Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Charter cable's on-demand service usually provides films airing on FLIX and those titles are separated by decade. Last night I selected the menu for the 80s, and I came across the Neil Diamond version of THE JAZZ SINGER, from 1980. Since Dr. Goldman had recently screened the 1927 and 1952 versions on TCM as part of the Projected Image Series without even mentioning this later, more modern one-- I decided to watch it. I had never seen it before.Early in the picture, after Diamond's character starts to go off on his own and sing pop music, he is traveling with his band to a club. On the way there, he finds out it's a black club (which is what he says in the movie). All the guys in his band are black, except for him. When they get to the club and go backstage to get ready, someone has the idea of putting him in black face so he will blend in with the rest of them. We cut to them performing on stage and Diamond is indeed in black face for that number. The camera pans to the crowd and all the patrons are black and they are digging the music. At some point, a guy in the audience realizes Diamond is Jewish, not black, and he is exposed for being 'different.'Personally, I did not find this scene to be offensive-- and I thought it was a rather clever way for the writers to come up with keeping that portion of the Jolson version in the story. I can't remember if Danny Thomas appeared in black face in the second film, but I don't think he did. Neil Diamond's THE JAZZ SINGER was not a huge commercial hit, but it made $27 million at the time of its release ($78 million dollars today using an inflation calculator) and it earned another $4 million with domestic television broadcasts. Obviously a lot of people at the time saw Diamond in black face, and it wasn't enough for the project to fail. The soundtrack went multi-platinum, too. So in a way, this version did have a significant cultural impact, long after the days of Martin Luther King and the civil rights era-- but of course, before our current stranglehold of political correctness.

Although one cannot escape their past, one can always dream, what if? And like an itch if you don't scratch it it just keeps growing and growing till you have to. I don't know how historically "The Jazz Singer" is but every time I watch it I believe that there was that itch that Mr. Diamond had to scratch, regardless of whatever the future brought. My brother was hired as a junior at University of Kentucky to play 1st chair in the production "Hair" in 1969. A 5 1/2 octive range and four wifes later he always played 1st chair trumpet in Vegas for 25 plus years. He burned out some and became a broker in real estate there but the itch came back. Now he moved to South Carolina on climate and is working hard playing again. His first wife said it was his horn or her, well we know who won, just like the itch. Mr. Diamond has the ability to bring up my soul and in the movie juggle the singer verses his religious role. To quit premed 6 month before graduation says that "I will do it or bust". The movie is a great role model for todays youth. Like the movie had in it a line "One musician can always find another". I know with my brother it is true, from coast to coast. His instructors at UK became his students. I one time saw him talking to Charlie Dianels and said are you going to see him? He said no, why should he, he worked for me. My mother always called him poor little rich boy. Riches are in the heart and are not always confined to money. Mr. Diamond is indeed rich beyond words in my humble opinion. students over time. Good show Mr. Diamond!

The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond is one of my favorite movies. How can anyone say he can't act? Every time I suggest to my husband that we watch it, he usually doesn't want to because he reckons it is one of the saddest movies of all time. I keep saying "They are only acting and it does work out in the end after all" but I still have trouble getting him to watch it and I usually have to agree to watch 'Going my Way" first!!!! Neil Diamond in concert is fabulous. Neil Diamond acting is nearly as good. I also can't understand why Lucy Arnez didn't make it as an actress, having famous parents must be a disadvantage in some cases.

I love Neil Diamond. I had always heard of this film, but never knew what it was about, what type of reviews it got... anything. So I Netflixed it this weekend, and I loved it. There were even times where I got choked up in parts.So I came on here, saw the negative overall reviews, and was SHOCKED when I learned Neil won the Razzie Award for Worst Actor for this. I thought he did a very fine job. The story unfolded very nicely, the love story was genuine... I would say this film was even better than the "music" genre film Dreamgirls.Sure it had it's glitches here and there, but for the most part I was very pleased.