Saturday Night Fever (2002)

Pretty Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

...you're nowhere, on your way to no place...My appreciation of this movie just intensifies as time passes and I get older. It is a perfect snapshot of an era (albeit the much maligned "disco era"), a time, a place. Exactly what cinema exists for.Having relocated to nyc in the '90's, i feel blessed to have made a point of visiting the very real 2001 Odyssey club, in the year 2001, just for fun. And before it was demolished as part of Brooklyn's then booming gentrification.And it is simply a brilliant coming of age piece. Travolta was electrifying in it. The perfect second act to Vinny Barbarino. Growing up; changing.

RELEASED IN 1977 and directed by John Badham, "Saturday Night Fever" is a drama/musical detailing events in Brooklyn where a group of Italian-American youths led by Tony Manero (John Travolta) work dead-end jobs, rumble with Hispanics and meet babes at the local discothèque where Tony is a champion dancer. Donna Pescow plays his needy wannabe girlfriend while Karen Lynn Gorney plays his dance partner for a big contest. This was a huge hit in its day and the catalyst for disco fever throughout the world. To this day you'll see people mimic Travolta's iconic dance stance with one arm pointing upward and the corresponding leg out. John was in the prime of his life at 22 during shooting (a great inspiration for guys to get in shape) and already popular due to TV's Welcome Back Kotter. "Saturday Night Fever" shot him to stardom, making him a household name. The movie's hit status was deserved because of its emphasis on the ordinary, but interesting protagonists and their entertaining drama, not to mention the dynamic dance sequences and popular soundtrack featuring the Bee Gees. There are several quality scenes, including one with the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop. Watch for 19 year-old Fran Drescher making her acting debut in a glorified cameo. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 58 minutes and was shot in Brooklyn, New York City. WRITERS: Nik Cohn (story) and Norman Wexler (screenplay). GRADE: A-/B+

Tony Manero (John Travolta) is in his early 20s. He lives in Brooklyn with his parents (who treat him like dirt) and has a dead-end job. He blows off steam every Saturday by going to a disco with his immature buddies. He's also GREAT at dancing. One night there he meets Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) and falls in love. However she's ambitious and is moving forward. He isn't. Can their love survive.This was a HUGE hit in 1977. It made disco popular and made Travolta a star. There's tons of swearing (in the R rated version) but that's how guys that age talk. It moves quickly and has a compelling story. With the exception of Gorney all the acting is good. Travolta is superb! His acting is great and his dancing is beyond belief. Also the soundtrack (primarily by the Bee Gees) is wonderful. It's actually a pretty dark movie but the acting and soundtrack make you forget all that. A true must-see movie.

There are some movies that are referenced, parodied and talked about so much that when you finally get round to watching them, you go into them feeling like you've already seen them. Saturday Night Fever was one of those movies for me.After watching all of the pop-culture defining musical movies of the late seventies and eighties (Grease, Fame, Flashdance, Footloose, Dirty Dancing etc.) I went into Saturday Night Fever thinking I knew exactly what I was going to get.Imagine my surprise when far from being a lighthearted musical about the late seventies disco scene in the vein of 'Flashdance', it was a story about struggle, despair and desperation that was very dark and sometimes outright depressing - scenes of gang violence, a rape, an attempted rape, an accidental suicide and plenty of racist language - all set against a backdrop of disco music including the now iconic soundtrack by the BeeGees. I think when I first watched Saturday Night Fever I felt I was in a similar dissatisfied place and situation in my life as the movie's main character, Tony Manero (played with just the right amount of swagger and charm by John Travolta), a Brooklynite in his late teens who plods along in his day job at a paint store and lives for the weekends when he can let loose with his friends on a Saturday night at the local nightclub, where thanks to his good looks and dance talent, he is something of a local celebrity.Unlike his friends though, who seem to have no aspirations beyond going out, getting drunk and laid at the weekends, he knows that his lifestyle has a shelf-life and by his own admission dancing at the disco is one of only a few times and places he feels appreciated and worthy; even within his family he lives in the shadow of his older brother, Frank Jr., whom his family idolises due to his vocational choice to become a priest. When the opportunity to enter a dance competition at the nightclub arises he is convinced to enter with his friend, Annette, even though he is reluctant because he knows Annette is in love with him and he doesn't feel the same way for her.Then Tony meets Stephanie. On the surface, Stephanie seems to have it all together with a good job in Manhattan and a nice apartment but Tony soon realises that not all is as it seems with her.And unfortunately for Annette, Tony doesn't hesitate to trade Annette in for her as his dance partner, in the hopes of getting to know her better.While Stephanie's aloof and haughty manner makes it hard for a true romance to blossom between them, there is a definite chemistry and connection between when they dance. The more they get to know one another they realise they have similar goals and aspirations to rise above their humble surroundings and move on to better things.I watched this movie with a completely different set of eyes than the vast majority of IMDb it seems, as I don't see the relationships between the main characters the same way most view them at all. While most people seem to think that because Annette was objectively more attractive and adored Tony, that it was wrong of Tony to ditch her in favour of Stephanie, who acted like she was better than him, at least in the beginning. It's fairly obvious to me why Tony doesn't like being around Annette; she represents everything he hates about his current life and Stephanie represents where he wants to go. The relationship and friendship between Tony and Stephanie and especially the first scene of them dancing in the studio together, is one of the highlights of the movie for me. I think people take Stephanie's haughtiness too personally anyway.