Delayed Reaction: Saturday Night Fever

Premise: A young man in New York is king of the dance floor but less certain about everything else in his life.

 

Few movies have a bigger divergence between how it's remembered in popular culture and what it actually is. Saturday Night Fever is remembered for the soundtrack and John Travolta in the white suit. That's fair. Travolta is electric throughout the movie: nowhere more than on the dance floor. The soundtrack remains one of the highest selling albums of all time. It was a cultural supernova. However, the disco is a contrast to the rest of the movie. Saturday Night Fever is a pretty dark drama. Travolta's Tony has an uncertain future. He lives dangerously and irresponsibly. As good as he is on the dance floor, even he knows that's a fleeting thing. Late in the movie, things really do fall apart. Even his win in the dance competition, which is supposed to be the film's climax, is colored by some obvious rigging. I did know the movie was darker than its reputation, but I still wasn't prepared for how dark.

 

I'm out on this movie because I really hate Tony. He's a garbage person. Some of that I think is the point. He's casually racist. He'd probably be in jail now for some of the things he does to women. I was never on his side though, and that's where me and the movie diverge. I think the bad in him far outweighs the good. Sure, it's nice that he appreciates a mild raise so much and that he actually puts in the work to improve his dancing. That's not enough for me.

 

This doesn't count for or against the movie, but I find the film's legacy interesting. It's become the movie that epitomizes disco, yet it's kind of the thing that killed it. Before that, disco was this cool scene that evolved from black clubs and the queer scene. Once it became embraced by the public like this - with a white dude as "king of disco" no less - that's when it fell apart. Remember "Disco Duck"?

 

No matter how much I hated the main character and was uninterested in his struggle, there are too many undeniable parts to dismiss the movie. The opening with Travolta strutting down the street with "Stayin' Alive" blaring sets the vibe as well as any movie in history. The scenes on the dance floor are transfixing. It almost makes me wish disco never died.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend