The Jazz Singer (1980 film)

The Jazz Singer
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Produced by Jerry Leider
Written by Herbert Baker
Starring Neil Diamond
Laurence Olivier
Lucie Arnaz
Catlin Adams
Franklyn Ajaye
Paul Nicholas
Music by Gilbert Bécaud
Neil Diamond
Leonard Rosenman
Richard Bennett
Alan E. Lindgren
Cinematography Isidore Mankofsky
Edited by Frank J. Urioste
Maury Winetrobe
Production
company
Distributed by Associated Film Distribution
Release date
  • December 19, 1980 (1980-12-19)
Running time
 115 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $14,000,000
Box office $27,118,000

The Jazz Singer is a 1980 American drama film and a remake of the 1927 film The Jazz Singer, released by EMI Films. It starred Neil Diamond, Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz and was co-directed by Richard Fleischer and Sidney J. Furie.

Although the film was a critical flop, the soundtrack was enormously successful, eventually reaching multi-platinum status and becoming Diamond's most successful album to date. It resulted in three hit songs, "America", "Love on the Rocks" and "Hello Again".

Plot

Yussel Rabinovitch is a young Jewish cantor performing at the synagogue of his imperious father. Yussel is married to his childhood friend, Rivka, and has settled down to a life of religious devotion to the teaching of his faith.

But on the side, he writes songs for a black singing group, and when a member of the quartet takes ill, Yussel covers for him at one of their gigs by wearing blackface. The nightclub engagement is a success, but one of the patrons at the nightclub notices that Yussel's hands are white and calls him out. A fight ensues and the band is arrested. Yussel's father comes to the jail to bail them out and finds out that there is not a Yussel Rabinovitch there but a Jess Robin. His father questions him about this later and Yussel tells him it is a professional stage name he uses when performing. His father tells him that his singing voice was to be used for God's purposes, not his own.

Bubba, a member of the "Four Brothers" singing group, is Yussel's best friend, although he knows him as 'Jess'; Bubba informs him that the band has got a gig in Los Angeles performing back up vocals for a successful singer, Keith Lennox. Shortly after Bubba leaves, Yussel begins composing a song that will eventually become "Love on the Rocks". His wife Rivka notices him writing the song in his free time and senses that Yussel yearns for a bigger stage for his voice, but her values keep her grounded to the home life they have built together.

Bubba calls Jess from LA and informs him that Lennox really loved "Love on the Rocks" and wants to record it, but they need Jess to come out for two weeks to oversee the recording session. Jess finally sees this as the opportunity he has been waiting for, but his wife and his father are opposed to him going. But later at a bar mitzvah his father relents and tearfully lets him go.

When Jess arrives in LA, he is picked up by music agent Molly Bell. She takes him to the studio where Lennox is recording, and Jess is shocked to find out that his ballad is now being recorded as a hard rock song. During a break in recording, Jess asks the producer and Lennox if he can perform the song as a ballad, as he intended, so Lennox can get an idea of the framing of the song. They allow him to do it, and while recording the song, Molly decides that Jess's performance is the way the song should be done. However, Lennox is not convinced and fires the group.

Later, Molly gets a tip from a friend as to where a booking agent, Eddie Gibbs, is having lunch. She gets into his car, uninvited, and has him listen to Jess's recording of "Love on the Rocks". When Eddie asks her who it is, Molly tells him that it is the new opening act for Zane Gray's new television special. Gibbs is not amused and says he can't book anyone from just a tape recording sight unseen. However, she manages to get Eddie to visit a club where Jess has managed to get a gig playing, thanks to Bubba, who is working there as a waiter. Eddie comes in and watches him performing "Amazed and Confused" and then leaves. Jess thinks he has blown it, but Molly tells him "..he hates loud music..you he loved..you open for Zane Gray."

Meanwhile, back in New York, Cantor Rabinovich confronts Rivka about Jess going to California, and reminds her that her place is by her husband's side, and if she goes to California, maybe she can bring him home. She relents and goes.

On Jess's opening night, as he performs the songs "Summer Love" and "Hey Louise", Rivka shows up and meets Molly, and tries to tell her that their Jewish values are such that Jess cannot possibly stay. The audience gives Jess a standing ovation, and he heads backstage and is reunited with Rivka. At the after party, Jess is met by an enthusiastic crowd and is given a recording contract. Despite Jess asking her to stay, Rivka says she wants something different. Realizing she has lost him, she leaves before Jess can catch her.

Days later, Jess meets up with Molly by the pier and confesses his love for her, telling her that he and Rivka have split up. As time passes, the two grow closer to each other while Jess's career continues steadily. His father shows up to visit him and attempts to persuade him to go back home, but Jess refuses, insisting that he's making a name for himself with his music career. Jess reveals that he and Rivka are divorcing, which devastates his father. To make matters worse, Molly suddenly arrives home. Jess tries to explain the matter to his father, but to no avail, as he angrily disowns his son and leaves in tears.

Still broken by the incident, Jess struggles at his recording sessions, taking out his anger on his bandmates, until he finally storms out and drives away aimlessly. When his car runs out of gas on the highway, he hitchhikes far away for a few weeks, taking up singing at a country bar. Eventually, he returns home to Molly when Bubba tracks him down and tells him that she has given birth to a son. Molly once again meets Eddie Gibbs in his car and persuades him to let Jess perform on Zane Gray's television special.

At rehearsal, the day before Yom Kippur, Leo shows up and tells Jess that his father is in the hospital with high blood pressure and won't be able to sing Kol Nidre at the synagogue. Jess is initially reluctant to go to his father, vowing that he is dead to him, but Molly insists that he go back to him or else she'll feel guilty about it. Jess ultimately agrees and returns to sing at the synagogue. He tries to make amends with his father, but he refuses to speak to Jess, until Jess tells him that he now has a grandson, at which point they finally reconcile.

The film ends with Jess performing "America", with his father and Molly in attendance.

Cast

Production

In 1976 producer Jerry Leider saw Diamond perform at the Greek Theatre and asked him to star in a film. They decided on a remake of The Jazz Singer. Leider spent ten months securing the rights from Warner Bros and United Artists, and hired Jerome Kass to write a treatment for MGM who were going to finance. Stephen Foreman was hired to write a script but MGM rejected it, worried it was "too Jewish". The film was picked up by Paramount and EMI but Paramount dropped out. Sidney Furie was hired to direct. Deborah Raffin was cast as the female lead. [1]

Furie wanted a number of changes, notably the ending. Foreman left the project. Herbert Baker was hired to write a new script. Ten days before filming began, Arthur Laurents was brought in to work on the script. During the course of the rewrites the character played by Raffin changed to one that she was no longer suitable to play (she had to sing) and she left the project, replaced by Arnaz. Raffin was paid $225,000 depite not appearing in the final film. Arnaz was then appearing on Broadway in They're Playing Our Song and would not leave the show, meaning the unit had to relocate to New York where Arnaz could film in the day. Then Furie was fired during filming. The budget blew out from $8 million to $13 million.[1]

Reception

Box office

Lew Grade, who invested in the film, said the box office "results were disappointing and we weren't able to recoup our prints and advertising costs". However, since the movie had been presold to American television for $4 million, the losses were minimized. Also, the soundtrack album was very successful and made more money than the film itself.[2] The film made $27,000,000 on a budget of $14,000,000.

Critical

Unlike the original, the film received mostly negative reviews. Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times, awarding it one star out of four, said that the remake "has so many things wrong with it that a review threatens to become a list".[3] Another negative review came from Janet Maslin of The New York Times who stated: "Mr. Diamond, looking glum and seldom making eye contact with anyone, isn't enough of a focus for the outmoded story." Time Out London called the appearance of Neil Diamond "the most cautious soft-rock superstar movie debut you'll ever get to see." The only top critic to give a positive review of the film (according to Rotten Tomatoes) was Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader. He wrote that "Richard Fleischer's direction is appropriately close-in and small, and Diamond himself, while no actor, proves to be a commandingly intense, brooding presence." The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John J. B. Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.[4]

Diamond was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for the same role in this movie, winning the latter. The only other time an actor was nominated for both awards for the same performance was Pia Zadora, who uniquely won both in 1981.

Awards and nominations

Award Subject Nominee Result
ASCAP Awards Most Performed Feature Film Standards Neil Diamond for "America" Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Original Song Neil Diamond and Gilbert Bécaud for "Love on the Rocks" Nominated
Best Supporting Actress - Musical/Comedy Lucie Arnaz Nominated
Best Actor - Musical/Comedy Neil Diamond Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor Won
Worst Supporting Actor Laurence Olivier Won
Worst Picture Nominated
Worst Director Sidney J. Furie and Richard Fleischer Nominated
Worst Original Song Neil Diamond for "You Baby" Nominated

Others

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Soundtrack

References

  1. 1 2 'JAZZ SINGER': THE SOUND AND THE FURIE: MOVIES SOUR NOTES ON 'JAZZ SINGER' SOUR NOTES ON 'JAZZ SINGER' Caulfield, Deborah; Taylor, Clarke. Los Angeles Times 9 Mar 1980: l1.
  2. ↑ Lew Grade, Still Dancing: My Story, William Collins & Sons 1987 p 252
  3. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "The Jazz Singer Movie Review & Film Summary (1980) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
  4. ↑ Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
  5. ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-07-30.
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