Excellent, a Must See

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Orthodox Jewish singer Neil Diamond (as Yussel Rabinovitch aka Jess Robin) moonlights as a "Soul" singer. After synagogue, he performs in "Blackface" make-up and wears an "Afro" wig. These wigs were plentiful on New York City street corners when this film was being made. Possibly, they still are. During the opening performance, some men in the audience notice Mr. Diamond's hands are "White" and beat him up. Oddly enough, Diamond is thrown in jail. He is bailed out by his father, Rabbi-rousing Laurence Olivier (as Cantor Rabinovitch). Their conflict is now in the open. Diamond wants to sing pop music, but Mr. Olivier thinks it's sinful...Diamond decides to pursue his singer/songwriter dreams in Los Angeles. He meets perky music agent Lucie Arnaz (as Molly Bell). She is impressed with Diamond's musical skills and agrees to manage him...This update of 1920s classic "The Jazz Singer" has a timeless conflict, but director Richard Fleischer and the producers have no luck in managing the movie. Diamond is never convincing as a young man leaving home to become a jazz singer. He's an accomplished adult pop star and always seems out of place in this story. Given a career due to her famous parents, Ms. Arnaz was largely dismissed during the 1970s; herein, she steals the show with a lovely, appealing and surprisingly natural performance. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a show to steal and Arnaz' contribution went unnoticed. Still, she can always say she outperformed Olivier.**** The Jazz Singer (12/17/80) Richard Fleischer ~ Neil Diamond, Laurence Olivier, Lucie Arnaz, Catlin Adams

Dreadful piece of tripe was a career low point for all involved. Although I heard she is good on stage, a medium whose best performers often can not transition to pictures, Lucie Arnaz just did not possess the magnetism to be a film star. She's bland and uninteresting but even with that she still gives the best performance in the movie! Neil Diamond is a fine singer but as this movie proved his gifts did not reach to acting competency. The great Laurence Olivier sinks right along with the rest by giving a ham-hock of a performance, perhaps his worst ever. Badly directed and antiquated even when shot originally in the twenties this is a total miss.

Speaking of self-evident comedy: Neil Diamond as a Jewish cantor's son whose father, played by Olivier, objects to his dreams of pop-rock stardom (there's regrettably no jazz to be found). The chief pleasure, if you can call it that, is in observing the clash of acting styles between neophyte Diamond, who can't project emotion, and Olivier, whose mailed-in performance uses bathos as its emotion of choice. Fortunately, Fleischer is a no-nonsense director, so he backs up this risible melodrama with convincingly grubby Brooklyn locations and an interesting glimpse into religion-based lives. If nothing else, the scenes detailing synagogue rituals and bar mitzvah celebrations are a window into an alien world (to me), and Diamond's songs are fairly good. Favorite moment: the dejected, bearded Diamond walking away from the studio and ending up in a honky-tonk bar in Laredo, singing a country-western arrangement of "Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away" for the appreciative owner.

This is an unnecessary updated remake of the venerable Al Jolson musical weepie: still, the end product remains hopelessly clichéd and actually gives the term 'old-fashioned' a bad name! Besides, in view of star Neil Diamond's pop repertoire, the title doesn't make any sense - and, while the new songs in themselves aren't too bad, there's no comparable number to the original's show-stopping and heart-rending "Mammy" (actually, the protagonist's mother here doesn't come into the picture at all!). The rest is glossy but also unintentionally funny: there's Diamond singing in blackface, a punk rendition of a typical Diamond ballad, Laurence Olivier's embarrassing performance (especially the scene where he disowns his son), Diamond's period in the 'wilderness', etc. Not surprisingly, the film - and Olivier - emerged a winner at that year's Razzie Awards: could it be that the great English thespian accepted such an obviously demeaning role solely for the purpose of adding this unenviable tribute to his long list of accolades?