Another One of those Films

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2019)

This is another one of those films that I am not really all that sure why I wanted to watch it. I guess in part I wanted to watch a film about hedonism in the late 70s, particularly during the disco era, mostly because I've sort of experience the rave era of the beginning of the 20th century, and in part wanted to get a taste of it. Maybe in another sense I really wanted something a little more retro in feel, though of course this film was released in 1998, so it is definitely not retro in that regards.
The film is basically about this rather infamous nightclub in New York called Studio 54. Basically, it was the place that pretty much everybody wanted to get into, but unless you were really famous, had oodles of money, or the owner, Steve Rubell, thought that you were drop dead gorgeous, and wanted you to be a part of his club. Well, that is basically what happened with this guy from Jersey city - Shane.
He was young, and Jersey city really isn't a place that is renowned for its nightlife, particularly since you happen to have New York just across the river. As such, one night they decide to ditch this town and decide to go and check out the big city. Well, while standing out the front, amongst the crowds trying to get into Studio 54, he is noticed by Steve and called over. Mind you, he wants him to enter, as long as he removes his shirt, so he does so, and thus his life changes.
Well, it changes in the sense that he comes back and manages to score himself a job there. He starts off as a bus boy, that is he collects bottles, and eventually makes his way up to the position of bartender. Apparently if you work in this club thenn, well, you do actually get paid a pretty decent amount of money, and that is on top of the tips, and all of the goodies that the drugged out patrons tend to leave behind. Oh, and this isn't just a job, it is actually one long big party.
Yeah, this is a film about hedonism, and in many cases we know where it is heading. Sure, not all films about hedonism have bad endings, but we do tend to know what eventually came from the club, namely that the IRS shut it down. Apparently the version I watched ended with Shane and his friends making up after Rubell was arrested, but I get the feeling that there are versions of this film that have much more happening at the end, namely that once Rubell is taken out of the picture, and Studio 54 shut down, then a number of other clubs start up on a similar theme, which means that once Rubell is released from gaol, he finds that he can no longer compete.
Look, it turned out that this film was, well, pretty bad. It is pretty much similar to a lot of other hedonistic movies out there, namely about a guy that pretty much makes it big because of his looks, and then it all crashes down around him. Mind you, it didn't really do all that well at the cinemas, but that was probably because it was heavily cut. However, it has since been making a resurgance, especially since the footage has been moved about a bit. Still, it really wasn't one of those films that particularly impressed me all that much.