Saturday Night Fever
Amazon.co.uk Review
The years have endowed Saturday Night Fever with a powerful, elegiac quality since its explosive release in 1977. It was the must-see movie for a whole generation of adolescents, sparking controversy for rough language and clumsily realistic sex scenes which took teen cinema irrevocably into a new age. And of course, it revived the career of the Bee Gees to stratospheric heights, thanks to a justifiably legendary soundtrack which now embodies the disco age. But Saturday Night Fever was always more than a disco movie. Tony Manero is an Italian youth from Brooklyn straining at the leash to escape a life defined by his family, blue collar job and his gang. Disco provides the medium for him to break free.
It was the snake-hipped dance routines which made John Travolta an immediate sex symbol. But seen today, his performance as Tony is compelling: rough-hewn, certainly, but complex and true, anticipating the fine screen actor he would be recognised as 20 years later. Scenes of the Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge, representing Tony’s route to a bigger world, now have an added poignancy, adding to Saturday Night Fever‘s evocative power. It’s a bittersweet classic.
On the DVD: Saturday Night Fever is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, both of which help to recapture the unique atmosphere of the late 1970s. The main extra is a director’s commentary from John Badham, with detailed descriptions of casting and the improvisation behind many of the scenes, plus the unsavoury reality behind Travolta’s iconic white disco suit. –Piers Ford
I normally wouldn’t write a review on a movie but I feel so stongly about this one that I couldn’t resist….
This movie was made during a risky time when Anti Disco campaign was sweeping the US and the disco movement went undergroud in Chicago and New York, this movie changed peoples perception on Disco and on John Travolta.
John Trovolta plays Tony Manero and troubled teen from Brooklyn, whos strong italian family influence troubles him when they don’t know and understand his worth. He escapes his average everyday life at the local discotheque, where his is king of the dancefloor, grooving to the funky tunes.
It is a sad story with great music and a superb dance scene by Travolta, who looks and plays the part of Tony Manero to a T. A very true image of teenage life and the hardships one goes through to find ones true self. A great movie with a insight on a different time when platform shoes and polyester rule, one of the best lines in the movie is when the DJ announces “I love that polyester look” over the mike in the club. It tacky and sleazy and ideal to watch the dance scenes before a night out, it will really get you in the mood!
A movie that will travel through the ages and make you want to learn how to hussle!!
Rating: 5 / 5
This 18-rated full version of Saturday Night Fever is an excellent film. While opinions may be divided over the quality of the music (‘cheesy’ vs. ‘classic’ – and I proudly count myself as a Bee Gees fan, so I like it), it’s impossible to criticise the dramatic dimension of SNF. Tony Manero (Travolta) is a very sympathetic protagonist, a normal guy desperate to ‘make it’ via the unlikely route of disco stardom. And what hits you hardest about this film is its gritty realism – the language is often violent, and Manero’s life is portrayed as bleak and hopeless (a vision diluted by the sequel, ‘Staying Alive’).
Rating: 4 / 5
In short, it is a movie that has stood the test of time since its release in 1977. It made Travolta a star (he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar as was Gorney for best supporting actress) and it deserves high marks on many levels. PLUS the soundtrack…magic such as Staying Alive, Night Fever plus the Fifth of Beethoven.
Please stay away from the sequel “Staying Alive”. Stallone discards everything from the original but Travolta and the story is mundane and predictable.
Rating: 3 / 5
Few films can claim the status of creating a national (international, even) phenomenon upon release, but this one can. It offers a glimpse into the restless, nowhere lives of a group of young Brooklyn men, particularly Travolta, an hourly employee in a paint store who burns off steam on the dance floor every weekend. At home, he’s considered worthless, but in his favorite dance club, he is monarch of all he surveys with men admiring him and women throwing themselves at him (even offering to dab his sweaty brow!) All important to him is an upcoming dance contest which he feels will propel him into another level of notoriety and prestige and he sets out to win it any way he can, constantly practicing his slickest moves. Gorney plays a social-climbing girl who has laid the ground work for getting out of Brooklyn and, though she is attracted to Travolta, is repulsed by the common qualities he represents. He becomes fascinated by her and considers her his way out of his current surroundings. Meanwhile, Travolta’s friends dabble in booze, drugs, sex and gang warfare as they wallow in the stew of their existence. It all builds up to the big night of the contest where things may not turn out as expected. Travolta is magnetic in this, his first major film role. He worked tirelessly to perfect the dance moves which (though, at times, look rather silly today) are a highlight of the film. He also, however, brings much heart, charisma and commitment to the dramatic side of his not-always-sympathetic character. Gorney (who is easily a decade too old for her role) is a good counterpoint to Travolta and ably embodies her tacky, but desperate-to-change, character. She attempts to be as classy and refined as possible, yet her accent and crackling chewing gum belies her past. Their somewhat complex relationship adds some depth to what could have been a very shallow film. Travolta’s friends are played with much authenticity and verve. Oddly, these actors continued with only marginally successful careers while Travolta went through the stratosphere. Another carefully etched performance is turned in by Pescow as one of Travolta’s devoted followers. She goes a tad overboard near the end, but otherwise presents a solid, though pitiful, characterization. (She was one of the few actors in the film to achieve any sort of success afterwards and even that was limited. Gorney fell off the cinematic map entirely!) Travolta’s family is played by more believable and well-textured actors. The music of the film (the soundtrack of which was one of the all time top sellers) is inherent to the story and is a compilation of some of the best that disco had to offer (though some might say even the best was still horrible!) Even the “Disco Sucks” crowd cannot deny the impact that this film had on the country as it set trends everywhere. Interestingly, some of the group numbers in the disco bear a striking similarity to the more recent country line dancing craze, only with more arm movements. The language of the film is tough, but necessary and realistic. There are two gut-wrenchingly suspenseful scenes atop the Verrazano Narrows bridge. It’s a time capsule of a hedonistic and free-wheeling era (pre-AIDS) but with insightful examination of class structure and economic barriers, the nature of friendship among young men and the cost of inhumanity towards one another. A rancid and ludicrous sequel (which is good for some unintentional laughs) can not tarnish the spirit of the original film which still holds up today.
Rating: 5 / 5
One of the best films EVER!
One of the best soundtracks EVER!
I first saw this film 30 years ago when I was 18 and it still hasn’t lost one ounce of it’s appeal. If you didn’t see it then buy this bargin NOW!
Rating: 5 / 5