The Jazz Singer (1980 film)

Yussel Rabinovitch is a young, fifth-generation Jewish cantor performing at the synagogue of his imperious father. Yussel is married to his childhood friend Rivka, and settled down to a life of religious devotion.

But on the side, he writes songs for a black singing group, and when a member of the quartet is arrested, Yussel covers for him at one of their gigs by wearing blackface. The engagement is a success, but one of the patrons notices Yussel's hands are white. A fight ensues, and the band is arrested. Yussel's father comes to the jail to bail them out and discovers there is not a Yussel Rabinovitch there, but a Jess Robin. Yussel confesses to his father this is a professional stage name he uses when performing. His father tells him that his singing voice was to be used for God's purposes, not his own.

Bubba, a member of the singing group, is Yussel's best friend, although he knows him only as Jess. Bubba informs him that the band has a gig in Los Angeles, performing back-up vocals for a successful singer (Keith Lennox). Yussel begins composing a song that will eventually become "Love on the Rocks." His wife Rivka notices his song writing, and senses that he yearns for a bigger stage for his voice.

Bubba calls from Los Angeles to inform Jess that Lennox loved "Love on the Rocks" and wants to record it. He asks Jess to come to L.A. to oversee the recording session. Jess views this as the opportunity he has been waiting for, but Rivka and his father are opposed to him going.

Jess arrives in L.A. and is picked up by music agent Molly Bell. At the studio where Lennox is recording, Jess is shocked to find his ballad is now being recorded as a hard rock song. Jess asks the producer if he can perform the song as a ballad, so Lennox can get an idea of the song's framing. This leads Molly to decide that Jess's performance is the way the song should be done. Lennox is not convinced, and fires the group.

Later, Molly corners Eddie Gibbs, a booking agent, and plays Jess's recording of "Love on the Rocks." Gibbs is impressed, but says he can't book anyone from just a tape recording. Molly arranges for Eddie to visit a club where Jess is playing. His performance convinces Eddie to book Jess as an opening act for Zane Gray's television special.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Cantor Rabinovich reminds Rivka that her place is by her husband's side. He pressures her to go to California to try to bring him home. Rivka arrives on Jess's opening night, and tells Molly Jess needs to return home. At the after party, Jess is met by an enthusiastic crowd and given a recording contract. Jess asks Rivka to stay, but she says she wants something different. Realizing she has lost him, she returns home.

Later, Jess confesses his love to Molly, telling her he and Rivka have split. As time passes, Jess' career success continues. His father visits, attempting to persuade him to come home, but Jess refuses, insisting he's making a name for himself. Jess reveals that he and Rivka are divorcing. When Molly suddenly arrives home, Jess's father angrily disowns his son and leaves in tears.

Heartbroken, Jess struggles at his recording sessions, taking out his anger on his band mates. He storms out of a recording session and drives away aimlessly. When his car runs out of gas, he hitchhikes and lives the life of a drifter for a few months, but eventually returns home when Bubba finds him and tells him Molly has given birth to his son. Molly once again meets Eddie Gibbs and persuades him to let Jess perform on Zane Gray's television special.

At rehearsal, the day before Yom Kippur, Jess learns that his father is in the hospital and won't be able to sing Kol Nidre at the synagogue. Jess is initially reluctant to go to his father, but Molly insists and he relents. Jess tries to make amends with his father, who refuses to speak to him until learning he now has a grandson, at which point the two finally reconcile.

The film ends with Jess performing "America," with his father and Molly in attendance.

• Neil Diamond as Yussel Rabinovitch/Jess Robin
• Laurence Olivier as Cantor Rabinovitch
• Lucie Arnaz as Molly Bell
• Catlin Adams as Rivka Rabinovitch
• Franklyn Ajaye as Bubba
• Paul Nicholas as Keith Lennox
• Sully Boyar as Eddie Gibbs
• Mike Kellin as Leo
• James Booth as Paul Rossini

The idea for the remake came from producer Jerry Leider, who saw Diamond on a 1976 television special. Leider believed that Diamond could have the same crossover appeal as fellow singers Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand, the latter of whom had recently starred in the successful remake of A Star Is Born. Encouraged by the success of the remake, Leider decided to remake The Jazz Singer. However, an entire year would have to pass before rights to the remake could be figured out, as both Warner Bros. and United Artists claimed ownership.[1]

In the fall of 1977, MGM put the remake in development, with principal photography planned to begin in the fall of 1978. However, in September 1978, the studio dropped the remake, over "executives being anxious about the movie being 'too Jewish'", according to writer Stephen H. Foreman. Associated Film Distribution picked up the rights, and slated the film to begin photography again in May 1979 with Sidney J. Furie directing. However, in early 1979, Diamond underwent back surgery, and invoked a clause in his contract that allowed him to finish the original music before filming began. During this time, the studio and Leider did consider replacing Diamond with Barry Manilow, though ultimately decided against it. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Bisset was approached for the lead female role, but asked for too much money. Furie initially wanted Lucie Arnaz, but she was appearing on Broadway in They're Playing Our Song; Deborah Raffin was cast instead, after producers had seen her on a television film. [2] Laurence Olivier was cast as Cantor Rabinovitch, for a $1 million, ten-week contract.[1]

Filming was finally able to commence on January 7, 1980, though problems immediately started again. Diamond — who was making his acting debut — struggled in his transition from performing to acting. To compensate, Furie — who had wanted to change the script from the beginning — ordered several major rewrites. These rewrites led to creative differences between Furie and Foreman, and the latter departed to be replaced by Herbert Baker. Baker completely rewrote the script with a different ending, dramatically changing the character of Molly Bell in the process. Due to these changes, Raffin departed the project, and Furie was able to cast Arnaz, who talked to Raffin before taking the role.[1][2] However, filming was halted after the studio fired Furie on March 3. Richard Fleischer replaced Furie by the end of March, and filming was able to wrap on April 28.[1]

According to Arnaz, Diamond was nervous about his acting debut, and would become irritable when he could not do a scene; the directors handled this situation very differently. Whereas Furie — who, along with other crew members, was intimidated by Diamond's status as a successful musician — would have the script rewritten to tailor to Diamond, Fleischer would calm Diamond down and work with him on the scene.[2]

During a scene set in a recording booth, Diamond was having trouble conveying anger during an argument with Arnaz's character. Director Fleischer said that Diamond would go into the adjacent music recording stage where his band was gathered to await his cue and then enter in a supposed rage. During one of lulls in filming to reset the shot, Fleischer saw him pacing nervously then suddenly burst into anger, throwing chairs and smashing equipment. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, the director called "Action" and Diamond stormed in and delivered his lines in a very convincing performance. After the scene ended, Fleischer asked the singer what had set him off. He replied that he was upset he couldn't give the desired performance and asked his band to play something to make him angry. "And what did they play?" Fleischer asked. "A Barry Manilow number", replied Diamond.[3]

Diamond's accompanying soundtrack was released on November 10, 1980, by Capitol Records. The soundtrack peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and has been certified 5× Platinum since its release. The album spawned three singles — "Love on the Rocks", "Hello Again", and "America" — which all peaked within the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100.

• The Jazz Singer at IMDb
• The Jazz Singer at the TCM Movie Database
• The Jazz Singer at AllMovie
• The Jazz Singer at Box Office Mojo
• The Jazz Singer at Rotten Tomatoes