Chicago (2002)

Academy Award for Best Picture, 2003

First she steals my publicity, then she steals my lawyer, my trail date. And now she steals my goddamn garter! - Velma Kelly

As a sucker for musicals, this is naturally one of my favorite movies. I saw the show on stage about a year or so after the film version came out, and only then did I realize how different a concept the movie took on.

The musical itself is far more of a Fosse show, with sexually-driven outstanding choreography. The movie, however, includes the Fosse-inspired dance numbers, as shown through the eyes of Renee Zellweger's Roxie Hart. The rest of the movie is "set" in the 1920s Chicago, complete with the character's costumes, etc. This is very different from the production I saw at Shea's in Buffalo, where the cast kept on the "sexy" outfits for the entirety of the show.

What I find most interesting about the story itself is that the musical, originally a play released in the late 20s, was written by a reporter who put herself into the story through the character Mary Sunshine. Maurine Dallas Watkins penned the original story line. As a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, in 1924 she covered the sensational trials of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Sheriff Annan, who would go on to become the characters Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart. Watkins herself soon left the journalism to write plays full time although Chicago remained her most notable, running for 172 performances on Broadway before touring two years with a then-unknown Clark Gable acting in the role of Amos Hart.

Great movie, lots of fun. Definitely a good take on the story itself and solid performances by the two main women.

4.5 stars out of 5