Thank God It's Friday

Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Robert Klane

Starring: Such hot acts as Donna Summer & The Commodores, along with Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger, the guy who would later become legally known as Otis Day, Ray Vitte and Terri Nunn

From: Both Motown and Casablanca

The past few days I've either revisited old films or not watched anything at all. However, Friday night I saw this infamous disco extravaganza: 

This played (Friday) night on TCM Underground and it seemed like something I could at least laugh with (or if it was bad, laugh AT) so why not see this relic of an era long since passed? Disco music only was popular for a few years but wow was it ever white-hot in popularity. Thank God this film was not a chore to sit through.

To borrow a phrase, this is a “One Crazy Night” sort of story where the entire film spans only a few hour time period. Plus, a wide variety of different characters are followed throughout the film and much of the action is in the fictional The Zoo nightclub in Los Angeles, which was actually the real life club Osko's, but that was demolished many years ago. Naturally most of those characters are one-dimensional (examples include the wet blanket who is only there because his wife decides at the last minute to try out the hip new place, the two underage girls who try sneaking in, the sleazy club owner... played by Jeff Goldblum! There's also two girls who enter the dance contest as the prize is KISS tickets, some guys looking for chicks, etc.) and the movie is slight (a big deal is if the equipment van carrying the musical instruments for The Commodores will make it there in time) but at least it is fast-paced and never boring. A guy who calls himself THE LEATHERMAN (due to his outfit) teaches a schlub how to dance so he can get the girls... the movie is not mean-spirited, in other words.

Naturally, how you feel about this will depend on how you feel about disco music in general. I'll just say that I don't hate it and if you love that genre, the soundtrack will be epic greatness. Songs that don't even make the official soundtrack album release include Giorgio Moroder's From Here to Eternity, Alec R. Costadinos' Romeo & Juliet, The Commodores' Brick House, and two songs from The Village People. The other songs are from various popular genre acts and of course the most popular ditty from this flick was Last Dance from Donna Summer, which won a Golden Globe & Oscar, not to mention it was one of her most popular songs and will forever be one of the best and well-known disco anthems. Of course I loved the late 70's clothing, the décor of The Zoo, Donna Summer having a role as an aspiring singer, and the aforementioned Commodores-including Lionel Richie, who was still in the band at the time-and all the other elements that were mostly dated just a few years after this came out.

I even have to give this film credit for including some bits that were the less-heralded parts of the disco craze. Gay men were a big part of the scene, and the movie had a trans* character, a biologically male character who dressed as a female. That could have been grossly offensive by 2018 standards but thankfully wasn't. Sure there was a gag where she shaved with an electric razor and a guy sees her from behind and makes a flirty comment before she turns around but that character was not cringeworthy. Plus, drug use was shown and of course people needed to take speed or rip off a fat white line if they want to dance to 10 or 15 minute long 12 inch singles. The honesty in this fluffy cash grab was appreciated by me.