opener and “Nothing.” It is so weird that Val doesn’t have tits. She’s talented and pretty but lacking what she’s singing about.

[quote] What's an E & O attorney?

Errors and Omissions. Basically they vet anything in the film you could be sued for. In this particular instance (and I'm not saying this actually happened), let's say that since 1975, there was a a dancer named Judy Turner in real life who had many things in common with the character, enough so that she could conceivably sue the studio for appropriating her life story.

Now, the chances of this happening are slim to none, but if there's even a chance that the above scenario could happen, then the attorneys advise the studio/filmmakers to make a change such as changing the name.

That's a super simplification of the the whole concept.

John Huston could have directed a better Chorus Line adaptation than this, FFS.

R28 Watch All That jazz kid. Fosse does that, and more, in 8 minutes.

I've tried to watch this film at least three times. It's so flat and dull. There's no joy. No razzle dazzle. I agree with r34, All That Jazz does it better in its opening number than the two hours of this dull film.

And the '80s drum machines used to adapt the score did not age well.

And Reed's Cassie has zero charisma. She's like a blank void throughout the whole film.

R35 And Zach not being able to dance changes everything.

Time to watch the real thing.

So bad that the director slipped back home and switched to making/narrating nature documentaries!

The athletic guy in sweats pictured at r22 is Charles McGowan who played Mike. He died in 2013 (age 53).

Both he and Cameron English who played Paul (pictured here) were Meryl’s back up dancers in the opening number “I See Me!” in Deatg Becomes Her.

Not even a single mention of Gregg Burge? He was one of the three best male show dancers of his era (along with Don Correia and Hinton Battle) and his work in Surprise Surprise is so outstanding it almost seems from a different movie. After seeing that and hearing Zach say Cassis is too good, you can only realize what a letdown the character and number is. And although Let Me Dance for You is a bomb (it was a throwaway from the workshop), Music and the Mirror is one of the most lethal and overrated numbers in theater history. Bennett was on the right track when he staged it with four backup dancers so it was essentially the story of how Cassie became a star but alone it's long and boring.

[quote] The athletic guy in sweats pictured at R22 is Charles McGowan who played Mike. He died in 2013 (age 53).

Any more information on Charles McGowan, R39?

I think he's so handsome. Totally my type.

Was he gay or straight?

I really do think he was the best dancer on that stage. But there's almost no information about him online.

I love this movie and watched it so many times on laserdisc when i was a kid. Gregg Burge was an amazing dancer. Don't hate me DL.

It would have been a better film had Cole Carpenter made it further.

I really enjoyed the show on Broadway and looked forward to the movie.

I was shocked at how horrible it was.

R25 & 29, it was a creative choice. Judy Turner's line in the original script makes reference to Lana Turner: "I'm Judy Turner, but my real name is Lana Turner". Her last name was was changed to Judy Monroe because they thought that Marilyn Monroe was more well known to audiences of that time than Lana Turner, and make a better joke. It's one of hundreds of mistakes in this poor adaptation of the show. I was doing the World Tour of the show as Mark a year and a half or so after the film was released. Matt West, the Bobby in the film, was playing Bobby in our company. His presence in the show was noted and he was singled out in the press in Europe and especially in Japan, since audiences there had embraced the film. We were all ACL purists, and even he knew the film was a misfire. I'm pretty sure there isn't a dancer who has done the show with the original choreography and script who doesn't feel the same way.

I always wanted one of the cast members to be viciously face-slapped

Donahue had the original cast on his show at the time ACL ultimately closed.

He was such a jerk

And now, the original ACL seems ridiculously outdated.

Charles McGowan was straight- and married to Pam Klinger who he met on the set of A Chorus Line.

McGowan had some sort of deformity. He was born without some major bone. I can't remember which. It was considered a miracle that he could walk let alone dance like he did.

I once searched google about him and found a tribute his son had written to him. (He and Klinger had divorced and he married someone else and had this kid.)

Thanks, R50 and R51.

Why did McGowan die so young?

I saw it when it first died on the screen.

Imagine having a role like Morales with not one, but TWO great songs, and you cast....

Yamil Borges.

My mother took me to see it at the theater mall after I got my braces on when I was 12.

I don't know if it was the thrill of seeing a movie on a Wednesday afternoon when I should have been in school or my burgeoning queerness, but I loved every minute of it.

Today, I know it isn't a great movie or anything, but I will watch it and have fond memories. And there was a ton of armpit hair shots, which fascinated me to no end at the time.

The guy who played Paul was also in the Oliva Newton-Jphn video for "The Rumor," which I thought was THE most glamorous video in the world.

Maybe I had terrible taste.

Sorry...I put the link in the wrong box...

A Chorus Line

Company

Follies

***

Those shows are firmly set in NYC in 1975, 1970 and 1971, respectively. A major crush on Robert Goulet didn't have to be explained nor did a telephone service, and there were still annual reunions of Ziegfeld Follies girls. The NYC that the audience walked out into was the same NYC they'd just seen on the stage. Now they play like period pieces. That original immediacy can never be recreated.

Jeez—how many of you DLers have had issues with your anterior cruciate ligament.

Charles McGowen died from complications following surgery.

[quote]John Huston could have directed a better Chorus Line adaptation than this, FFS.

Walter Huston could have directed a better Chorus Line adaptation than this, FFS.

[quote]And now, the original ACL seems ridiculously outdated.

Uh, no, it doesn't.

[quote] The NYC that the audience walked out into was the same NYC they'd just seen on the stage. Now they play like period pieces. That original immediacy can never be recreated.

You are so right. I saw Falsettoland when it was at the Lortel. I walked out onto Christopher Street, gay Mecca was slowly dying, but there was a feeling that what I had just seen on stage was happening around me.

[quote]...and there were still annual reunions of Ziegfeld Follies girls.

...attended by many Dataloungers reading this thread!

Vicki Frederick was pretty good.

She sure was, r63.

R60, it IS ridiculously outdated and will likely never see another extended Broadway run. The show is like Hair or The Wiz. A phenomenon at the time but even in a time capsule is now only marginally entertaining.

And then R51 hit the gay video porn shop around the corner on Hudson…

Apologies^ meant R61

Horrible beyond words. It simply does not translate to film. It's only worth hate watching, and even that is a slog.

It makes me want to scream and shout

R69 = Lydia

This was an interesting juncture in Douglas’s career. It was after Romancing the Stone but still before the one two punch of Fatal Attraction/Wall Street that finally catapulted him to A list star in his mid 40s. Still primarily known as a hugely successful producer who yeah also co-starred in some movies. A couple years later he probably would have turned this down.

Fosse’s daughter unfortunately inherited his long torso and short legs.

My local duplex screen in S. Florida was showing both A Chorus Line and Jewel of the Nile side by side during Christmas of 1985 when I was a kid. I saw them both there and hated each.

Ryan Murphy said a few years ago that he was developing a series based upon A Chorus Line musical for Netflix, but I never heard another thing about it. I guess he dropped it after his initial Netflix shows bombed, so he went to easy ratings winners like Dahmer.

Did the originals who gave their stories get any royalties from the movie? I know there was a fight to get them royalties from the stage production.

R74 Would you have wanted Sarah Paulson playing Cassie?

Alyson Reed was one of the biggest WTF? castings ever. She had zero spark and looked like some frau on her way to an aerobics class in Greenwich CT than an accomplished dancer. Vicki Frederick or Ann Reinking would have been much better choices.

I remember reading on IMDB years back that Allyson Reed was scheduled to do the Carson show the day after the films premiere, but when she flew out to LA, she found out she'd been dropped from the guest list of that night show due to the terrible reviews the movie got, so she took the next plane back to NY. I have no idea if it's true or not, but it's amusing nonetheless.

Cassie finalists were Reed, Reinking and Leslie Ann Warren. God, they were starting out at ground zero any way you sliced it.

[quote] Cassie finalists were Reed, Reinking and Leslie Ann Warren. God, they were starting out at ground zero any way you sliced it.

I think that Leslie Ann Warren would have been the best pick of those three.

The actress needed more spark and more spunk.

Reed was just... BLAH. And she looked BLAH.

Truthfully, I can't even think of who might have been a good Cassie.

Sallyson

Poor Nicole had to spend that entire movie pigeon toed, as if that would show innocence. That was a Fosse signature, however. And she was very cute in it, so that's a nice reminder of how adorable she was at that age.

Perhaps the best female dancer of that era was Sandahl Bergman but she couldn't convey vulnerability, either through acting or especially dancing. I mean at that stage, you'd practically have to bring Gwen Verdon back. I think I might have gone for Vicki. Ann's voice and square jaw were not meant for the movies.

That oriental woman's lines were awful.

Something like, "I'm Connie Wong. Always Wong, never Wight."

Really?

Sandahl being awesome on Moonlighting. Completely creates a character and tells a story through movement and the sequence directed by Stanley Donen is one of the best in a series that had so many highpoints. This was done in 1986, so essentially two years before ACL.

[quote] Imagine having a role like Morales with not one, but TWO great songs, and you cast....

Yamil Borges.

I thought she was great.

I mean, who else could have played a spunky little Latina chorus line dancer, in 1985?

The pickings were pretty slim, when it came to casting Puerto Rican actresses in the mid-1980's, who could also sing and dance.

I know it’s DL rite of passage to hate Ann Reinking because of one bad Oscar performance (but really, when has an Oscar performance actually HELPED one’s career) but I think she would have been great and the best choice.

But hiring the director of (yawn) Gandhi was like something out of Wichita. Like I said even John Huston could have done better.

Listening to Ann croak out "Let me daaaaance for you" is terrifying to even think of. The LA Times noted that within her limited realm, she's a star but out of it, she's something of a pain. I think that's one of the more astute criticisms about her.

Ann Reinking isn't a bad actress, and she's wonderful in movies like Micki and Maude and All that Jazz (she certainly out classed that bug eyed actress who played Roy Scheiders' ex wife and who gives one of the shittiest line readings I've ever head when she blubbers "You son of a bitch"!)

R83 Far more talent on display in 6 minutes than the entire running time of A Chorus Line. Shandal is a goddess. Amazing dancer. Bruce actually looks like he's having fun. A shame TV is not that brave anymore. I guess Schmigadoon is trying.

Meh, r87, I'll take Leland over Ann in ATJ any day.

Alyson Reed played Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret.

Both Leland and Ann were great in All That Jazz. No need to tear down one to prop up the other.

But Cassie needed someone with major presence. They needed a star.

RIP to Tony Fields and DAT ASS…which couldn’t live forever. 😢

r90 see r80

R87 no not at all. She had a lot of charisma and a great presence. Yeah her voice was “throaty” but she was an amazing dancer - and who cares anyway. I think she deserved a better film career.

And a ton of people embarrass themselves at the Oscar’s - like Teri Garr, who was in some ridiculously embarrassing number. No one held it against her (as they shouldn’t, by the way)

They should have asked Shirley MacLaine to play Cassie. Yes, she was 50, but after five minutes the audience would have forgotten her age.

They should have gotten LIZA!!!!!

Didn't Ann-Margret want it? Not a high kickin' Cassie, more a...shimmy-shimmy one.

I mean, who else could have played a spunky little Latina chorus line dancer, in 1985?

The pickings were pretty slim, when it came to casting Puerto Rican actresses in the mid-1980's, who could also sing and dance.

ME!

Suzanne Somers should have played Cassie.

Charo should have played Cassie.

Joyce Dewitt should have played Cassie.

Teri Garr's performance was meant to be humorous, bad as it was. Ann played it so seriously that it was the very definition of camp. How the fuck do you mess up the lyrics when it was pre-recorded?

Ariana Grande should have played Cassie.

Cassie is not necessarily meant to have star quality. That's why she's back in the chorus. Some thought Donna had it but she really didn't. Don't get me started on Charlotte.

You're slipping. Catherine Zeta Jones should have played Cassie.

Mandy Patinkin almost got the part of Zach.

[quote] That oriental woman's lines were awful. Something like, "I'm Connie Wong. Always Wong, never Wight." Really?

"Oriental"? Really?

R70 I did not expect a Teen Wolf reference on ACL thread 😭 Probably the first and last time that will ever happen.

There wasn't a shortage of Puerto Rican dancers to play Diana------there were tons who had played it on stages around the world.

I'm very sorry, Cassie.

Yeah, don't tell me you wouldn't be bombarded by thousands of qualified candidates to play Morales. Yamil Borges was sub-Fame: The TV Series.

I was born the same year as CZJ.

yes r112 1990

It's on TCM again today at 2:45 pm Pacific and 5:45 Eastern time.

The more I watch this movie, the more the Cassie character ruins the movie for me.

Not only does she just waltz into the audition late, but she totally distracts the director's attention from all the other dancers.

They have to keep stopping the audition because he's so irritated with her.

Then when he finally lets her audition, he keeps stopping the audition to yell at Cassie.

If I were one of those dancers, I would have been pissed!

And then in the end, she gets a spot on the Chorus Line because she's going to end up sleeping with the Michael Douglas character!!!

Argh. I hate Cassie!!

I remember seeing this in the theater with my best friend and we both burst out laughing when Douglas yells at Cassie, "Dammit Cassie! You're too damn good."

R75 - that’s a great question. I sure hope they were.

Guiding Light’s Katie Parker, Denise Pence and her husband Steve Bookvor were the inspirations for Al and Christine.

Here's Jane Krakowski singing up a storm performing "The Mirror & The Music", from an episode of Ally McBeal

Everybody had a sob story in this movie.

It was kind of depressing.

[quote]Here's Jane Krakowski singing up a storm

but not *dancing* up one.

The only thing this movie got right was picking the final eight for the chorus line.

They were the best dancers, with the exception of Nepo-pick Cassie.

The weird thing about this movie is that it's titled "A Chorus Line," but the plot of the movie is how Cassie is too good for a chorus line, because she's a solo "STAR" dancer.

So what's the message here?

It's on right now.

Anyone watching?

R119 she's actually a really good dancer but I guess David E Kelley didn't spring for choreography! I think this was as the show was in its death throes in season 5. Jane is really talented

I’d rather sit and watch dog shit turn white

I love CZJ's tribute to Michael where she takes the Mick out of him for A Chorus Line

I have very fond memories of this movie but not because of the movie. My mom had gotten a VCR but never used it. We watched the movie while recording it and then watched the tape to make sure it was recorded. Mom loved the movie and would watch the tape whenever she wanted to. RIP, Mom. ❤️

Call me Mary! but the last number always makes me tear up.

I wonder where the cast is nowadays.

Alyson Reed and Terrence Mann are the only two who seemed to continue on as working actors.

(and Douglas too obviously.)

For people making reference to Audrey's less-than-massive hooters, I remember a line from the original show that I can't believe they cut: At the end of the number, Sheila sidemouths to Bobby "Well they're certainly not very big" (or something to that effect) to which Val replies "I heard that, bitch. Besides, I didn't go for ones like yours; I went for proportion.) I was shocked when that didn't make the movie.

Oh, and I remember that line from seeing the show as a 12-year-old in 1977. And I turned out gay. Go figure.

Just rewatched the movie, which is why God invented fast forwarding. (That and dialogue scenes/foreplay in porn.) Makes total sense to read in the posts above that Bobby was playing the role onstage at the time; he had the character's dancing down perfectly -- old pro clean, nothing fancy. Several of the dancers had great character specificity to their movements: Richie, Mike, Bebe, Greg and Sheila, particularly. And they did manage to show Cassie "popping" in the "One" rehearsal in a way I didn't catch onstage (although I agree the actress is generally blah).

On the subject of popping, am I the only one who was continually distracted by Bobby's bulge? That thing deserved its own credit.