Question about Bob Fosse

There's a biography of Fosse that I want to buy. It's called All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob Fosse by Martin Gottfried. I read the pages on this topic on Google Books. Evidently, there was a darker, more tawdry side to Fosse than most people realized. He told a colleague that he was drawn to Paul Snider's character because in some ways they were very much alike. I think Fosse also wanted to show people that their mistrust of and disdain for Hollywood was well-placed. His screenplay is well constructed and focused, even if he had a hard time explaining exactly why he was drawn to the story.

Bob Fosse grew up in strip clubs.

This led him to develop very conflicting views of women in general. On one hand they were around to be used both as lovers and as fellow artists (dancers, actors), on the other hand he had great admiration for women doing no matter what it takes to survive. He recognized that culture was stacked against women (of which he had a hand since he was a cultural zeitgeist himself), but women still struggled against this culture to define themselves.

I think he liked to do movies about "the business." A Chorus Line, Star 80, Lenny, Sweet Charity (in the "dance for a dime" business), Cabaret.

He also liked to present the slimey side of life. He was a bit on the slimey side himself.

I think he was a wonderful director, but was underrated and even given a hard time about it. "The business" doesn't like people to cross lines like that (choreographer to director), esp back then.

Sweet Charity with Shirley Maclaine is a wonderful movie, but the critics naysayed it, I think. It really is a really really good movie, thanks to Bob Fosse. All his movies are great. Chicago is perfection.