Saturday Night Fever - 1977



Who hasn't seen this movie?  That was my first thought, but then that is showing my age.  I was a young boy when Saturday Night Fever mania hit.  The teens and the twenty somethings have likely not seen the movie nor do they care to.  I am always amazed at how many in that age group haven't seen Animal House, but then again The Hangover is probably their generations Animal House.  No I don't want to get into the debate here of which is better.

I was seven when this movie was in theaters.  Far too young to see it in the theater, Although my wife who is two years older than me claims that she saw it in the theater.  The rated R version that is, I guess her parents were more liberal than mine.  I did see this movie in the theater though.  This movie was so hot they edited it and put out a PG version to capitalize on it.  That is the version that I saw.  I have since seen the rated R version and probably watched this movie at least five times.  I can say that rated R or PG this isn't a movie for a seven year old.  Aside from the dancing and the music, what themes in this movie can a seven year old relate to??  How about none.  Regardless, this movie was all the rage then and I remember my parents finally acquiescing and allowing us to see it.

Saturday Night Fever starred John Travolta as Tony Manero, Karen Lynn Gorney as Stephanie Mangano, Barry Miller as Bobby C, Joseph Cali as Joey, Paul Pape as Double J, Donna Pescow as Annette, Martin Shakar as Frank Manero Jr, Nina Hansen as Grandmother, and Val Bisoglio as Frank Manero Sr.

I am going to do a quick synopsis, because I think most people know about the movie even if they haven't seen it.  Tony lives for Saturday night so he can go out drinking and dancing with his buddies.  Tony is the self proclaimed dance king around his Brooklyn neighborhood. 

The movie deals with young adults and rebellion, social and class issues and racism among others.  It highlights the difficulty of a working class kid getting ahead.  Through it all they deal with pregnancy, girls, rival "gangs' and the like.  The only place that Tony and his friends do not feel inferior is at the disco mainly because of his dancing prowess.  Tony finds a dance partner in Stephanie who he hopes he will win a dance competition with.  Along the way he falls in love with her and is rejected by her.  It should be noted that she represents the promise of something better as she has managed to move up to that next class in society.

That is pretty much the movie in a nutshell although it certainly isn't the detailed synopsis I usually give.  I did this mainly because this movie landed on my list for one reason.  That reason is because Travolta was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Tony Manero.  It is the only nomination it received.  So despite its popularity it certainly wasn't endowed with awards and nominations.  Which I think is fair, because I think the story isn't really all that original.  The dancing may be, but kids struggling with things growing up, wanting more out of life etc, that is not.

Travolta was up against the following for Best Actor that year.

• Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall
• Richard Burton as Dr. Martin Dysart in Equus
• Richard Dreyfus as Elliot Garfield in The Goodbye Girl
• Marcello Mastroianni as Gabrielle in A Special Day

Woody Allen has 21 Oscar nominations in his illustrious career but this was his only nomination for acting.  All the others were either for writing or directing.  He would not win though.  This was the final nomination for Richard Burton, however he went 0 for 7 in his nominations of which six were for Best Actor.  The other nomination which was also his first was for Best Supporting Actor.  It was Mastroianni's second nomination and he would eventually get a third, not winning on any of them.  I must admit that I have absolutely no clue who he is and would guess that they were foreign films that he was nominated for. 

This was Travolta's first nomination and he would have to wait 17 years for his next nomination in Pulp Fiction.  Ironically, Richard Dreyfus who won the Oscar did so on his first ever nomination for his role in The Goodbye Girl and he only has two nominations.  He had to wait 18 years for his next nomination in Mr. Holland's Opus. 

Now I have seen The Goodbye Girl but have not see the other movies mentioned above.  I will say for certain that Dreyfus was deserving of the award over Travolta and unless the other threes performances were spectacular I can't imagine that he didn't deserve it over the others.  But, I am not here to talk about Dreyfus.  It is Travolta that needs to be discssed.

Maybe I am judging him unfairly here, because the movie is more of a pop culture icon than it is known for being a social commentary, but I am not overwhelmed by Travolta's performance in this movie.  Especially when his most memorable scenes to me beside the dancing are his Al Pacino, Al Pacino strut in his underwear to the bathroom witnessed by his grand mother, or his arguments with his boss at the hardware store because he wants an advance on his salary, or the classic, "You messed up my hair" in response to his father slapping him upside the head.

Despite all that I guess I can't say that he didn't put in a good performance.  I just struggle that it was exceptional.  Good, yes, above average, probably, exceptional, I don't think so.  To me his performance was similar to Harrison Ford in Star Wars and he did not get a nomination that year.  Now I am not saying Ford was snubbed, but I find the performances to be similar. 

If you compare his performance in Pulp Fiction to his performance in Saturday Night Fever, I don't think there is even a doubt that his role as Vincent Vega was far superior.  To be fair, he was older and more experienced then, but he had also gone through a long dry spell.  Maybe he was hampered by the fact that he was better known for his role as Vinny Barbarino in Welcome Back Kotter.  Or perhaps the music and the dancing over shadowed his acting.  Either way, I didn't think it was Oscar worthy.

All in all I liked the movie as a kid but when I watch it now I find it slow moving in parts.  The lead up to the final dance contest, especially the dance practice scenes drag.  If I see that it is on tv now it isn't something I find I have to watch.  I may put it on to catch the Verazanno Bridge scenes, which to this day amaze me.  I often wonder what would happen today if someone decided to park their car on the shoulder at night.  I can't imagine they would get away with what they do in the movie, but then again it is a movie after all.  I give the movie a 3.5 stars out of 5.