Much deeper and meaningful than you'd expect

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2015)

A film that played not an insignificant part in helping to launch the last big disco craze of the late 70s. Seen as something of a cultural icon for the music genre and regarded as a minor cult classic. Which is why I was surprised to find out that its outlook on disco was in fact rather jaded. It definitely showcases the style and the mood of the music genre beautifully, but it doesn't glorify the culture behind it. Quite the opposite in fact. It deals with subjects such as aimlessness of early adulthood, gang violence, lack of responsibility, the downsides of loose sexuality, the list goes on. It shows that the reason people become so obsessed with disco was because they had absolutely nothing else going for them, no other goal worth pursuing.
So what's the story? Tony Manero (John Travolta) is a young Italian American living in Brooklyn. He has a job in small hardware store, which is going nowhere, even though his boss seems to like him. His parents idolize his older brother, a priest by profession, not placing many expectations on him. In his downtime he hangs out with a couple of his friends, who have essentially formed a gang, and goes to a local disco club, where he is regarded as the king of dance. Then he meets a woman, another great dancer like him, who causes him to start questioning his life and his goals.
This is very much John Travolta's film. One of his earliest film roles and still one of his best. It's actually not that surprising that Sylvester Stallone liked this film a lot - enough to direct its sequel in fact - because you can definitely see a lot of similarities between it and his own Rocky. Both are brilliant examples of their respective main genres, dancing and boxing, respectively, but what makes both of them work beyond their genre limitations is the substance in them. They are good genre films, but they also provide you with great drama, social commentary and character development. Both feature uneducated, down on their luck blue collar protagonists, who nevertheless struggle to make something out of themselves and improve their lot in life.
Saturday Night Fever is a great film. Not only because it's such an inviting, energetic and enjoyable film visually and auditorily, but because it's an excellent example on how to make a film be more than its bare bones. It is a film with both style and substance and is well worth a watch for all looking for a good story.