"You're a cliché. You're nowhere...on your way to no place". - Stephanie Mangano

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2002)

"Saturday Night Fever" is a late 70's classic coming-of-age film. When I saw this movie, in a packed theater on Staten Island, New York in the winter of 1977 the people around me seemed to miss the point. When Karen Lynn Gorney's character Stephanie tells John Travolta's Tony he's going nowhere the audience booed her & clapped for his response, "What the "f" you got? A stairway to the stars?" After the film's release, some people were emulating Tony's friend's negative & sometimes stereotypical behavior. The movie's message was to better yourself, but some people just didn't get this simple premise. Karen Lynn Gorney was excellent as Stephanie Mangano, the business person/Manhattanite wannabe who mesmerized Tony Manero. Although she was about 32 at the time, she was playing a 20 year old (this was common casting practice in the 70's). My favorite scene is the touching moments when Tony tells Stephanie all he knows about the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge symbolizes Tony's desire to get out of Brooklyn. If it had been The Brooklyn Bridge this scene would have made more sense, because the Verrazano Bridge connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, not Manhattan (a place we're their lives will supposedly get better). The language is authentic, the clothing, music & dancing are filled with 70's nostalgia. The film is NOT politically correct in any way. Therefore, it's very realistic, "in-your-face", & represents the time & place in which it was made. If you have an interest in late 70's pop culture this movie is a must see.