(Bob Fosse, 1969)
IMDB
Directed
and choreographed by Bob Fosse, every movement within the film has a
certain fluidity to it; a sexual and syncopated feel that hadn't
really been seen before. The film itself, revolving round Charity, a
dancer at a strip club, is an example of Fosse tackling a seedy/
gritty subject, via movement and theatricality. Within the strip
club, the décor is tacky and feels very uncomfortable, with cheap
gold embellishments adorning the space. During “Hey Big Spender”
the women roll their shoulders and hips in a way that suggests
sexuality, but at the same time feels quite sanitized. The women
stand in a line, all fixed against a horizontal bar in various poses.
Some lean against it, whilst others drape legs or arms across it,
much like puppets I think. The women's movements are superimposed
upon each other The transitions between scenes feel very dated, done
via grainy still frames.
In a stark
contrast to the aforementioned strip joint, there is The Pompeii
Club, filled with tall, statuesque, model men and women. Figures are
silhouetted in black amongst a set of columns, candles and marble
floors. The scene screams sixties class, in that massively desirable
but overtly pretentious kind of way. A cheetah sits in a cage and
moving pictures are projected onto the walls. The only colour really
present is the selection of feather wigs that the female dancers
wear. Everyone otherwise wears black; black sequins, black feathers,
white silk gloves and diamonds. The dancers perform three acts; The
Aloof, The Heavyweight
and The Big Finish, all
the while surrounded by an elegant audience of people not watching,
but instead contributing to the atmosphere by just being sexy,
mysterious and statuesque themselves. Each dance is, of course,
accompanied by the obligatory “sixties head-bobbing” movement.
During the three acts, the mood is changed by the colour of the main
wall behind the stage area. Blue during The
Aloof, red
during The Heavyweight
and amber during The Big Finish.
