What makes Saturday Night Fever a great film?

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2001)

What makes Saturday Night Fever a great film? Before this can be answered, it must be acknowledged that this is far from perfect film making, and that there is more than one weak spot in the plot structure. On top of that, the performance quality is fairly uneven, in regards to the supporting cast.

Again Â– What makes Saturday Night Fever a great film? First and foremost, it is the stellar performance by John Travolta. Travolta's portrayal of Tony Manero is all at once, vulnerable, crass, intelligent (his portrayal, NOT Tony), and tragic. Travolta's dancing some 25 years later is still of the more memorable in cinematic history.
As far as the soundtrack Â– forget everything OTHER than the Bee Gees. The music is not only still great, but is the only quality disco music period.

Finally, the opening sequence in which Travolta steps off a Brooklyn subway car and begins a swagger back to the paint store in which he works is in my opinion, the most tantalizing scene of the film. This is I would argue, one of the most powerful and dazzling opening scenes in movie history, and Travolta plays it to perfection.
SureÂ…Saturday Night Fever is a dated film. The clothing is ridiculous by today's standards and there is more than one scene that would have the politically correct movement of today be up in arms. Despite this, Travolta's best performance of his career (at 23, Travolta was nominated for Best Actor), along with the mostly-Bee Gees soundtrack, make Saturday Night Fever a great film today.