Lament to a by-gone era

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2015)

Before I ever saw this movie I had happen to see Grease, which I did not like. I never got this 50s nostalgia, and the story was corny. Now, Saturday Night Fever, which isn't related to Saturday Night Live in any way, has as an engaging story enhanced by great disco music without being a musical. It's actually rather similar to Fame, the movie, having a similar message: the entertainment business as a vehicle out of the ghetto. Perhaps not very ingenious or innovative. The picture deals with other themes too, such as racial issues, religion and sex, but only subordinately. Over-all good acting and dancing.
Interesting this 70s disco music phenomenon: it developed out of soul/funk, and Barry White was crucial to its genesis as his Love's Theme was the first hit to be referred to as 'disco'. The new genre was endorsed by artists that were not predominantly Afro-American, adding an international flavour and popularity. 'Disco' was not prone to develop much further than White's sound of 1973, though, and in 1979 there was even an anti-disco movement called 'Disco Sucks!' that culminated in mass burning of disco records at a stadium in Chicago.
Saturday Night Fever did capture the essence of the era with regard to the clubbing side of it. One thing that does surprise me is that the fashion they wore didn't match the class and ever-greenness of the music: polyester...