Movie musicals were made for many years before they lost popularity. For a long time, the few that were made did horribly at the box office. It probably didn’t help that many of the ones made during that time weren’t that great. Moulin Rouge was a different sort of musical and it did help lead to new interest in movie musicals. In 2002, Chicago was released. The movie has been credited with bringing back movie musicals.

Roxie Hart had dreams of becoming a famous singer and dancer with caused her to start an affair with Fred, a man who claimed he would be able to get her an act. When he finally admitted that he had lied to get her into bed, Roxie shot him and tried to get her husband Amos to take the blame. She ended up arrested and set to murderess row where Velma Kelly, a nightclub singer who had shot her husband and sister when she found them in bed together, was also a prisoner. Matron Morton, a corrupt woman, was in charge and she was more than willing to help the prisoners if they paid her well enough.

Matron Morton helped Roxie hire popular defense attorney Billy Flynn like she had done for Velma. Both women were trying to manipulate the press to receive the best publicity as part of their plan to get acquitted. The women didn’t like sharing publicity or Billy. They were both upset when the press turned to a new inmate who had killed her husband and the two women he had been in bed with. Even Billy seemed more interested in the new murderer, but Roxie managed to get the press’s attention back before her trial.

Chicago was based on the Broadway musical that was done in 1975 and revived in 1996. I believe that it is still running now. The musical was based on the 1926 play of the same name written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a woman who had worked as a reporter and covered the trials of two women accused of murder in Chicago. The characters of Roxie and Velma are based on those real women. The play was very successful and the story was used for a few different movies before the musical was done in 1975. I thought it was very interesting that the play was based on real women. I haven’t seen the stage version of the musical, so I don’t know for sure what was changed. From things I have read, it seems like some songs and musical numbers were cut for the movie.

I didn’t think that the plot of Chicago was complicated even though there was a lot going on throughout the movie. Time was taken to show that Velma had been arrested while also showing Roxie and Fred together before she shot him. There was never any question that either woman was guilty, so there really wasn’t any mystery in the movie. The only questions were how the women and Billy were going to deal with the trails and how they would work out. The plot was predictable, though I still enjoyed it. There were one or two small surprises that helped to keep things more interesting. The media got very involved with murder suspects and showered them with attention. The more extreme the case, the more attention the person accused of the crime received. That did seem believable to me considering what has happened in other high profile cases.

Chicago was full of sexual situations and one sex scene that really didn’t show that much. Roxie had a tendency to try to use sex to get her way or get herself out of trouble. She quickly jumped into bed with Fred just because he said he could help her launch an act. She frequently manipulated Amos to get him to do what she wanted. Even once she was in prison, she still tried, and occasionally succeeded at using sex to her advantage. Velma had killed her husband and sister when she found them in bed together. From what the other women said, it seemed like sex played a part in all of the crimes. The women frequently worse skimpy outfits that showed off their legs and cleavage, so there was a lot of skin on display even though there wasn’t any actual nudity.

Singing and dancing played a large part in Chicago. Velma had been a singer at a nightclub before her arrest and she played to resume her career after her trial. She was shown performing when the movie began, which was right before her arrest. The majority of the musical numbers were done in a way to make it seem like all the singing and dancing was happening in Roxie’s mind. She was so obsessed with having her own singing career that it seemed like the only was she could process what was going on was to turn things into a song and dance in her mind. Most of the songs were done like they were being performed on stage. It was an interesting way to handle the songs. There were also a lot of dances throughout the movie that featured suggestive moves.

Chicago was focused on Roxie and Velma, with Roxie receiving more attention. She had been married to Amos for a while, but she wasn’t that happy with the marriage. She was obsessed with getting her own act and becoming famous and she seemed willing to do whatever she had to do to achieve that goal. She was even using the fact that she was in prison to try to benefit her future career. She started off being a bit gullible before becoming more devious by the end of the movie. She got addicted to the attention the press was lavishing on her. Renee Zellweger was fine in the part, though I didn’t think she was as great as some have. I didn’t think her singing was horrible, but there wasn’t anything special about it either.

Velma had been a singer in a nightclub before her arrest. She received all sorts of media attention after her arrest, which she was trying to use to her advantage. She wasn’t happy when Roxie showed up in the prison and started receiving more attention from the press. Velma was grasping at straws to try to keep her own publicity going. I did like Catherine Zeta-Jones in the part. I think she was the better singer and I enjoyed her performance more. She won several awards for this part, including the Oscar for best supporting actress.

Billy Flynn was the well known attorney who was representing both Velma and Roxie. Billy enjoyed playing to the press and he was always plotting how to spin things. He didn’t seem to care that much about his clients. He was just concerned with how much money he could make and how much publicity his clients were getting. He really wasn’t that nice of a guy. Richard Gere was fine in the part. I thought he did really well with the scenes that didn’t require singing. His singing wasn’t horrible, but I just didn’t care for it. Lucy Liu turned up briefly as another woman accused of murder, but she didn’t do any singing.

Amos wasn’t around as much, which fit in with the fact that he kept getting pushed to the background by Roxie. He seemed to really love her, but she was always taking advantage of him. John C. Reilly was wonderful in the part and had one of the best songs. Matron Morton was in charge of the women on murderess row who frequently took bribes from the inmates. Queen Latifah was good in the part. Mary Sunshine was a reporter who was around writing stories about Roxie and Velma. Mary tended to portray the women in a sympathetic light. Christine Baranski didn’t have that much to do with the part. Some of the other women on murderess row were shown without much being shared about them.

Main Cast

Christine Baranski - Mary Sunshine
Taye Diggs - Bandleader
Richard Gere - Billy Flynn
John C. Reilly - Amos Hart
Renee Zellweger - Roxie Hart
Catherine Zeta-Jones - Velma Kelly

Rob Marshall - Director

DVD Information

I have Chicago on DVD. My copy has the wide screen version and I think there is a full screen version available as well. The extras include commentary by the director and screenwriter, a deleted musical number performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah, and a behind the scenes special. That talked about the history of the story, including the original play and how it was written by a woman who had covered sensational murder trials in the early 1920's. Some of the cast was shown doing their rehearsals for their dance numbers. I thought this extra was very interesting.

I really enjoyed Chicago and think it is a good movie musical, though I can’t compare it to the stage version. People that don’t like musicals should probably skip this one.

Movie Musicals
Aladdin ~ Beauty and the Beast ~ Dreamgirls ~ Enchanted ~ Hairspray ~ Moulin Rouge ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas ~ The Rocky Horror Picture Show ~ Phantom of the Opera (2004) ~ Popeye ~ The Producers (2005) ~ Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ~ Tim Burton's Corpse Bride ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD