Interesting character piece that could have been better but it is the dancing and soundtrack that make it memorable

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2005)

Tony Manero lives in Brooklyn with his parents, grandmother and younger sister. His brother is a priest and he feels like for every bit of pride that his parents have in Frank, it is equalled with the sense of disappointment that they have for Tony and his sister. Spending his days working in a hardware store, the one thing that Tony actually enjoys and feels he is good at is disco dancing, and he is a star in his local club. When he meets the annoyingly bitchy Stephanie he gains a dancing partner for an upcoming competition, although she is a difficult character and not the sort of female relationship that he is used to being with. With all this around him Tony tries to look forward to a direction in his life.
I noticed this film coming back onto television recently and I wasn't going to watch it because I had already seen it a few years ago. However, when I thought about it all I could actually remember was the famous dancing scenes - I then realised that I was actually remembering these from Airplane! Anyway, I decided to watch this again so that I could hold an opinion about it in regards more than just the dancing scenes. Watching it again I can understand why we all remember the soundtrack and dancing more than the plot, because they are the best aspects of the film. The plot is mostly a character piece with Tony at the heart of it and it is interesting enough to fill the running time as it gives us a good impression of the world he is in and his feelings. The problem comes with the fact that Tony (or anyone in the film in fact) is not that empathetic a character  he is rude, ignorant and pretty spiteful towards women. This is not to say that it damages the film but I did want the script to take me past his exterior to a greater extent than it actually did. In some ways it gets close (Tony's disbelief in his own ability works) and it is worth seeing but it needed to do more and be more consistent.
The plot around the dance contest isn't that interesting but it does produce some colourful and fun dance numbers that are all played out to a superb disco soundtrack that did have me rocking in my seat. Travolta copes well with the acting and the dancing, although I would have preferred a bit more humanity in him than he brought out but then again I suppose that was the whole point. Gorney is OK but is surprisingly bland past her very obvious character. Pescow is much better and produces a character that we actually cared about even if we never really get to know her. The support cast has too much in the way of cliché and stereotype to really be effective and they didn't make much of an impression with me.
Overall this is a good film but not a totally successful one. The dancing and soundtrack are both great but what was really needed was better writing. The character study is interesting enough to carry the film and make it worth seeing but it is blunt, cruel towards women and lacking any sense of humanity and realism. Worth seeing but don't expect the fame of the dance scenes to mean it is a classic film for other reasons.