Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Runtime: 118 minutes

Directed by: John Badham

Starring: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller, Joseph Cali, Paul Pape

From: Paramount

Tuesday night I saw this movie; it was the first viewing for me in a real long time. This is more than just a “disco movie”, as you'll see below:

NOTE: I was originally going to see the Director's Cut of this movie on the big screen tonight (it's only the inclusion of three short scenes that makes it different) but for various reasons I won't get into, it fit my schedule better to see the original version of the movie on a DVD I have owned for years, so that is what I did.

I do know someone who went and saw the movie on this big screen this past Sunday and he mentioned that some people brought their kids. Oh... no. I got the impression they were not old enough to be teenagers. The film is rated R and for good reason. John Travolta as Tony Manero in the white disco suit and the opening where he's walking to the strains of Stayin' Alive are iconic now, and people now probably just assume it's a light disco movie, as disco is upbeat and cheerful. That is not the case here. This isn't something like Roller Boogie or Skatetown U.S.A. This is a serious drama filled with many curse words, sex, nudity, drug use, racism, homophobia, violence, and some shocking moments I won't spoil. This is NOT a movie that most children should see at that age.

This movie has Manero as a young man who is a great disco dancer and is beloved at the Odyssey 2001 discotheque, but otherwise he is a poor Italian kid who lives in an ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn and he often has disagreements with his dysfunctional family, he hangs out with incredibly immature punks, he has an unsuccessful love life, and by day he works at the local paint store. The film makes it pretty plain, many of the characters you see are A-holes in some form or fashion. A few try to hide it but they're still A-holes. Even those that seem fine at first, you'll discover their true colors eventually; it may take more than one viewing to do so. There are layered characters, in other words.

Even Manero himself is not a very likable character, and he's the protagonist. That was before he does something pretty heinous late in the film. You're still interested in seeing if he can grow up and get away from his deadbeat friends and hopefully fix all his insecurities. It's a fascinating movie but not the cheeriest one to watch, even with the bright colorful disco scenes and one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. The cast as a whole does a nice job but it is Travolta who is aces; I know that now he is a punchline, someone to snicker at or at least give a side-eyed glance to, but between this and Blow Out, there is proof that at least in his youth, he really could act. He had a magnetic presence and despite all his faults, I am sure many people can still relate to Tony Manero, disillusioned and not knowing what he wants to do now that age-wise he is now an adult.

This is a movie worth seeing; it's far more than it's elements which are now a part of pop culture. To think that this was based on a magazine article entitled "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", which was purported true by author Nik Cohn but later revealed to be entirely made up.