Saturday Night Fever (2002)

To me dancing fever was the draw when this came out. Who doesn't want to be cool and know the right dance moves but what are they? Well this movie with the help of Travolta defined them and the rest is history. Of course what are dance moves without dancing songs so enter the Bee Gees and there thundering music that makes you want to move even sitting down. I didn't care for the sex innuendos, scenes and all the rest but I guess that was part of the culture and the times. This movie brought Travolta his fame and fortune of which he followed up with Grease making him a household name and someone who youth wanted to emulate. Having a TV show that made him famous only upped it notches. What a ride all in his twenties too. To this day, Disco inferno still works on you as the hit song to boogie by and those flashing lights and center stage was copied by every dance night club bar none. Good snack movie...enjoy

This movie is not mainly about disco, it's just a setting for the characters.Disco was fun, people were dancing and having fun, the 70's was probably more fun for most people because of it. You didn't have to like disco to go to a disco to be social and interact with people, but disco made that widely popular. Some of you reading this now probably owe your very existence to disco.A lot of hate came from people who preferred rock, they were scared rock would vanish and be replaced by disco. But they didn't realize it would wear itself out on its own, just like rock has today. There are no real rock songs tearing up the charts now.This movie was basically a classic from the moment it opened. The characters, the setting and the dialogue are up there with some of the best 70's movies. You can't fault a great movie for the era it takes place in. If you have never seen it because of some hang up like this, do yourselves a favor and see it. You may change your mind.

John Travolta busts out when he busts a move, and I finally watched this for the first time on Netflix. I'm pretty shocked that it's not really about dancing, and seems to be more about growing up with a little bit of rape and racism.Summary: I didn't take notes or anything when I watched it, so I have to give a very brief synopsis. Tony (Travolta) is a dancing God in his neighborhood, and he can slay whatever woman he wants. He has loyal fellow Italian-American friends in his group, and they all have a little taste for a little bit of drugs, a little bit of racism, and a whole lot of disco, even if there isn't as much dancing as you would expect in the movie. When Tony decides to enter a contest as if dancing "is the ticket out of here," like most "teenager has to get away from home" movies have. He falls for his dance partner, but she won't have him. Somewhere along the way, racial turmoil between his Italian friends and a rival Hispanic group of friends escalates, and one of his friends- who is a devout Catholic- knocks up some girl, which of course is terrifying. In the final minutes of the movie, the younger friend commits suicide right after the other two friends take turns with the obsessed girl in the backseat of the car, raping her in a short scene where she cries and wishes Tony would stop it. After a fight with the wrong people, the rape, the suicide, and even trying to rape his own love interest, Tony finally realizes maybe it's not jive to act like he has been.Review: I'm not 70's era guy, so I don't know how well the movie captures the essence of disco for sure, but I think the movie does a pretty good job. And it has the feel that all critically acclaimed movies from a couple of generations ago have- that feel of just telling a story, and just letting it unfold. The story itself lends to the overarching themes, rather than over emphasis on a scene or a line or a particular frame. And though there are some times where the scenes are sort of saturated to show how Tony gets a high from dancing, the story is a rather poignant representation of what I suspect life was like in the 70's. Races were still widely divided. Women were second to men. Youths made rash decisions, and rarely considered the consequences. Well, I suppose that's not so secluded to the 70's after all, some may say, which is why Saturday Night Fever can certainly be found to still be relevant.Regardless of the "era," it is in those moments that choices are made that lives truly unfold. And life is rarely much different: from the 70's to the 90's to the now, being good at one thing (dancing) doesn't mean a damn thing when you're not being good for something.

If I was honest I should admit this is one of my all time favorite films. But understand I also realize this movie is hopelessly dated and some elements of the plot may not work as well in hind site. Having said that I still believe if you take into consideration the impact and influence this film had and still has, the fact that it is linked to an era in film that is largely considered fantastic, and lastly that it contains perhaps the most impressive acting debut for a lead in history and you have a stone cold classic.The music is also very much of its time, and in its time it was hugely successful. If one wanted to be transported back to 1978 this is its soundtrack. But the way the film uses music is in my opinion unique in that its not a musical in the traditional sense- nobody breaks into song mid-scene. However the music is organic to the story of how this young man comes of age and begins to realize the imprisonment of his friends,of his family, and of his environment.Another thing about this movie that I have long admired is how the story is told. This is one gritty urban tale and it captured NYC circa 1977 perfectly. Forget the disco, this is the era of Son of Sam and blackouts, and as a lover of NYC I gotta say I love seeing the trash and the graffiti everywhere. The script by Wexler is authentic and bites. But most of all the simple motif of escaping an environment is a passage that is incredibly profound and not explored often enough. Who cannot relate in some way to that.Bottom line this is a classic very much rooted in its place in time. Saturday Night Fever deserves its place as one of the best films of the 1970s. And that was one hell of an era to be one of the best films in.