Why so much hype?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The movie Saturday Night Fever is one that I think every movie lover has to watch. If you are not much of a movie person it is probably not for you. I personally really liked the film. However, I did find some of the commentary slightly offensive. Specifically comments made about African Americans and gay people. There is also a rape scene towards the end. The lack of P.C.ness in this movie strongly reflects the time from which the movie came (1977). Regardless of some of the offensive terminology it is an enjoyable movie! Highly recommend.

Saturday Night Fever is a film whose image and reputation suggests something very different to what it turns out to be. It often sort of gets associated with John Travolta's other music themed blockbuster from the time, namely 1978's mega-hit Grease. But the similarities between the two are frankly entirely superficial, as where Grease is a feel-good musical that looks back nostalgically on a bygone era, Saturday Night Fever is a gritty urban drama with a music back-drop that takes a decidedly unglamorous contemporary look at the lives of a group of young city youths. Part of the reason folks sometimes forget SNF's true form is that a heavily circulated PG version of the film was released in cinemas very soon after its extremely popular soundtrack started selling millions, the idea being that loads of youngsters would flock to see this Travolta disco movie that was being promoted via the music charts with a constant string of smash hits. And the studio was right of course, so much so that this censored version even played TV for a good number of years too. So much so, I have to admit to being a little surprised when I finally saw the original version which had drug taking, some extremely frank sexual scenes, bloody violence and dialogue with healthy amounts of racist terms and full-on swearing. Needless to say, this original raw version is much preferable and makes for a tough and interesting bit of unsentimental drama.Whatever the case, this was definitely the film that firmly put John Travolta on the map. His performance as Tony Manero is one of the most iconic of the 70's. This was the Brooklyn kid who isn't too bright and has a dead end existence, whose life is one of humiliations and restrictions. But due to his skills on the dance-floor of his local discotheque he is treated like a god. It's in many ways a coming-of-age story about a young man imprisoned by his environment and friends. It paints a very gritty portrait of 70's NYC and the young Italian-Americans at the centre of the story. It doesn't even glorify the disco era or experience, suggesting in fact that there were a good many unsavoury elements to that also. All these reasons make for a fairly complex and unpredictable drama with all characters having many flaws and feeling all the more real because of them.It was also, for better or for worse, the film that moved disco from the underground to the mainstream. The soundtrack album sold astronomical numbers of records. The Bee Gees contributed four classic tracks, "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever", "How Deep Is Your Love" and "More Than a Woman", all of which are integrated into the film very well. Obviously, the songs work well alongside the celebrated dance routines but, more importantly, the music was mixed in very well generally into the flow of what is contrastingly an often quite grim and confrontational drama. All-in-all, this is a film which would probably appeal to a lot of people who would never expect to like it in the first place, on the other hand it will also be too much of a downer for quite a lot of folks who think it's going to be right up their alley. Saturday Night Fever is certainly a film that will continue to confound a lot of expectations and its all the better for that.

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.

Saturday Night Fever (1977): Dir: John Badham / Cast: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller, Donna Pescow, Martin Shakar: Electrifying masterpiece set in Brooklyn, New York in the 1970's and centered around the rush and passion of talent and the freedom of escape. John Travolta stars as Tony Manero who works at a paint store, lives with his parents who still worship his brother the priest, but his escape is the 2001 dance club. His friends are a renegade group cruising for a gang fight after one of their own is attacked. Manero wishes to separate from it and Travolta is given grand opportunities to grace the dance floor to the delight of a crowd willing to part aside to observe his magic. Karen Lynn Gorney plays Stephanie Mangano, a dancer whom Manero wishes to enter the dance competition with. She plays off sophisticated with stories of actors visiting her work place while shielding her true feelings. Barry Miller plays Bobby C, one of Manero's friends who is insecure and dealing with the news of his pregnant girlfriend. Donna Pescow plays Annette, Manero's initial dance partner whose clingy nature drives him away. Martin Shakar plays Manero's brother Frank who quit the priesthood much to the distress of the family. Director John Badham blends humour and tragedy all surrounded by great New York galore and the spirit of the 2001 where the dance floor is at a fever high. Score: 10 / 10