"Saturday Night Fever" (1977), John Travolta's Breakout Hollywood Role, Directed by John Badham

[DonRocks]

I did it.

I rented "Saturday Night Fever."

I hadn't seen the entire film since I was in high school, in the movie theater, and wanted to see it again - I remember I liked it more than I thought I would, but that was thirty-nine years ago.

At the minimum, the film is an icon of the disco era - really, it's *the* icon of the disco era, and that - in-and-of-itself - is historically important enough to give it a second viewing. It goes hand-in-hand with an important, albeit banal, period of our country's history.

I never knew (or didn't remember) that the sequel to "Saturday Night Fever" - "Staying Alive" - was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone.

Boy, I'll tell you what: Maybe some people can see through this dated, weary film as a "coming-of-age" drama wrapped in disco, but I see it as just plain weary. Yes, it's an icon of an era, but what era? - between "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease," and "Urban Cowboy," John Travolta was arguably the hottest thing in the late 1970's, but this five-year period - which is when I graduated from high school - is probably *the worst* five-year-period I can think of when it comes to popular film and music.

I've always thought that pop culture during my teen years was about as bad as it gets, and re-seeing "Saturday Night Fever" only confirms that. No, it wasn't worse than any other run-of-the-mill rom-com, but run-of-the-mill rom-coms are pretty awful. If *this* film is the cinematic and musical emblem of my high-school years, then that doesn't say much for my high-school years.

And to think it took Quentin Tarantino to revive the man.

[Al Dente]

 

[Steve R.]

I'm honestly not sure which Brooklyn I've liked less during my lifetime (so far) -- the current hipsters or the Bay Ridge disco crowd.

[DonRocks]

12 minutes ago, Steve R. said:

I'm honestly not sure which Brooklyn I've liked less during my lifetime (so far) -- the current hipsters or the Bay Ridge disco crowd.

"Bay Ridge Still Has Saturday Night Fever, 35 Years Later" by David Chiu on brooklynbased.com

I'm sure you had a hearty chortle when this first came out:

 

[Steve R.]

It's a very good article and the author is on the money.  It's now a decidedly non-hip neighborhood with hold out Italian, Irish (& some Jewish) Americans being replaced by a growing Arab American & Asian community.  Not that these new ethnic settlers dislike disco balls either.

[DonRocks]

4 minutes ago, Steve R. said:

It's a very good article and the author is on the money.  It's now a decidedly non-hip neighborhood with hold out Italian, Irish (& some Jewish) Americans being replaced by a growing Arab American & Asian community.  Not that these new ethnic settlers dislike disco balls either.

I can only imagine the devastation that Brooklyn residents felt when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

That comment sounds sarcastic, but I'm completely serious.