Saturday Night Fever, Forty Years Later

It was about an era and a milieu where regular Joes and Janes could become dancing royalty for a brief shining moment. The poor man's Camelot.

Travolta was a luminous Lancelot, but the BeeGees were the Merlins whose music made the magic.

I got to see Saturday Night Fever -- for only the second time ever -- on the big screen last year. It really is a great film, filled with realistic, believable characters (they do not hesitate to use racist, homophobic and sexist language) that absolutely captures the milieu. And the music/dancing scenes are hypnotic.

Personally, yes, I think Travolta deserved the Oscar that year, though Richard Dreyfuss is very entertaining in The Goodbye Girl. Although Saturday Night Fever was a big hit and an acclaimed film, the only Oscar nomination it got was for Best Actor (yes, as crazy as it sounds, NONE of those classic songs were nominated for Best Original Song, all 5 hits were eligible -- "How Deep Is Your Love"; "Stayin' Alive"; "Night Fever"; "If I Can't Have You"; "More than a Woman"); I suspect Dreyfuss won because not only was The Goodbye Girl a hit, it was nominated for 5 Oscars in total (aside from Best Actor, it was also nominated for Best Picture, Actress [Marsha Mason], Supporting Actress [Quinn Cummings] and Original Screenplay) and Dreyfuss had starred in another big, Oscar-nominated hit that year, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I saw it when it came out and remember it being hugely entertaining. The theater was packed. So much that we had to sit in the second row.

[quote]not only was The Goodbye Girl a hit, it was nominated for 5 Oscars in total

....and now pretty much forgotten. And deservedly so.

A little trivia regarding OP's video: that's Fran Drescher in the green dress dancing with Travolta.

It is a great but remarkably depressing movie. And iirc Best Song nominees at the time were usually the most bland treacly crap -- it wasn't until years later that really decent songs started to get nominated.

The dancing is so much looser and freer than today's styles. I love the way they shot it with so few cuts.

R7, The music of that time was for romance and seduction. Today it's aggressive and brazen.

I absolutely loved this movie and still do. Travolta deserved the Oscar. It's interesting to imagine how differently his career might have gone if he had won.

Travolta was beyond brilliant in this movie, from the "way I walk" with the swinging paint can to ground his swagger for us; to his preening, only for his father to smack him on his coif; to his embarrassment about his knowledge coupled with pride for his dancing talent when with Stephanie; to his mesmerizing dancing.

His face registered broad and subtle, open and nuanced, emotional and stoic, hopeful and resigned. Simply genius.

I need to see this again. Thanks for the reminder OP.

To add: The entire cast was terrific. I mean absolutely everyone.

And the scene where Tony gives the trophy to the Latino couple was the perfect way to inform us that he was an honorable man.

I heard Stayin' Alive on the radio a few days ago, and I'll admit - the "manly" lyrics of the first verse in that high pitched voice made me giggle.

R12 Karen Lynn Gormley, or whatever, was "terrific" ??

She ruined the movie. Absolutely awful. Couldnt act, couldn't dance, couldn't even get the accent right.

And POOF, she was gone.

I always thought Bobby was cute.

"...Best Song nominees at the time were usually the most bland treacly crap..."

Fuck off!!

Other than the blistering hot soundtrack, I was underwhelmed. But the characters were realistic, especially in regards to their casual racism.

Agree that Travalta was magnetic and Karen Gormley was awful. That movie would have been perfect with someone who could act and dance. He deserved a better partner. Her casting was unforgiveable.

When I bought the soundtrack, I was only 12.

My mother thought it was messed up that I was able to love the music but I wasn't old enough to see the R-rated movie.

Here were the Best Original Song nominees for 1977:

"You Light Up My Life" from You Light Up My Life (winner)

"Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me

"Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon

"The Slipper and the Rose Waltz (He/She Danced With Me)" from The Slipper and the Rose

"Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers

Only the first two are widely remembered today, while "Candle on the Water" has many fans; the Academy should have kept those three and replaced the other two with "How Deep is Your Love" and "Stayin' Alive."

I still want John Travolta's hole so bad.

I saw it as a teen when it first came out and thought it was so good. Saw it a few years ago and found it embarrassingly bad. The dancing was amateurish and boring. Dancing has gotten much better and much more sophisticated. Travolta got lucky in that role.

Always felt Gormly wasn't right for the role. They needed someone believable in a melanie griffith working girl kind of persona. Bad casting.

Was Travolta gay back then??

He should not have won an Oscar because his acting was poor. But it was an exciting movie.

Idk about "exciting".

I saw this movie, on video, years after it came out. And I think, like many movies from the seventies, it's thin plot doesn't hold up.

Funny thing how the music still holds up.

R24...I agree.

Travolta was playing Vinny Barbarino in a white suit.

Yup, I remember seeing Saturday Night Fever at the height of the disco rage. You just HAD to see it back then. The movie and its songs are classics forever from the iconic disco era.

The movie lack bulges!

And here's Joseph Cali, who played "Joey" in the movie, back in his "modeling" days.

My older sister begrudgingly took my brother and me to see it. She was a fag hag back in the day and said disco was so tired at that point. The straights had taken it over and ruined it just like they ruin everything.

Her hair at the time was short back with spots bleached out and dyed blue. All the cool people were punk by this time.

[quote]they do not hesitate to use racist, homophobic and sexist language

Italians saying derogatory things? Well, I never, until living around those racist guinea fuckholes opened my eyes to the fact that they got that aspect of it right but barely scratched the surface of just how barbaric they can be. Case in point: Guy Fieri.

Here they are, a little older -

Barry Miller, Joseph Cali, Donna Pescow and Paul Pape

Disco forever,

Schlock rock never!

I saw the movie again for the first time in decades when it was on TCM some time last year. Fortunately they showed the 2-hour R-rated version that was originally released in theaters and not the more sanitized PG version that was screened a few years later to get the younger kids in the theater. (That version runs about 10 minutes less.)

I had forgotten how dark it was, and I'd even argue atheistic. Remember the scene when Tony comes home and finds Father Frank outside the house, and he tells Tony he's leaving the church and how distraught the family about it? Frank tells Tony he left something for him upstairs in his room, and it turns out to be Frank's clerical collar. Tony puts it on, and then lifts it like it's a noose around his neck. Shortly thereafter is the confrontational scene with his parents at the dinner table, during which the conversation is about Frank, to which Tony in a rage yells to his mother, "And now you have THREE shit children!"

It's getting a director's cut on Blu-ray soon along with the R-rated theatrical cut (yet again depriving Disney of an excuse for not doing the same for [italic]Bedknobs and Broomsticks[/italic]). I wonder what will be different about it.

The movie is a classic. Youse people need to see it!

I think it's a better film than "Grease" but is definitely forgotten. BTW, the casting director also did ABC soaps, which is how no-talent Karen Lynn Gorney got the role....besides fucking the director. The casting director was pushing hard for a young actress who she had recently discovered, Kate Mulgrew from Ryans Hope. It came down to Gorney and Jessica Lange.

[quote]BTW, the casting director also did ABC soaps, which is how no-talent Karen Lynn Gorney got the role....besides fucking the director.

Her trying to fuck Randal Kleiser wouldn't have worked for [italic]Grease[/italic].

I hated disco, so I didn't see it until I started going out with an obsessed Bee Gees fan when it was at a $1 theater in Times Square. I always thought it was so funny, the way Barry Miller fell (jumped?) off the V-N Bridge and then they segued into "How Deep Is Your Love?"

Did anyone else think his character was in love with Travolta's?

It was pretty obvious they guy idolized Travolta's character.

I sat near Bobby in a bar in West Hollywood 15 years ago. He was drunk and very bitter looking. It didn't help that I said. OMG Bobby!

I must have been 15 when it came out, liked it largely because Travolta's character knew -- knew -- there was more out there than what he had and what he saw, but he didn't know what it was or how to look for it.

This brings me back to where I lived at the time (Colorado Springs) and what was going on at that particular point in my life. I was entering my teen years and it was a much simpler time.

R31 maybe. But Italian majority neighborhoods are infinitely safer than majority black or Hispanic ones. Anywhere in the country.

I feel safer around blacks and Mexicans than Italians.

It's not just me. Any country that allied with Hitler at any time for any reason is fucking sick to the core, with NO exceptions.

I got to thinking, I must be the most confused person here: I liked the early non-disco Bee Gees, liked disco, hated the disco Bee Gees.

Disco may have been "dead" in the straight world,but it was roaring along quite nicely in the gay world. They were still playing songs from this movie well into the 80's. it perfectly captures a time and place ,but i can never forgive Travolta for hoisting 'Urban Cowboy' off on us a few years later. I LOATHED that shitkicker movie,and you couldnt find anything but plaid shirts in the stores for YEARS after it became huge.

Disco didn't die, it was murdered by tasteless styleless breeder thugs and replaced with the tackiest, stupidest, most crassly commercial crap ever recorded.

Even Finland, R46?

R31 complains about Italians being racist and yet uses racist slurs against Italians himself.

The irony

Trump will win again...

R47 No you are not confused and not alone. I also like the early Bee Gee's singing style where they sang in their normal voices, such as the glorious "To Love Somebody". Then when disco took over they started to sing like shrill mice. I still liked them but their falsettos were ear numbing at times.

[quote][R31] complains about Italians being racist and yet uses racist slurs against Italians himself.

You can dish it out but you can't take it. Or does that mean you think Italians are actually a race?

According to Karen Lynn, studio executives told her that her performance was so edgy and ahead of its time, that they didn't know what to follow it up with.

I disagree about her being miscast. She's fantastic and plays Stephanie as the phony social climber she really is. She could have been Oscar nominated were the field not so strong that year.

Karen Gormley was playing a 21 year old but looked around 40. Dreadful teeth.

Travolta was sublime in this film, and moved like no one else before or since. The best scene was his "Al PACINO!!" in the bikini briefs.

Karen Lynn Gorney was horrible in the movie. They had to "dumb down" the big dance finale number for her, which was a big letdown. Had they gotten someone for the part who could dance, that number could've been great!

Travolta was amazingly charismatic in the movie and he was such a great dancer. I can't believe KLG was cast because she wasn't pretty, couldn't dance and couldn't act.

Was this after King Kong? Im surprised, but happy, Jessica Lange didn't get the role. I dint think she would have been good in it, and I'm a huge fan of hers.

As horrendous as KLG was in SNF, what really killed her career was her series of bizarre interviews after the film. She was on a young actresses' special on Dinah Shore's talk show and she was drugged out of her mind. In the People magazine profile, she claimed that she and Travolta's relationship was the same as in the movie and they both dream of each other.

BTW, the Dinah episode featured Kathleen Quinlan, fresh off her superb performance from "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden." That was a performance deserving of an Oscar nod.

The main problem with KLG was the fact that she looked old enough to be Tony's mother. Donna Pescow looked the right age and was a much more attractive woman at that time. But I guess her age and upward mobility is what made Stephanie so attractive to Tony?

As a kid I found Stephanie not pretty enough, but when I rewatched as an adult her casting made more sense. She wasn't supposed to be all that hot. Tony liked her because she turned him down, she wasn't at that club every weekend, she lived in Manhattan, to his eyes she was fancy. To our eyes she was a wannabe who still had to go back to her old hood to feel superior to those she left behind.

The movie is kind of odd. The marketing made it look like an old fashioned musical set in the then modern disco era. It was very dark though, with the racism, rape suicide and all. I think a lot of viewers are surprised by what they see.

It felt a little like Looking for Mr. Goodbar minus murder.

I think Michelle Pfeiffer would have been perfect for the KLG part, though I don't think she was on the radar then. What would she have been, about 18 at the time?

I can't believe that not a single song was nominated for an Oscar.

FYI "You Light Up My Life" won that year.

Pescow should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actress that year. I think she was runner up for at the NYFC that year. Certainly much better than the Godawful Leslie Browne in The Turning Point.

It was rated 18 in the UK when it came out, because of the swearing, rape and suicide. The rape wasn't sensitively dealt with at all. In fact, if the film came out today, millennials would be triggered in their thousands and would probably boycott the film.

Agreed that Leslie Browne and Baryshnikov gave two of the most undeserving performances ever nominated for an Oscar.

The phenomenon that was disco and Saturday Night Fever factors heavily into why I came out about two weeks after it opened, when I was 17. That's when a very out friend named Bob took me and two female friends from suburban Long Beach, CA up to the big city of LA and the Odyssey, the teenage so-so-SO gay disco located across from where Beverly Center is now. For the first time in my life I saw other gay people my age, out, dancing, happy and having fun. The music was all BeeGees, Yvonne Elliman, Tramps, Paul Jabara and Anita Ward/Ring My Bell, and I loved every thump-thump-thump of it. First time I'd every been anywhere where the music played continuously without stopping. It was magical and life changing. Three days later, I officially came out to Bob, that emotional moment when the weight was lifted from my shoulders. And he took me back to the Odyssey shortly after that, where they were still playing the SNF soundtrack and we danced to the TimeWarp at midnight.

The phenomenon that was disco,John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever factors heavily into why I came out about two weeks after it opened, when I was 17. That's when a very out friend named Bob took me and two female friends from suburban Long Beach CA up to the big city of LA and the Odyssey, the teenage so-so-SO gay disco located across from where Beverly Center is now. For the first time in my life I saw other gay people my age, out, dancing, happy and having fun. The music was all BeeGees, Yvonne Elliman, Tramps, Paul Jabara and Anita Ward/Ring My Bell, and I loved every thump-thump-thump of it. First time I'd every been anywhere where the music played continuously without stopping. It was life changing. Three days later, I officially came out to Bob, that emotional moment when the weight was lifted from my shoulders. And he took me back to the Odyssey shortly after that, where they were still playing the SNF soundtrack and we did the Time Warp at midnight.

has Travolta ever done DWTS?

[quote]the Odyssey

Me too. What a great time in my past. I was there almost every weekend. So many of the young stars of that time were there regularly. Kristy McNichol and her brother, Leif Garret, Rex Smith...... The first time I ever kissed another boy was at the Odyssey.

The Odyssey was like a west coast teen version of Studio 54.

I saw it for the first time about five years ago and was surprised by how unattractive everyone is including the leading lady with grey teeth. There would be a LOT of dumb, but hot guidos and guidettes to choose from if it were made today.

The pregnancy issue with the eyeshadow girl seemed overdone by today's standards.

No way those two could afford an apartment like that now. (End scenes)

I did not mean Travolta who was attractive, if a bit apish, but all his friends would be several orders higher on the scale today.

Travolta and KLG deserve to be in the Actors with ZERO chemistry thread.

There's always an R73, head salesbottom at Belks in Chattanooga.

I was not born when the film came out, but we had to read the article it was based on, Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night in a journalism class, and other than the fact that kids from Brooklyn went to discos a lot, there was little overlap between the article and the movie, which I've seen on Amazon.

The funny thing is the movie would not be made today, as the filmmakers would be accused of cultural appropriation and the suicide and priest sub-plot would upset other groups.

The movie worked for me as a period piece. Interesting to hear first-hand about how many of you were "anti-disco" and thus avoided it. I was aware the division was pretty steep, but did not realize how charged it was. Don't have anything like that now-- I don't particularly like EDM but it's not that big a deal.

I don't know why I always thought this came out in '75.

? No, Los Angeles & Bay Area, but thanks for playing.

Just not that impressed with it.

The best thing about it was the soundtrack. I never thought the movie itself was much. Travolta shouldn't have won an Oscar for it; Richard Burton should have won that year.

I thought the casting of Karen Lynn Gorney was odd; she wasn't that attractive, wasn't that good a dancer, and really wasn't much of an actress. It could be that she was cast to make it seem like Tony, who thinks she has "class", doesn't have any idea what "class" is. But it would have made more sense to cast a good looking talented actress who could really dance; that way Tony's interest in her would have seemed much more plausible. Anyway, I couldn't stand Gorney; I don't think most people did, because her acting career flamed out quickly.

Donna Pescow should have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. I think she should have won. She gave the best performance in the movie.

Barry Miller was very good as Bobby C. He played a kid so dumb he seemed almost to be mentally challenged and did it very well. One of the best moments in the film is when he breaks down in tears and sobs "why didn't you call me?"

A lot of people didn't "get" this movie. They thought it depicted an exciting lifestyle; actually what it depicted was a hopeless one. Tony and his friends try to escape from their dreary lives for a while, so they spend nights drinking and dancing at a tacky disco. That's all they have: going to the disco. That's pretty depressing. As the tagline of the movie went "where do you do when the music stops?"

It wasn't your critique of the movie R73, it was your long-winded critique of the actors and their relative hotness. You come off like a bitter old windbag.

R66 while the rape wasn't handled in a sensitive way, I thought it was brutally realistic. She's crying and begging them to stop, saying it hurts. It's not ambiguous. Tony calling her a pig felt realistic too. I was grossed out that it kind of looked like she might wind up dating one of them in the end, but I believed a girl like her in a place like that would. It did a good job of portraying date rape, slut shaming and rape culture even though those words didn't exist yet.

Ironically most of the sensitive films feel less realistic. It's often sanitized, so as not to offend. There's also a need to empower the victims in films because as an audience we want a happy ending. There's usually a comeuppance because the audience needs it, even if there isn't always one in real life.

R79: Yes, that's it. It was incredibly, unrelentingly depressing. Tony's partial escape at the end hit a sour note for me because it was so unrealistic by today's economic standards. Kids in similar situations today are buffed, tatted, lasered piranhas trying to instagram their way out - openly targeting old guys, z-list celebs in the process. It's chilling to watch.

I think Gorney was terrific. Tony, because of his youth and inexperience, sees something in her that we know isn't there. He sees her as sophisticated, worldly, and successful. We know better. She's insecure, plain, and very much fears what her future brings.

In the end, they're both laid bare to each other, and it's very effective, bitter-sweet, and sad.

R80: Ok, but those types are the parents of the Jersey Shore gen and they are markedly less attractive.

#ItsNoticeable

That's because no one in the 70s had those sorts of physiques or fake tans or bleached teeth. I'm 28 and even I know that R84

R79/R82-- IIRC from my class, that was part of the thesis of the original magazine piece, that disco was a way for these kids to escape their otherwise sad and mundane lives, lives lived in the shadow (literally) of the glamour of Manhattan.

As you note, that piece was lost on a lot of people, who saw the whole disco scene as fresh and glamorous.

Our professor compared it to the punk scene in the UK, which she said also sprung up at around the same time as an alternative to depressing working class lives, but was much more confrontational.

Wow, people really don't like Italian American folks around here, do they?

It was FUCKING BIG. I spent an hour everyday trying to blow dry my jewfro into straight jelled back Travoltadoo. This was in FL with 100% humidity. The "look" lasted about 30 min. Ya had to have been there.

I thought Gorney, because she wasn't Hollywood beautiful, was more realistic in the role. I'm so tired of the concept of women in films having to be beautiful, surgically enhanced, botoxed mannequins, especially in a film about struggling urban working class youth. But then I like my films with a bit more integrity.

"Are ya prouda yerself, Annette? Is DIS whatcha wanted? GOOD! Now yer a cunt!"

Not surprisingly, I LOVED Saturday Night Fever. I saw it in a jam packed theater when I was 13. The bleak contrast of 70's New York and the colorful imagery of the disco scenes, stood out for me.

Karen Lyn Gorney was horrible. She looked old, unattractive and the bitch couldn't act, dance or speak her lines with ANY believability. Awful casting.

John Travolta at his best. A white guy who can fucking dance his ass off made the movie. His acting was OK in SNF, but not Oscar worthy. He gave the Oscar worthy performance in Urban Cowboy.

Those who are so anti-disco probably have NO rhythm and walking while talking presents problems in continuity. Sorry for you 2 left feeters. It must suck to not be able to let loose on the dance floor and relinquish that rigid stiffness for a while. The SNF soundtrack is a bestseller for a reason. It was criminally overlooked by the Academy. Debbie Boone? Really? Pulease! You should be dancing..yeah. For those that aren't rhythmically challenged rigors.

Time to take your medication, AIKC.

What the fuck does one's preference in music have to do with being a good dancer? Is everyone who loves disco a great dancer?

Pop a pill, STFU, and go to bed.

R87 I love Italian Americans. I'm German-Irish, and my uncle is Italian. He and my cousins are some of the nicest people I know. And, their food- fuggetaboutit.

R69 that is a lovely, wistful story. Keep it close to your heart, and remember it always.

You guys need to relax on your sweeping "Best Song" generalizations. Yes, The Bee Gees were robbed, probably for the same reason Spielberg and Cruise were snubbed for a long time- they were too commercially successful. But only a year later, Paul Jabara, a queer sissy kid from Brooklyn, took home the statuette for "Last Dance." Disco was finally being artistically rewarded.

And, BTW, Evergreen won in '77 for the '76 releases, not in '78. YLUML won in '78 for the '77 releases.

That's my opinion R92. FYI, It's nighttime. I've already popped my pink lady and accompanied her with a joint. I'm very coherent and my opinion, whether YOU agree with it or not, is just as relevant as your boring drivel.

Did I trigger your ass because you can't dance? The movie was built around disco and the art of the dance in one form or another. Baby, don't hate. I could teach you some moves..the horizontal mambo. The "STFU yourself because my dick is choking you boogie." Call me. I gotta stiff one for ya' you big rigored stuff you.

R37, "SNF" is not forgotten! Dimwit.

R97, this thread has only gotten a pathetic 97 replies. Compare SNL to Grease, which came out within months of each other, and there's one that is a perennial and another that doesn't even play late night on Cinemax. Dipshit!

We were watching Close Encounters when SNF played as a preview...

Everybody cheered and I was in the 7th grade

The film attracted huge crowds to my neighborhood. I lived - and still live - a few blocks from the 2001 Odyssey Club where it was filmed. The entire area is 1000% Chinese now, and there is a non-descript building where the club - which honestly was always a dump - subsequently became a flea market site with gay dance nights.

There is a new blu-ray coming out with a "Director's Cut" next month.

R100 Years after SNF, the place turned into a gay club called Spectrum, or Prism, something like that.

It looked exactly the same as in SNF, down to the lighted plastic dancefloor.

It was a gay club for quite a few yrs, IIRC. Then I think it closed because the bldg got sold.

YES! Spectrum - I went only once and ran into a fellow classmate from my Catholic Grammar School, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, working as a waiter in tight shorts, lol.

Lol my father went OLPH in the '40's and he called it Our Lady of Perpetual Misery. (Evil nuns)

I seriously don't get "Anonymous In Kansas City." I mean, if you're living in Kansas Fucking City, doesn't that automatically make you "anonymous?"

You're too stupid to get serious about anything huh R104? That's okay honey. Let Mama rub some Robitussin on that dead brain of yours.

I like AIKC's observations, stories, attitude....until he starts battling with every hateful troll. Then it's all so wearying.

But honey bear R106, It's what I do baby. I can't help myself. THEY make it personal, and I like getting the last word. Flaming back is only what I've been doing since my very first day on DL. Keyword in that statement is ....flaming BACK.

Battling big mouths and trolls relieves my pent-up whatevers and allows me to vent, within reason.

R102 Our Lady of Perpetual Help needs to become a new DL meme.

We can post it whenever someone here is being a stubborn, blathering idiot.

"According to Karen Lynn, studio executives told her that her performance was so edgy and ahead of its time, that they didn't know what to follow it up with."

What bullshit. If she actually said that then she was totally delusional or just a big fat liar. Probably the latter. Drug addicts tend to lie a lot.

Women ALWAYS get the last word. Don't they, AIKS?

Part of the 1977 televised special premiere party. An eclectic mix of A-Z list stars.

It's AIKC R111. And, no they don't. Not with me around...I don't do chick drama anyway so it's a non-issue for me.

How Deep is Your Love - is on my forever playlist.

R111 Gorney seems wasted in that interview with Dick Van Patten.

I wonder if actresses like Beverly D'Angelo were considered? Cathy Moriarty might have worked (too young if one goes by her official age). Debbie Harry, perhaps. Not sure if any of them could dance, but that's secondary.

"Gorney seems wasted in that interview with Dick Van Patten."

She was always wasted in interviews and on talk shows. She was a druggie, which is probably one reason why he career tanked. I have no idea how she got the role in SNF. She was not much to look at and had little talent, so how did she get that role? Did she fuck some studio executive? I have a hard time believing that she'd get a role that way. She was nothing to look at; it's kind of hard to believe that any powerful studio executive would want to fuck her.

She was on All My Children for many years and was quite popular in the soap community.

Gorney was unspeakably bad. All the girls Vinnie rejected were prettier than her.

R33, no it didn't. Hip-hop killed pop music.

Rock is its own thing. It's for the truly tough.

OP, what kind of music were you and your friends into in 1977?

[quote]Compare SNL to Grease, which came out within months of each other, and there's one that is a perennial and another that doesn't even play late night on Cinemax.

Grease is dumb cheese but it's a lot more fun than SNF, which people discover is surprisingly downbeat when they see it after only knowing the music. It has the appeal of ONJ as a more equal partner to Travolta (worse actor but better singer). And the musical theatre version (an original musical, not a movie knockoff like the SNF musical) is performed all the time, which then keeps the movie in people's minds. It was a bigger hit back in the day too (though both movies were very successful).

R93, you and your family members sound very thickly hung. Am I right?

I disagree with those saying that a movie like this couldn't get made today because it would offend people. Offensive movies get made all the time. If not in Hollywood, then as independents. It might actually be the case that movies are getting more offensive as time has gone on.

Yes, people are awfully touchy these days, very sensitive, fucking SJWs, but they're in the minority, and I don't think movies kowtow to them as much as one might think.

R111 back in the good old days of YouTube they had that entire special up. Most of the major ABC TV stars showed up. Almost all of them looked beyond coked up. Fun time capsule.

Barry Miller seems like someone who would have the makings of a DL favorite. Between this and Fame - even Peggy Sue Got Married.

Travolta is someone who has been "great" only a couple times in his career (he's wildly inconsistent) but this was one of them. Love the "Al Pacino" scene.

I think movies can be offensive today but in a different way. Gross out humor is more accepted than ever, and it's now cool to say the word "vagina" 50 times in a row, but the casual racism and sexism (espcially the former) that accurately reflected both this era and this class would not fly today. And if someone were like that today, it would be solely to make a point.

Notice how even in period films made today - in most of them the characters don't even smoke. Another case of sacrificing accuracy for the sake of sensitivity.

Do you even know what it's like to be America's sweetheart and then grow-up to be a 'Donna Pescow' type?

If they remade this movie now, Tony and Bobby C. would have a gay story-line, and then we could all really find out "how deep is their love."

Paul Pape was the one I couldn't take my eyes from. Brooklyn straight boy who was so into Tony...in a better world this could've been followed up on a little more.. intimately.

The movie was pretty fucking grim. But, captured the whole disco/NY vibe nicely.

I always thought Karen Lynn Gorney played Stephanie just right--Tony looked up to her and thought she was more than what she was and she reveled in that because she knew she wasn't any better or more more sophisticated than he was--that guy she was living with looked down on her and so did her colleagues on her job in Manhattan--I'm in the minority but I thought Travolta and Gorney had plenty of chemistry together--I loved those scenes where they were just talking about life together and trying to understand each other--they did understand each other. Anyway, I love this movie, saw it four times at the old Regency theater in SF back in '77. Travolta was really great in it, real, raw and sensitive.

R127 YES! This is basically what I said earlier. She could put on airs with Tony, and he would buy it, but in reality she was quite insecure and fearful of what he life might become. And then at the very end, they're laid bare to each other, and they seem to maybe embark on a quite, mutually supportive friendship.

I love it. it works. The movie is grim, but I think the end is hopeful.

*a quiet, mutually supportive... that should have read.

R128, well said! That's exactly what I've always gotten out of the Tony-Stephanie relationship--I knew it back then when I saw it as a teenager and it's still perplexing to me why so few people recognize it and only see Gorney as this lousy actress who ruined the movie, I thought she was perfect. You're right. It WORKS.

Her role in the movie worked brilliantly as it was written. KLG's wooden delivery ruined the performance part of what should've been a great role for an accomplished actress with range and depth. Hollywood and the public agreed because she sank into obscurity.

R131 I don't know anything about her subsequent career or whatever. I'm saying what I see on the screen when I watch the movie now. Divorced of all the nonsense.

[quote]OP, what kind of music were you and your friends into in 1977?1977... my friends and I, to my parents' horror, were listening to The Ramones "Rocket to Russia" and The Clash,

Yikes! bad formatting; too quick to hit the POST button....

[quote]OP, what kind of music were you and your friends into in 1977?

in 1977... my friends and I, to my parents' horror, were listening to The Ramones "Rocket to Russia" and The Clash,

I think it's too bad that SNF is mistakenly remembered or considered by those who didn't see it as just a fluffy disco movie. In addition to what's already been mentioned about casual racism and sexism, and bleakness of working class life in the '70s, the way the 2 primary female characters are contrasted is interesting. Stephanie wants something different but seems unsure how to get it outside of sleeping with the older guy in the office and drinking tea w/ lemon like "all the women executives" in her office, while Annette just wants to be "a married sister," as Tony calls it, and takes the steps she does to try to get there.

Fran Drescher's first role, in a small one liner. I remember thinking she had something, even from that little part! I thought SNL was very good but does not hold up. The NY Italians were played very well. The look of the film and the music were great. Not a JT fan, but he was excellent here. Time for a remake? Done well, it could be a great hsitorical musical.

The movie is a classic, all the pieces fit together (including Karen Lynn Gorney) and that's why it endures today.

Fran Drescher's one line was to Tony: "are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?" She also pinched his butt. Her character was so bad a dancer that he abandons her and starts putting on a solo dance.

Denny Dillon also had a brief role in this film. She timidly approaches Tony and ask if she can mop his forehead. Then she manages to stammer "I just love way you deeeeance." He finds her amusing and tries to dance with her but all she does is put her arms around his waist and clutch him. She's sad and pathetic, but practically all the characters in this movie are sad and pathetic in their own way.

Most memorable (if pitiful) character was Donna Pesco. She did a great job. I thought she was so fucking cute back then. She also starred in a short-lived sitcom, I forget the name.

Donna Pescow's TV series, which ran for two seasons from 1979 to 1980, was called "Angie," co-starring Doris Roberts.

Trivia note: Karen Lynn Gorney was the daughter of songwriter Jay Gorney (born Abraham Jacob Gornetzky). His best-known song is the Depression-era anthem, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

A few clips from the movie here.

Fran Drescher has a couple of lines while she's dancing with Tony (starts at 1:25).

Also, Denny Dillon wiping Tony's forehead (at 0:25).

I couldn't stand Gorney in this but r127 and some others here have a point: I think our reaction to her character and performance may have been intentional on the director's part. It's a downer of a movie and we are not meant to "feel good" about her and JT getting together.

Too bad you hated disco, OP. I was 14 when SNF came out and still haven't seen it, but I loved disco! It was so much freaking fun to dance to. I still listen to it on occasion -- it's so camp and silly.

Saturday Night Fever and Looking for Mr. Goodbar, two of my favourite films and two of my favourite soundtracks from the '70s. Both films are disco downers, even though the music is euphoric and joyous.

I disagree about Gorney and Travolta having no chemistry. I think they have terrific chemistry.

But I definitely agree about Donna Pescow. Shocking that she was not nominated. Her performance pretty much defines Supporting Actress. And she's a scene-stealer. When she looks at the stripper, then looks down at her boobs and looks up with a satisfied smile, it's one of the best moments in the movie. Pescow is also a terrific dancer in this movie.

The rape is devastating, but I agree it's realistically handled. It's disturbing, and, for me, what makes it so disturbing is that it's by these two men we've just spent two hours with. And Tony just sits there and then slut shames her afterwards (and this is all after Tony almost rapes Stephanie in the car, accusing her of being a tease).

R98, My cable company must not be yours. I see "SNF" on the guide much, much more often than I do "Grease."

I always thought that the kiss between the two leads as they danced to More than a Woman was one of the all time great movie scenes. It's amazing to see just how much potential John Travolta had in his youth.

SATURDAY NIGHT GRINDR should be it's reboot.

I do think the moment when Tony grinned at the old lady in the paint store is when Travolta became a movie star.

The movie was slightly before my time, but I lived a few blocks away from the dance studio so it's nostalgic even still. Maybe that's why I didn't find it that depressing. It's not like he was escaping from a drug infested, crime riddled neighborhood. His family was a little crazy, but also nothing that bad. He's like most people trying to escape a fishbowl life, but if he didn't, I think he would still be fine. Manhattan is a train ride away so he wasn't stuck in some podunk town with only a paint store for employment. The irony is what has happened to Brooklyn since that time. The parents tried their hardest to get out and their kids are desperately trying to get back in.

As far as Karen Lynn Gorney, she was horrible. I didn't want them together at the end. She was a bitch, looked much older and was unattractive. She also couldn't dance to save her life. I don't understand why she was cast since, besides all the aforementioned, she said she had back surgery right before filming and was terrified about keeping up with Travolta who was younger and in peak physical condition.

I don't know what they were thinking casting 34 year-old Karen Lynn Gorney.

So cheesy.