A Chorus Line (film)

A Chorus Line is a 1985 American musical drama film directed by Richard Attenborough, and starring Michael Douglas and Terrence Mann. The screenplay by Arnold Schulman is based on the book of the 1975 stage musical by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. The songs were composed by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban. The plot centers on a group of dancers auditioning for a part in a new Broadway musical.

Released theatrically by Columbia Pictures on December 9, 1985, the film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $14.2 million.

In a Broadway theater, from a darkened place in the audience, director Zach judges dozens of dancers and their performances. After initial eliminations, sixteen hopefuls remain. Arriving late is former lead dancer Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach but left him for Hollywood. Now she has not worked in over a year, and is desperate enough to be part of the chorus line.

Zach is looking for eight dancers (four men and four women) and has them introduce themselves. As they each step forward, he interviews them and coaxes the dancers into talking about a variety of topics. This includes how they began dancing, first sexual experiences, their families, and hardships they have faced. Through their stories, the group reveals how being a performer is a difficult profession.

As Cassie enters the stage, Zach tells Larry to take all the dancers to a rehearsal room. Cassie pleads to continue the audition. Zach relents and sends her to learn the routine with everyone else. Paul re-enters the stage and tells Zach about how he was sexually molested as a child while watching musicals on 42nd Street. Paul describes his first job at a drag cabaret. When his parents found out that he was gay and performing in drag, they could not look him in the eye. Zach embraces Paul, showing compassion for the first time in the audition.

Larry brings the dancers back onstage to perform the newly learned routine. Zach shouts at Cassie, as she cannot blend in. They argue about their past romantic relationship while Larry leads the group in a tap combination. Suddenly, Paul slips, falls and injures his knee. As he is rushed to the hospital, Zach asks the dancers what they will do once they can no longer perform. Diana is the only one that can truly answer the question, telling him that she wants to be remembered, even just for dancing in a chorus, which all the hopefuls seem to agree with. Zach chooses Val, Cassie, Bebe, Diana, Mike, Mark, Richie, and Bobby to be in his line.

Months later, the eight dancers − now dressed in identical costumes − perform "One" in front of an audience. As the song progresses, the ones who were cut during auditions also join the show and the dancers' reflections begin to emerge from the mirrored stage backdrop. The song's tag vamps as the stage fills with dozens of dancers, who arrange themselves into a series of kicklines.

The songs "And...", “Sing!”, and "The Tap Combination" from the stage version are eliminated in the film, as well as most of "The Montage" ("Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love").