So, I woke up this morning and the good news was that I had gotten linked to by the wondrous Self-Styled Siren. The bad news was that her latest post was linking to my Fossethon, prompted by the death of Roy Scheider, who arguably did his best onscreen work in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz. Easily the best starring role by a nonsinger/nondancer in a singing and dancing role.

Scheider had pretty much zero musical comedy background prior to Jazz and, while he doesn’t try to compete with great musical performers like Ben Vereen, Scheider holds his end up nicely (his character is no longer really a performer, in any case), and his embodiment of the role was flawless. He doesn’t try to do an impression but creates a new character in Joe Gideon that is Fosse’s honest reflection.

Still, like many people I had tended to underrate Scheider and, after taking another look at the Fosse film and hearing his commentary over the film late last year, I had been wanting to take a fresher look at some of his work. I’m easily swayed by emotion and listening to his DVD commentary, Scheider really did seem like the “perfect gentlemen” described in the William Goldman passage Campuspe gives us. His affection, gratitude, and respect for Bob Fosse long after the director’s passing were clearly sincere. Right then, I wanted to start digging into some of his past work that I might have missed or under-appreciated. Of course, I have done no such thing.

Still, whatever I can do will be worthwhile. Scheider was a strong but never overpowering character actor who grew more interesting as he grew older, though he certainly appeared in more than his share of mediocre films and he was often a sort of cinematic straightman to such wacky characters as Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle in The French Connection and Robert Shaw’s lunatic seaman in Jaws. (Which, I’m very embarrassed to admit, I’ve only seen once all the way through.) Being a straight man, however, is its own art.

In fact, a quick look at Scheider’s IMDb filmography yields some movies I missed that I’m now very curious to see that includes some possibly flashier work. Seeing that 52 Pick-Up was directed by John Frankenheimer and had a screenplay cowritten by Elmore Leonard is reason enough to check that one out. Also, I remember my friends in elementary school digging The Seven-Ups and it sure sounded like it contained many a gratuitous car chase. On a completely different note, it’s really high time for me to catch-up with his appearance in David Cronenberg’s film of William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. I admit it was largely my squeamishness as well as some less than ecstatic reviews that kept me away from this one — I’d read the book and, if you have too, you’ll understand this conversation between me and a former female roommate of mine:

Me (reading newspaper): Hey, David Cronenberg’s doing the movie version of Naked Lunch.

Roommate: Eeeeew!

First and only time I was able to gross someone out just by naming a director and his newest project. Still, time to see this one. Schneider was great at projecting a certain kind of deep cynicism and menace, so I can’t think of a better man to play ultra-creepy Dr. Benway, other than Burroughs himself, that is. It’s worth a mention that while Scheider played U.S. Presidents three times, according to the IMDb trivia, as far as I know he’s never played the Devil or even a Satanist. A lost opportunity.

However, it looks as if Mr. Scheider — who obviously loved working with over credits listed — managed one last starring role despite his long illness, playing an ex-policeman and holocaust survivor bent on revenge in a film called Iron Cross. Let’s hope that one sees the light of day.

Still, All That Jazz was in so many ways, the role of a lifetime in all it’s death-obsession. And so, after reminding you to do as Campuspe suggests and check out Nathaniel R’s appreciation of Fosse’s most acclaimed film (which goes a lot further in discussing the film than I did), it seems fitting to conclude with one of the few notable musical sequences from a Fosse film that I failed to include in the Fossethon.

I guess I omitted this one because it doesn’t really seem right to show the entire ending sequence of a great film out of context — and if you haven’t seen the rest of the film, a lot of context really is lost. Still, it’s fitting and spoiler alerts are almost beyond the point. We know how all true stories end, don’t we?

Nevertheless, at the risk of being morbid but with the greatest possible respect…it’s showtime, folks.