A good history lesson, however.......

Rating: Null/10 (16 March 2004)

Saturday Night Fever may indeed be the one movie from the seventies which had the greatest influence on people. This doesn't keep it from being a very bad movie.
It's not altogether bad though. The cinematography is great, especially the interior scenes from the nightclub where Travolta is dancing. And of course there isn't words enough to congratulate the choreography for the dancing scenes. The props, the haircuts and the clothing is so in keeping with the time, and at the same time it created the fashion for the time to come. The music is simply outstanding with the soundtrack being the best selling for many years. They even manage to fit the music in with the movie.

These are the good things about this movie and neither of them are a good reason to watch it today. It's simply out of time and not just from a fashion point of view. The characters are bad developed and every one of them, except for Travolta occasionally and his brother, is either a lame unpleasant prick or just plain stupid. The language the characters use speaks for itself.
In the beginning of the film, Travolta is one of those "pricks" but he goes through some level of growth and you can actually manage to discern some sort of intelligence and humanity in him. This is, as I said before, more than you can say about the rest of the characters in this mess. If people in the seventies were like the gang which Travolta hangs out with, I'm glad that I was spared from that age (being born in 1979).
The story is about Tony (and NO, he does not look like Al Pacino!); a dreaming young man who lives in Brooklyn. Daytime he is working in a paint store and at night he is driving around with his "cool" gang, fighting with (and sometimes tries to kill!!) another gang and hanging out at a disco called "2001". Here Tony is the king of the dancefloor. Actually he is so good that the dancing crowd disperses and makes a space in the middle for him to "shake his thing" while they stand around and watch him. Then there is a dance contest and Tony teams up with a girl who he falls in love with and they start to practice together. This leads up to a number of circumstances and situations around which the movie circulates.
In spite of all the terrible things Tony do throughout the movie, you actually care for him in the end (and that's quite an achievement).
However, this movie is just sad. It's vulgar, sexistic and even boring at some parts. Don't watch it! Unless you are about my age and want to see what it looked like when your parents were young and went out dancing. Also, Travolta does a fine job and was indeed very well casted. So if you have a small budget and have to choose between the movie or the soundtrack......Well, you know what my choice would be.

** 1/2 out of *****