Whenever Hollywood tries to make quick cash by exploiting some fashionable cultural trends, the results usually leave a lot to be desired. If such an endeavour includes a popular young teen idol in the leading role, the results are often even worse. But one film escaped such a fate. Saturday Night Fever, the 1977 musical drama directed by John Badham, turned out to be something more than merely one of the most popular and successful films of its time.
The screenplay for the film, written by Norman Wexler, was inspired by Nik Cohn's allegedly non-fiction magazine article about the disco subculture in 1970s urban America. The protagonist of the film is Tony Manero (played by John Travolta), a 19-year-old man from Brooklyn's Italian‑American blue‑collar neighbourhood, whose life offers little hope—he is forced to live with his verbally abusive parents and support them by working a boring, low‑paid, dead‑end job in a local hardware store. Like many youths in similar situations, Tony finds an escape in the magical world of disco clubs, where he goes every Saturday night to dance his frustration away and occasionally enjoy alcohol, drugs and women. What sets him apart from his friends is a genuine dance talent; whenever he sets foot on the dance floor, he becomes the king. When a US$500 prize at a local disco dance competition offers a chance for this talent to improve his financial situation, Tony decides to get himself a partner. Stephanie (played by Karen Lynn Gorney), a slightly snobbish typist who lives in Manhattan, attracts Tony both by her looks and her dance talent. She agrees to start practising with Tony and later rejects all of his romantic advances. A series of tragic events gradually leads Tony to re‑evaluate his life and contemplate a new form of existence.
Few films have managed to capture the spirit of their times as thoroughly and successfully as Saturday Night Fever did. The film features reminders of many 1970s popular‑culture icons, such as images of Bruce Lee, Al Pacino and Farrah Fawcett in Tony Manero's room. But the most noticeable elements are the music and fashion. Saturday Night Fever is often seen as a reference for all future filmmakers who want to give a 1970s period ‘feel’ to their work. Ironically, Saturday Night Fever didn't only capture the fashions and music of the time—it also influenced fashion and music itself. A new, modern concept of the musical—in which song numbers illustrate and advance the plot in the background—allowed the Gibb brothers (the Bee Gees) to create a series of songs that would dominate the pop charts in the years to come. At the same time, millions of fans all over the world tried to repeat Tony Manero's dance moves and copy his fashion style.
But all that disco glamour can't hide the fact that Saturday Night Fever happens to be a serious and at times very depressive social drama. Norman Wexler's script paints a very dark picture of 1970s urban America, vividly showing the effects of the great social, political and economic turmoil that had stricken that nation in previous years. The Vietnam fiasco and Watergate scandal took away people's belief in government and authority, oil shocks and recession impoverished them, and the counter‑culture revolutions of the 1960s managed to destroy the old value systems without creating credible alternatives. All those historical processes conspired to make life miserable for young people like Tony Manero—those who couldn't afford their own cars or flats, those forced to remain in their blue‑collar neighbourhoods for the rest of their lives, those most likely to ruin their lives by making some girl pregnant and entering bad marriages, thus condemning new generations to the same self‑perpetuating cycle of poverty. Seeing no perspective and having no ethical anchor (even Tony's priest brother, played by Martin Shakar, is unable to cope with the new challenges and, as a result, leaves the Church), young men turn to rampant hedonism, and seemingly innocent activities like drugs, alcohol or casual sex are followed by irrational tribal wars or the sexual abuse of women.
Saturday Night Fever is clearly a product of its time—arguably the best period in American film history. Only in the 1970s could filmmakers have portrayed things unimaginable in later, stricter but gentler and kinder times—such as having a protagonist who happens to be racist, sexist, homophobic, a part‑time hooligan and, in the end, even a rapist. John Travolta delivered arguably the best acting job of his career by playing Tony Manero in such a way that the character remained likeable even with all those questionable traits portrayed in an unapologetic and realistic manner. Travolta, who played this role under tremendous emotional and physical pressure, cannot be praised enough for the strength of his performance (both dancing and acting). The same could be said for other members of the cast, although hardly any of them, unlike Travolta, managed to benefit from their presence in Saturday Night Fever in the later stages of their careers.
The realism of Saturday Night Fever is also reflected in its narrative structure. The plot isn't exactly solid, and the film is constructed as a series of vignettes that gradually expose the characters and their interactions. Because of that, the dramatic change in the protagonist at the end comes very naturally. The ending of Saturday Night Fever also resembles real life—instead of opting for a conventional Hollywood fairytale, Wexler and Badham hint that the real struggle only awaits the protagonist.
The ending for Saturday Night Fever, however, was much happier. The film turned out to be something more than a document of its time—even people who care little about disco or polyester won't fail to appreciate Hollywood film‑making at its best.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on February 10th 2003)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11009-saturday-night-fever Critic: AAA
