The Little Film that Could...and Did

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2004)

I was NOT a fan of this film when it came out. I was a teen, and this lifestyle didn't apply to me. But in speaking with many "twenty" and "thirty" something New Yorkers at that time, they could fully identify with this film and find little bits and pieces that reflected their own lives as teens.
What appealed to me the most in this film was the music and the dance scenes. John Travolta pulled this off well, slickly and is clearly one of the main reasons for looking at this film. I absolutely HATED the dance his character Tony picked for the BIG dance contest, but that is part of the charm this picture had.
There is no mistaking now that this film bust discos and disco music wide open in the late 70's. Disco was made to be fun, free, expressive, fashion. And like all things that get over exposed, it died in just a few years to Punk/New Wave of the late 70's and throughout the 80's.
Saturday Night Fever produced the second biggest Soundtrack of that decade (Curtis Mayfield's Superfly was the first...) with hit after blinding hit, mostly led by The Bee Gees. This was fun stuff.
The movie was okay (I too feel that little Ms. Soap Opera star of that time Karen Lynn takes the film down..), but there IS something in it for everyone from the lead character Tony just trying to find his way and loving to dance, to the "fat" girl (I did NOT think she was all that fat, but again, that is one of the charms of this film) doing all the wrong things to get noticed, to the friends, the family and how they all intertwine on Saturday Nights to shake it all off and away...if only for a few hours. Disco or not, I think at some point in our youths, we can all identify.