The Jazz Singer
Dir: Richard Fleischer
1980
****
Richard Fleischer's remake of The Jazz Singer (the original is noted as being the first 'talkie') is cheesy as hell and is probably the blue-print for every awful music biopic made in the 1980's. So obviously I really enjoyed it and thank it for what it has done. Neil Diamond isn't an artist I can really say I'm a huge fan of but I have to admit I was really taken by the songs (I even bought his greatest hits off the back of watching this and it is now a much listened to album during long car journeys) and he's a pretty good actor too. To star alongside a great such as Laurence Olivier and look unfazed is pretty impressive, he isn't the best actor in the world but i do find it surprising that this was his first and only acting experience. It's no masterpiece but it has that late 70's/early 80's charm that I dearly love, so I really enjoyed it.