A Cultural Dino

Rating: 5/10 (22 June 2008)

I just watched this again on some channel. . Bravo, maybe.
When it first came out I was very young, and actually went under duress because all my other friends wanted to go.
Then I had to sit through it again on a flight to Europe.
I didn't get it then--I wasn't part of the whole disco culture--and now when I watch it I'm hypnotized, because it's so screamingly dated. The only way I can really view it is as a cultural artifact, which I guess, is exactly what it has become.
Since everyone knows the plot by this time, my only observation is that the only really sympathetic character in the story is Tony's brother, who quit the priesthood. Tony's friends are clods, except for the one who's the whiner, Tony's family is repellent, and the only woman in the story that *seems* to have anything resembling self-esteem is a delusional, stuck-up pain in the butt. As for Tony, yeh, he has his likable moments, but for the most part he treats women like crap.
One thing that always puzzled me was the casting of Karen Gorney as the girl Tony fixates on. Nothing against the actress, but she's utterly ordinary, and, as the character, totally obnoxious. Tony is a genuine hunk, all right, so why not cast someone as the unattainable girl who really can stop some traffic on the street? I mean, there WERE pretty women in Brooklyn in the 1970s.
I've noticed in some of the reviews that the lack of political correctness in the movie seems to be refreshing to a lot of people, so I'll say something that may be politically incorrect: As I watched the camera pan lovingly over the prone figure of John Travolta lying in bed on his stomach, wearing nothing but black briefs, I thought "Wow, this is gay." Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I understand why this flick appeals to guys on another level. Tony is the ultimate six foot strutting, prancing rooster, a man who knows that any girl he singles out will probably fall on her back and open her legs. And yet he has this streak of sensitivity. But not TOO much sensitivity.
As for the music, you either love the Bee Gees and disco or you hate 'em. But I will say I understand why the soundtrack became one of the biggest selling soundtracks of all time.
Anyhow, it's worth watching if only for the sheer culture shock.