Tony Manero (John Travolta) is a 19 year old New Yorker living with his parents (Val Bisoglio and Julie Bovasso), working as a paint store clerk and hanging out with several low-life toughs. By night Tony's an accomplished disco dancer, using his skills to bed women and bolster his self-confidence. Tony's life changes when he meets Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gormley), a tough-minded professional who resists his advances. Tony enlists Stephanie to partner with him, struggling with his mixture of affection towards her and alienation from his friends and family.
Few films so defined a decade as Saturday Night Fever. Based on a largely fictionalized New York Magazine article by Nik Cohn, Fever popularized the gaudy fashions, underlit nightclubs and dancing previously associated with British Mod culture or gay nightclubs. The dance sequences remain impressive, with John Travolta's effortless performance backed by the Bee Gees' excellent soundtrack. Even those immune to disco's kitsch charm will enjoy Travolta strutting his stuff.
Beneath the gaudy glitz lies an incisive character study. Norman Wexler's script brutally dissects the male chauvinist '70s, where girls are nothing more than a quickie in the back of a car. This attitude's brutally exemplified with Annette (Donna Pescow), Tony's admirer whose hanging on reaps tragic consequences. Tony's friend Bobby C (Barry Miller) impregnates his Catholic girlfriend, leaving him in a dilemma. Even Stephanie is shown having to sleep with a coworker to get ahead. Tony's crew are classless, alienated thugs; when not dancing or screwing they're picking fights with Puerto Rican street gangs or performing reckless stunts on the Verrazano Narrows bridge. It's hard to generate much sympathy for these vulgar lowlifes.
Fortunately, Tony is plenty sympathetic. He's as disaffected as the hero of a British kitchen sink drama, with a lousy job, cranky parents and a priest brother (Martin Shakar) with doubts about his faith. Elements of his characterization recall Rocky, the inarticulate Italian-American who finds recreational skill, but Tony's much more likeable. Stephanie's guidance brings out his hidden depths: he impresses Stephanie with knowledge about the bridge, showing an ambitious young man with potential for growth. He loses pleasure in dancing after winning a "rigged" contest against extremely talented Puerto Ricans and stops objectifying women after making a crude pass at Stephanie. Jettisoning his childish attributes, Tony makes a connection with Stephanie that's genuinely moving.
John Travolta has endured an erratic career, mixing hits like Grease and Pulp Fiction with megaton bombs (Battlefield Earth anyone?). '70s audiences would have known him from TV's Welcome Back, Kotter but this entirely different levels. Travolta transcends his smiling charmer persona, making Tony likeable but coarse, confused and frustrated. It's a layered turn from an actor who, to be kind, is rarely subtle.
Karen Lynn Gormely does a nice job as Stephanie, making her a likeable "modern woman" who has to sacrifice to get ahead. Yet it's Donna Pescow's turn as the pathetic Annette who steals the show. Martin Shakar gets some meaty scenes as Frank's conflicted brother. Of Tony's pals, Barry Miller's tragic Bobby C makes the strongest impression.
Saturday Night Fever is a genuinely solid drama. Outward appearances aside, it's unfair to label this as a glitzy relic of the disco era, no different from Xanadu or Can't Stop the Music. There's a reason it's still watched 36 years later.
Good movie and bad dialogue.
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