Liza With A "Z"
by Bob Fosse
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DVD details
Actor: Liza MinnelliDirector: Bob Fosse
Brand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Collector's Edition, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 55 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Showtime Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Liza With A "Z"
DVD Review: Trying SO hard to be "Mammy"...or "Mama"
Summary: 2 Stars
This will definitely be regarded as a disappointing review, but the proverbial "test of time" doesn't lie. This woman does not approach songs to "sing" them--she "butchers" them. What a godawful voice. I know it's not fair to compare her to her mother, but this whole production *was* a blatant attempt to jockey the daughter into a position as a "replacement" for the recently deceased mother (Judy Garland)--complete with ham-handed costumes, arrangements, and terrifically bad selection of song material. Hello? If people wonder why it took so long for this bizarre affair to make it to DVD, wonder no longer. It sinks like a stone.
The "re-mastering" only "re-masters" a cringe-inducingly dated "show." Uggh. Minnelli posessed her mother's "belting" power with NONE of the mother's tonal purity or beauty--Minnelli is basically trying to imitate Judy Garland singing Ethel Merman. She sounds like a coyote baying at the moon. Ouch. Some people may go for that, out of nostalgia, but it might be a good idea to remember that this one never accomplished a tenth of what her mother accomplished (and I bring it up again because she is so obviously being packaged, HERE, as a "leftover" Judy Garland).
Even the opening "Liza With a Z" (written just for her) is pure dreck and contrived (as if no one knew who the heck she was since the 50s). The lady dances like a three-legged goat...like her motor is broken or something; the back-up dancers have to take-up her slack throughout this weird 70s performance. The choreography is fine, but Minnelli looks, half the time, like she is functioning on uneven batteries.
It only gets worse. Watch and shrink as she takes Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacherman" and hacks away at the song like she was swinging a machete. The woman heard someone tell her to "sing" and thought they said "shriek!" Admittedly, it must have been difficult to be Judy Garland's daughter, but if you're going to brazenly imitate your mother, at least try to "fake" it. Her best song on this show was "God Bless the Child" and she even manages to butcher *that* oldie. She barks at the arrangements, rather than truly "singing" in gracious tandem with them. Astonishingly awful.
Her "Cabaret" medley is about the same: lots of hollering and no sense of tone, no clue. There was (is) a longstanding rumor in Hollywood that Minnelli got the Oscar for the 'Cabaret' movie because Hollywood could no longer stand its collective guilt about beating Judy Garland into the ground. Personally, I tend to believe it. Again, Minnelli barks the songs from the movie, as if she were a seal lounging on the San Francisco Wharf. This was embarrassing to watch. No wonder she never had another TV special of note.
The Halston costumes are a fun, quirky diversion, but even those are horrifically dated and come across looking stupid. Minnelli seems to "wear them stupidly."
The ultimate clue is when Minnelli has the nerve to take her "I'm-trying-to-be-my-mama" act to a grotesque level. Her mother, Garland, could get away with singing songs about "blackies" and "mammies" in the early 60s, before the civil rights movement, but Minnelli's decision to sing a yelping version of "My Mammy" in 1972 was just plain ham on top of egregiously poor taste on top of ham. Ugly song for the times...sung by an "ugly" voice.
Basically, why go with the lame imitation when one can have the real deal? It's no surprise that this TV "special" marked the artistic apex of Minnelli's career (in 1972!), and then she never did anything of real note (except a supporting role in a couple of Dudley Moore flicks and a handful of bomb-city Broadway musicals that no one recalls). The mother made over 25 massive box-office films, hit the top Ten with practically every record she put out, sold out huge concert halls around the world (not dingy cabarets), and broke TV ratings records with her own concert specials. The mother also has an Oscar, a Tony, and multiple Grammys.
Does Minnelli have talent? Sure. Was she (is she) a genius or a really good "singer?" Good gosh, NO. Not even a top-rate performer (so-so dancing, too hammy). This hodgepodge TV show proves it. Again, remember that this show was the "climax" of her entire career, and it was filmed in 1972 (!) and no one really wanted to resurrect it until now. That says a lot.
Sorry, Liza Minnelli fans. This lady is certainly very commendable and probably a nice person (?) but just "being" Judy Garland's daughter can't make-up for such overrated "talent." If it did, it "ended" in 1972.
A grating, cheesy, hamfisted 70s piece of crumb-cake.
Description of Liza With A "Z"
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/04/2006 Run time: 55 minutesPop Music CDs
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