Saturday Night Fever

Rating: 8/10 (19 September 2005)

I had always seen the clips of this film, it is obviously best known for the soundtrack and the dance sequences, to be honest this is all I remembered from the two or three times I had watched it before, but there is more to it than that, directed by John Badham (Dracula, WarGames, Short Circuit). Basically, Anthony "Tony" Manero (Oscar nominated John Travolta) is a 19-year-old Italian American from the Bay Ridge neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York. He has a dead-end job working in a small hardware store and lives with his parents, Flo (Julie Bovasso) and Frank Sr. (Val Bisoglio), grandmother (Nina Hansen), and younger sister, Linda (Lisa Peluso). To escape his day-to-day life, Tony goes to 2001 Odyssey, a local disco club, where every Saturday he is king of the dance floor and receives the admiration and respect he longs for. Tony has four close friends: Joey (Joseph Cali), Double J (Paul Pape), Gus (Bruce Ornstein), and Bobby C (Barry Miller). Tony and his friends ritually stop on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to clown around. Tony agrees partner with neighbourhood girl Annette (Donna Pescow), who longs for a more sexual relationship with him, in an upcoming dance contest. But her happiness is short-lived when Tony is mesmerized by another woman at the club, Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney), whose dancing skills are most impressive. Although Stephanie rejects Tony's advances, she eventually agrees to be his partner in the dance competition, provided that their partnership remains professional. Tony's older brother, Frank Jr. (Martin Shakar), was the pride of the family since becoming a Roman Catholic priest. But he upsets his parents and grandmother when he tells them he has quit the priesthood. Tony supports his decision, after Frank Jr. tells him that he never wanted to be a priest and only did it to make their parents happy. Tony brings Frank Jr. with him to the club, and after witnessing his talent on the dancefloor, he suggests that he should do something with his dancing. While on his way home from the grocery store, Gus is attacked by a gang and hospitalised. Meanwhile, Bobby C has been trying to get out of his relationship with his devout Catholic girlfriend, Pauline, who is pregnant with his child. Bobby asks Frank Jr. if he should ty and get the girlfriend to get an abortion or if he should marry her. Frank is unsure how to answer, his faith is tested, and Bobby's feelings of desperation increase. Eventually, the group gets their revenge on the Barracudas, the gang that Gus said attacked him, crashing Bobby C's car into their hangout. Tony, Double J, and Joey get out of the car to fight, but Bobby C runs away. When the group visits Gus in the hospital, they are angry when he tells them that he may have identified the wrong gang. Later, Tony and Stephanie dance at the competition, with a slow love-themed disco dance, and end up winning first prize. However, Tony believes that a Puerto Rican couple, performing a more energetic routine, were better, and that the judges' decision was racially motivated. He gives the Puerto Rican couple his trophy and reward money and leaves with Stephanie. Once outside in a car, Tony tries to force himself on Stephanie, but she resists and runs from him. Tony's friends later arrive with an intoxicated Annette. Joey says she has agreed to have sex with everyone, Tony is not interested, but Double J and Joey date-rape her. Bobby C pulls the car over on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge for their usual cable-climbing antics. Bobby performs stunts more recklessly than the rest of the gang; Tony tries to get him to come down. Bobby's strong sense of despair has driven him to his drunken state, and he initially felt suicidal, he ends up slipping and falling to his death in the water below. Disgusted and disillusioned by his friends, his family, and his life, Tony spends the rest of the night riding the subway into Manhattan. When morning dawns, Tony arrives at Stephanie's apartment. He apologises for his bad behaviour, telling her that he plans to relocate from Brooklyn to Manhattan to try and start a new life. Tony and Stephanie salvage their relationship and agree to be friends. Also starring Sam Coppola as Dan Fusco, Total Recall's Robert Costanzo as Paint Store Customer, Ann Travolta John's sister) as Pizza Girl and Helen Travolta (John's mother) as Lady in Paint Store. Featuring the Bee Gees songs: "Stayin' Alive" (number 9 on 100 Years, 100 Songs), "Night Fever", "You Should Be Dancing", "More Than a Woman" (also featuring the Tavares version) and "How Deep Is Your Love" (nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Song). Also featuring "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy, "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps and "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman. Travolta (the year before he was cast in Grease) gives a terrific performance, and for a short time he was a superstar and pop icon. It is a very simple story, a young man escaping the harsh realities of his bleak life by strutting his stuff at weekends on the dancefloor, the gritty material away from the disco is mixed, with difficult subjects tackled. As mentioned before, the most memorable scenes are indeed the dance sequences, some party-poopers may find the 1970s time period naff and cringeworthy, but you cannot argue that the choreography, costumes and use of colour for the disco sequences are splendid, all in all a most interesting dance musical drama. It was nominated the BAFTAs for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for the Bee Gees and Best Sound, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy and Best Original Score for the Bee Gees. The Original Movie Soundtrack album was number 80 on The 100 Greatest Albums, John Travolta was number 46 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, he was number 38 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, he was number 63 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, and he was also number 46 on The World's Greatest Actor, the film was number 67 on The 100 Greatest Sexy Moments, it was number 68 on The Ultimate Film, and it was number 83 on The 100 Greatest Films. Very good!