Overview
Director John Badham's hit film propelled John Travolta to stardom, made white polyester suits an instant fashion craze, and garnered praise for its portrayal of blue-collar life. Nineteen-year-old Brooklyn native Tony Manero (Travolta) lives for Saturday nights at the local disco, where he's king of the club, thanks to his stylish moves on the dance floor. But outside of the club, things don't look so rosy. At home, Tony fights constantly with his father and has to compete with his family's starry-eyed view of his older brother, a priest. Nor can he find satisfaction at his dead-end job at a paint store. However, things begin to change when he spies Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) in the disco and starts training with her for the club's dance competition. Stephanie dreams of the world beyond Brooklyn, and her plans to move to the big city just over the bridge soon change Tony's life forever. This portrait of young Brooklyn natives struggling to escape their sheltered lives for freedom and adventure in the big city of Manhattan defined a generation of disco dancers and 1970s youths rebelling against the more traditional expectations of their parents. Set to the popular dance music of the Bee Gees, this instant cinematic sensation revealed the fashions and aspirations of an underground culture to the world.
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
John Badham - Director
John Travolta
Karen Lynn Gorney
Barry Miller
Joseph Cali
Paul Pape
Donna Pescow
Bruce Ornstein
Julie Bovasso
Martin Shakar
Sam Coppola
Details
- Format: DVD (Director's Cut / Edition, Anniversary Edition, Dolby, Unrated Version, Amaray Case)
- Run Time: 118
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 032429257970
- Genre: DRAMA
- Rating: Not Rated
- Release Date: May 2017
Movie Reviews
Synopsis:
The film that made John Travolta a household name is set in Brooklyn to the popular dance music of the Bee Gees. Tony Manero (Travolta) is a paint-store clerk who becomes the king of the discotheque when he puts on his polyester and gets down, with a little help from a social-climbing Manhattan secretary (Karen Lynn Gorney). This definitive portrait of a generation of disco dancers in the 1970s skyrocketed its young star to fame and further propelled the disco inferno infatutation.
Notes:
Theatrical release: December 16, 1977.
Shot on location in Brooklyn, New York.
Although John Travolta was already a teenage heartthrob due to his role as Vinnie Barbarino on the WELCOME BACK, KOTTER television series, it was SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER that made him a superstar.
In 1983, Sylvester Stallone directed John Travolta in STAYING ALIVE, the sequel to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.
Nik Cohen, who wrote the allegedly non-fiction magazine article on which SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER is based, admitted in 1996 that the piece was a "total fabrication." Cohen originally claimed to have met and interviewed the patrons of a real Brooklyn disco; but it turned out that his British friends were the story's true inspiration.
John Travolta's sister appears as the pizza lady and his mother appears as the woman for whom he gets paint.
Reviews:
"...Travolta is deft and vibrant and he never condescends to the character....The music moves with a real spring it is step, and the movie does too." - 12/16/1977 New York Times, p.C10
"...Among the definitive time-capsule pics of any era....It looks and sounds snappy..." - 10/11/2002 USA Today, p.7E
"...Travolta melds brute machismo and hidden yearning; it's little surprise FEVER made him a superstar and earned him an Oscar nomination..." - 10/18/2002 Entertainment Weekly, p.95
"[G]iven a subtle sweetness and vulnerability by Travolta's layered performance." - 04/01/2004 Premiere, p.58
4 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] still plays like an impossibly bleak slice of kitchen-sink realism..." - 11/01/2007 Uncut, p.152
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Travolta] pure, chest-out charisma. The camera loves him -- and he loves it right back." - 11/01/2007 Empire, p.202
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] mesmerizing portrait from Travolta ensures it stays evergreen." - 12/01/2007 Ultimate DVD, p.95
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