Rating: 
Summary: How Not To Film A Hit Musical
Review: Anyone who saw A Chorus Line on stage would be well advised to avoid the film version. Anyone else might possibly find it a reasonably enjoyable experience. To my mind, A Chorus Line has always had a bigger reputation than it deserves. A casual viewer of the film would be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. Basically, the story follows a group of dancers trying out for a new Broadway musical from first audition to final selection. The dancers are all unknown, which is as it should be. But the film makes a fatal flaw in shifting the focus from the dancers to the director. By casting Michael Douglas in this role, the element of stardom is introduced. On stage, the director was a shadowy figure - almost always restricted to being an offstage voice. But in the film, Douglas becomes all too visual and suddenly the plight and life stories of the dancers seems secondary. Perhaps that is not too surprising. After almost as many false starts as the film of Evita, this flick's director - Richard Attenborough - could hardly have been anyone's first choice. The songs - apart from "What I Did For Love" - are more serviceable than memorable. And, in a film that is supposed to be about dancers, the choreography is amazingly lack-lustre. For me, the opening sequence of Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" says much more about being a Broadway dancer than the whole of A Chorus Line.I would not say A Chorus Line, as a film, is bad. It's worse than that. It's mediocre.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly Horrible
Review: A Chorus Line is one of the greatest musicals ever written and this movie is trash. Alyson Reed, who played Cassie, was just hideous. Completely wrong for the role. They took the greatest song written for a musical in the modern era, "What I Did For Love" and just massacred it. The meaning is completely different as it is presented in the movie and it makes little sense. Two good things about this film are Vicki Frederick (Sheila) and Audrey Landers (Val). Both very funny ladies. Frederick was perfect for her role as the aging chorus dancer. This is one of those films that is just so bad that it stays in your mind because it was bad. I saw it when it first came out and recently watched it again to see if I still hated it. I did. I threw my copy away. I urge you to not buy this video. Please don't waste your money. If your money is burning a hole in your pocket, please donate what you would have spent on this video to your favorite charity instead. You'll do the world some good and you won't be wasting your time. A bit of trivia: The actor who played Greg was later a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, so you see where his career went.
Rating:
Summary: Very Weak
Review: Extremely uninspired film adaptation of the entertaining but largely plotless stage success about dancers auditioning for a place in the chorus line. Music is much the same, but the energy is zero and the show doesn't really translate well to film. Give it a miss.
Rating: 
Summary: "Interesting and different in an Entertaining way..."
Review: I admit I did not see the original B'way production, but I thought this movie was done nicley. I admit from what I have read, that Hollywood changed it, and took out some songs etc. and that is the result of these poor reviews....The actor's were good, and there were some strong voices. For example, the song "Let Me Dance for You" was song with alot of power and gust. When you think about it, it is (sometimes) hard to compete with a huge success. They did the best they could with the movie and what they could present on film. BOTTOM LINE: A Chorus Line is something to watch when you want some good musical entertainment and would like to forget about your troubles and listen to some body elses problems.... Why not give it a try?
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Picture
Review: I have never seen the Broadway version; many who have don't like the movie. A talented cast does the show well, although I have never felt that the show is quite as quintessential as many believe it to be. The song "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love" - a hilarious and accurate musical journey through puberty and the teen years - has been shortened from the Broadway version, although some of the cut material has been added into the spoken monologues. Great dancing, great music (it'll take a few listens to appreciate). Any dancer will appreciate this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible!Get no sensation from this extremely bad adaptation
Review: I was so extremely dissapointed to see this film. Just by listening to the original Broadway cast album you'd know that this piece of trash movie musical can not compare to what it was on stage. It is another prime example of Hollywood taking something that was once really great and making it absolute filth. Granted I never saw the musical on Broadway because I'm only 14, but I know that this movie can't even compare to the original cast album let alone the original cast on Broadway. Whoever was responsible for leaving out bits and pieces of the original lyrics by Edward Kleban should not only be fired but tarred and feathered. I cannot tell you how horrible this movie made me feel, not only at the bad acting and watered-down performaces, but the fact that I wasn't born in the era that I could have seen this wonderful play on Broadway. ... I wouldn't even give it 1 star except that it's a scale of 1-5. ... We'll just have to wait for this play to be revived and than it could be enjoyed the way it should be.
Rating:
Summary: Forgettable Film Adaptation of an Unforgettable Musical
Review: O.K. Picture this... you're a Hollywood director and you're going to make a film adaption of a smash Broadway musical about a Broadway musical and further adapt it so it rides the crest of a bunch of '80s pop culture dance movies... the only problem is, you want the movie to have a bunch of "Flashdance" style crossover hits, and the smash hit tunes in the Broadway musical... well, they're too broadwayish for your taste... so what do you do...? How about this - - cut 'em out... replace them with a few feeble attempts at'80s pop radio crossover then take other tunes and dance numbers and have them actually written as dialogue or start them for a few seconds and fade to another scene... and voila... there you have it... Friends...if you're buying this film to see your favorite numbers fromt he musical, flip a coin, they may or may not be there. A few are...in fact, I'd probably give the film only one star if it weren't for the fact that atleast they left "T*ts and *ss" and "Nothing" relatively untouched... "At The Ballet" is there, but the 0-value production values hurt not help even the best numbers in this film. - - If you really want to experience the musical, either pray for a Broadway revival or go out and get the FANTASTIC soundtrack... and if you happen to be into '80s pop culture, go out and rent FAME or FLASHDANCE... both are infinitely better !...
Rating:
Summary: Zero singular sensation
Review: On stage, A Chorus Line was originally performed without an intermission and made a point of avoiding the creation of any 'leading roles.' That concept is lost on screen where the soap opera of Cassie and Zack becomes the thrust of the story. Many musical changes were made including the removal of the songs Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love; Sing!; the replacement of the song "Music and the Mirror" with "Let Me Dance for You" and the creation of the song "Surprise, Surprise" for Richie (replacing Gimme the ball from H"ello Twelve?") An annoying prospect for theatre purists, replacing songs is common. No song written for a stage production can win a Academy Award. that is annoying to the filmmakers because they know the song works and has a life already. So, they replace a number in hopes that it will receive the attention on the other songs merits... or it might be confused with another song. The film spends some time backstage and in flashbacks which the stage production had no need to go. Finally, on stage the song "What I Did For Love" is performed by Morales but, in connection with her storyline with Zack, belongs to Cassie on film. Catch a local production instead.
Rating:
Summary: Call Me A Purist...
Review: But, this film can't compare to the play for even a nano-second. The casting choices are tepid, and baffling, starting with the uninspired choice of one of the thoroughly forgettable Landers sisters as Val. (I don't remember which one, Judy? Audrey? they both seem like the same person to me.) If you ask me, the key to Val is that she acts like a ...-kitten, but inside she is as insecure as the rest of us. Judy/Audrey plays her, wrongly like a cross between a Marilyn Monroe character, and a Jane Mansfield character... with none of their charm or considerable acting abilities. Others aren't so bad & I believe a few of them were actually pulled from the then Broadway cast. But the actor who plays Al is ALL over the place, and underplays where he should be straightforward. I don't have any memory of the actress who played Christine; Morales blew, Gregg Burge is a total queen, and I don't really remember the other's. I thought Cassie was fine, but hated the fact that the poignant "What I Did For Love", a touching tribute to dancers who have given everything they have to give out of passion, was turned into a dopey torch song. (Making it an ode to a relationship that probably should have ended anyways...) The deletion of the "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen" montage was nonsensical and dumb. The artlessly filmed finale demonstrates how the play and film version differ. In the play, the finale is at once the whole casts moment of glory, and debatable moment of tragedy. After you've spent the two hours prior meeting these wonderful individuals, is it a triumph or tragedy that they're all dressed the same and dancing the same steps in same number, in the background of the "Star" night after night after night? Stripped of their individuality? Of course, it's a little of both, but mostly it's a triumph. Not in the films finale though. They toss hats, spin hats, peek-a-boo with hats, and about a thousand other dancers come out of nowhere' and for no particular reason. I cannot help thinking that during the filming, or in production meetings, some producer or studio head said "Make the last number extra-splashy!!!!!!" The point, and beauty of "A Chorus Line" was that it was theater "verite." We are all present at this audition, during the joyous moments and the uncomfortable ones. I have never understood who O.K.'d this script. Please wait until a Broadway touring company rolls through your town. This stink bomb is two hours of your life you'll never get back.
Rating: 
Summary: a terrible record of the Broadway show
Review: This is nothing like the Broadway show. The movie is alright if you can forget there ever was a Broadway production, but this shouldn't be the case. Michael Douglas stars as Zach, the producer/director who auditions the hopefuls trying out for a never-named musical. Many of the cast have gone on to great things including Matt West (Bobby) who is the choreographer of Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast". Standouts in the otherwise lacklustre cast include Pam Klinger, plucked from the B'way cast of ACL, as Maggie, Vicki Frederick as Sheila, Yamil Borges as Diana Morales, Audrey Landers as Valerie and Cameron English as Paul. The choice to replace songs cannot be forgiven. The new ones are hardly on par with the originals. Replacing the "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love" montage with "Surprise Surprise" is woeful. Dropping the song "Sing!", always a highly comical number, is sad, as is the shameless replacing of "The Music And The Mirror" with "Let Me Dance For You". Using the failed romance of Zach and Cassie (Alyson Reed) as the main drive through the show is very good, although the song "What I Did For Love", originally sung by Diana Morales, is used to reflect the plight of Cassie and Zach. However, some songs remain, including "I Can Do That", the wonderful "At The Ballet", "Dance:Ten, Looks:Three", "Nothing", and "One" remain almost the same. The new arrangements of the songs are adequate. The longest-running musical on Broadway until "Cats" knocked it out of competition, A CHORUS LINE is one of the finest musicals ever written. Buy the movie by all means, but be prepared for disappointment.
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