Review of Saturday Night Fever (1977) by Eric J — 19 Oct 2009

RATING (0 to ****): ****.

With one of the most recognizable soundtracks of all time and that iconic image of John Travolta dancing to disco in that white polyester suit, John Badham's "Saturday Night Fever" is like cinema's elephant in the room. It isn't uncommon for someone to see the film and find out it's not another "Grease", nor is it exactly the coming-of-age story it appears to be. Norman Wexler's screenplay, based on a hoax magazine article, aims for something much harder.

If you were to get a film that was about 19-year-old Tony Manero (Travolta), who works at a paint store six days a week and conquer the dance floor on Saturday nights getting girls left and right at 2001 Odyssey, getting into the club's dance competition with a much classier woman Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), you'd be quick to imagine a cheesy, cliched throwaway picture with a rousing, trite climax since it's all obviously there to market the Bee Gees' soundtrack.

Watching "Saturday Night Fever" is to understand why it was Gene Siskel's favorite film, which would be less shocking if Siskel were anywhere close to the age of the characters. Manero lives a dysfunctional family life with parents who yell at him and each other, never proud of his accomplishments and especially not proud in comparison to his older brother, Frank Jr., a priest.

Frank Jr. has a surprise of his own, in one of the film's many well-done subplots, when he returns home completely disillusioned by his faith when he realizes he did it to make his parents proud (you know, to give them a free, good spot in Heaven). Another involves a girl who's danced with Tony, Annette (Donna Pescow), who's seen from time to time with the whole group, and desires to get into a relationship with Tony (and what she thinks she wants, sex). While Annette eventually has the film's most disturbing sequence, the secondary character who highlights the film's true tone is Bobby (Barry Miller), a nervous boy who just impregnated a good Catholic girl ("my girlfriend, she loves the taste of Communion wafers") and now is left with no way out but to marry her (Bobby is desperate for her to have an abortion, but this also stems from his own insecurity and apparent lack of appeal with women).

Far from the dance floor being an escape for Tony, we see in its very opening sequence his true state of mind. The oft-spoofed struttin' down the sidewalk with a paint can accompanied by The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" says everything that its most overlooked component says best of all: take a good look at Travolta's facial expressions, and these songs expose their true meaning. Tony, who can never quite hit it off right with Stephanie, regardless ends up in the dance competition to "More Than a Woman", and you finally realize the soundtrack emphasizes what a truly devastating picture this is.

Despite the music being a huge component in its power, John Badham keeps it all amazingly subtle. If you still don't believe it, try its quietly powerful ending, a bittersweet component to a bleak story of youth that never offers easy answers.

The easiest thing for me to conclude was that I could not remember the last time I'd seen a film this good.

MPAA: R (strong language, sexuality/nudity and some drug content).

Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes (116 minutes of "real movie").