Saturday Night Fever

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Template:Infobox Film Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 movie starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a New York discotheque. While in the disco, Tony is the king, and the visits help him to temporarily forget the reality of his life: a dead-end job, clashes with his unsupportive and squabbling parents, racial tensions in the local community, and his associations with a dead-beat gang of friends.

The movie significantly helped to popularise disco music around the world, and made Travolta a household name. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees, was also hugely popular.

The film also showcased aspects of the music, the dancing, and the subculture surrounding the disco era: symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute-couture styles of clothing, and graceful choregraphy.

The story of the film is based upon a 1975 New York Magazine article by British writer Nik Cohn, Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night. In the late-1990s, Cohn acknowledged that the article had been completely fabricated. A newcomer to the United States and a stranger to the disco lifestyle, Cohn was unable to make any sense of the subculture he had been assigned to write about. The characters who were to become Tony Manero and his friends sprang partly from his imagination. There is a real Tony Manero who lays claim to having been the inspiration for the character, and there is a distinct possibility that he was, but not everybody believes his story.

Contents

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Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story of the film has Tony Manero connect with the aloof Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) one night at the disco. Despite her initial frosty and superior attitude toward Tony, she agrees to partner with him in the dance contest after much urging. Tony had previously agreed to dance with Annette, who had actively pursued Tony, despite his obvious disdain for her. Stephanie has a job in Manhattan and is poised to move there. This awakens in Tony the need to transcend his working-class roots of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. However, Stephanie herself ultimately reveals her own vulnerabilities.

Also examined through the film is Tony's relationship with his family, including an older brother who abandons a planned career in the priesthood, and his association with his no-good friends.

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Versions and sequel

The unsentimental depiction of the subculture of the main characters contrasts with Travolta's follow-up film, the sanitized Grease (1978).

There were two theatrically-released versions of the film: the "original" R version and the PG "edited version." The R-rated version is 119 minutes. The PG-rated version was released in 1978 as an attempt to attract a more youthful audience. It is 112 minutes, with profanity dubbed over and several scenes shortened or cut. Both theatrical versions were released on VHS, but only the R-rated version was released on LaserDisc and later on DVD, and the DVD version is shown in widescreen only. In addition, a network television version, based primarily on the PG version, contains several minutes of outtakes deleted from the theatrical releases.

The R-rated version contains scenes of profanity, nudity, drug use and a date-rape scene which has been deemphasised or completely removed from the PG version.

A sequel, Staying Alive, was released in 1983. It starred John Travolta and was directed by Sylvester Stallone.

The story was also done as a musical stage production in both London and on New York's Broadway.

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Cast and roles include

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Soundtrack

1. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees

2. How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees

3. Night Fever - Bee Gees

4. More Than A Woman - Bee Gees

5. If I Can't Have You - Yvonne Elliman

6. A Fifth Of Beethoven (Based On Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) - Walter Murphy

7. More Than A Woman - Tavares

8. Manhattan Skyline - David Shire

9. Calypso Breakdown - Ralph McDonald

10. Night On Disco Mountain (Based On 'Night On Bald Mountain') - David Shire

11. Open Sesame - Kool & The Gang

12. Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees

13. You Should Be Dancing - Bee Gees

14. Boogie Shoes - K.C. And The Sunshine Band

15. Salsation - David Shire

16. K-Jee - M.F.S.B.

17. Disco Inferno - Trammps

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Filming locations include


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Trivia

  • Saturday Night Fever was the favorite movie of the late film critic Gene Siskel, who claimed to have seen it 17 times. He liked the movie so much, he bought the famous white disco suit (worn by Travolta in the movie) at a charity auction.
  • Madonna's video for her 2005 hit single "Hung Up" is heavily inspired by scenes from Saturday Night Fever.
  • Most people are familiar with the song "Salsation" which was in the scene in the Dance Contest during the Hispanic Couple that competed against Tony and Stephanie. This was not the original song that was used in the movie. There was actually a more traditional Latin-style song that was used. The VHS version of the movie contains this original version.
  • In some parts of Brazil, "Manero" is said as a compliment, when a person is cool, dances well, and attracts attention.
  • John Belushi parodied the film as "Samurai Night Fever", one of his "Samurai" sketches. OJ Simpson appears in this sketch as the Samurai's brother.
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Academy Awards

Award Person
Nominated:
Best Actor John Travolta


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External links

es:Saturday Night Fever fr:La Fièvre du samedi soir nl:Saturday Night Fever ja:サタデー・ナイト・フィーバー ru:Лихорадка субботним вечером (фильм) simple:Saturday Night Fever sv:Saturday Night Fever

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