Directed by: John Badham
Starring: John Travolta, Karen Lyn Gorney, Donna Pescow, Julie Bovasso, Barry Miller
For 19-year-old Tony Manero, the apex of his existence is when he is strutting his stuff on the dance floor of Brooklyn's 2001 nightclub. There, he is God. He is swarmed by women who treat him like a rock star. He is admired by others for his dancing. The next morning, life becomes ordinary again. He works in a local hardware store selling paint and comes home to a family that worships his older brother Frank because he entered the priesthood. His mother prays to God that Frank will call them, causing Tony to observe, "You're turning God into a telephone operator." Saturday Night Fever is famous for Tony's white disco suit and the multi-platinum soundtrack, but it is also a great film with universal themes. The dialogue is colorful and its characters even more so, but there is also great angst and an undercurrent of desperation, especially in Tony, who longs to escape Brooklyn and achieve great things in Manhattan.
He has the good fortune to meet Stephanie (Gorney), a Brooklyn girl who works in Manhattan and could be the conduit to Tony's future. Tony believes his future is in dancing. He practices at a local dance studio run by a Lothario who announces what percentage of his female clients he has banged. "65% today!" The film is also about how Tony and his friends treat the women in their lives. He falls in love with Stephanie, but sometimes treats her on the same level as his galpal Angie (Pescow). He thinks the moves he puts on every girl will work on Stephanie, not realizing that all women aren't cut from the same mold. He learns by the film's end that a woman can be a friend, confidante, and companion as well as a mate.
Angie desperately longs for Tony to love her, but he just doesn't see her in that light. "You have to figure out if you're going to a nice girl or a c***," he tells her, as if women can only be seen as one or the other. Tony's friends are macho assholes who see nothing wrong with spending their days shooting hoops and their nights getting into fights. Their view of women is even less enlightened than Tony's. One of Tony's friends gets a girl pregnant and is riddled with self-doubt and guilt because he doesn't want to marry her, nor does he want her to get an abortion. The climax of this subplot is the catalyst for Tony to make changes in his life.
Saturday Night Fever teems with energy no matter where the characters find themselves. Tony Manero is Travolta's signature film role. He is youthful, but vulnerable and sometimes confused about his direction in life. He feels inferior to his older brother until the brother abruptly leaves the priesthood for a spell. "If you're not so good, then I'm not so bad," Tony confesses. Travolta, an accomplished dancer and singer, handles himself very well on the dance floor, but we care about him despite his flaws. When he asks Stephanie if she thinks he's intelligent, she replies, "You have a good way of putting things so that they make sense," Tony isn't educated, but he is smart and sees a bigger picture for himself when he views the Manhattan skyscrapers towering over the Brooklyn Bridge.
The film is sometimes scoffed as being a "disco movie" because it was released during the height of the era and contains a mostly disco soundtrack highlighted by the Bee Gees. The songs, even today, pulsate with energy. The opening sequence of Tony strutting down the street to Staying Alive remains iconic. The scenes with Tony's family are comic and pathetic all at the same time. The film has enduring power because it is about themes of young adult angst that remain timeless. Tony Manero isn't much different than people his age who long to better themselves, learn, and grow. He's just a better dancer.
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