In the age of disco and funk, status belongs to those who could dance. John Travolta has cemented his place in cinema history as a top dog disco dancer with the late 70s hit Saturday Night Fever. Sure Grease put him and many others on the map not long after, but his performance in Saturday Night Fever makes a strong case as his real breakout. Travolta was known to have put himself through a strenuous process of running and dancing in preparation for the film, and it’s fair to say the work paid off when he finally showed up to work.
John Travolta has cemented his place in cinema history as a top dog disco dancer with the late 70s hit Saturday Night Fever.
Taking place in 1970s Brooklyn, Travolta plays Tony Manero, a macho Italian-American teenager who lives with his family and spends his days working at a paint store. When the night falls however, he makes his way over to the local disco club the 2001 Odyssey where he rules as the dance king. Normally, he dances with a girl named Annette, who is attracted and overly devoted to Tony, though he has no real interest in her. The script is flipped when Tony meets an ambitious twenty year old Stephanie Mangano, who holds no romantic feelings for him, but decides to be his dance partner for the upcoming competition at the disco. All the while, Tony begins to ponder the life he lives with his friends, whether it’s headed in a progressive direction or not, and constantly wondering what world lies outside the bridges that separates Brooklyn from the rest of the city.
Travolta comes in hot in his portrayal of Tony as he plays the part of a young man who is constantly overcompensating, and wanting things he can’t have, whilst never being content with what he already does have. His dancing in the movie has become iconic, especially amongst the elder crowd who were in their prime when the movie first debuted. The production quality is as can be expected from a movie in the 1970s, but this movie revolves mostly around character development and the dancing, so there likely wasn’t much to be done apart from rolling the camera and letting the actors work. John Badham directed the picture, and though the movie is misunderstood by some as many of today’s audiences have only seen the TV edited version of the story, Badham’s original cut tells a much grittier and realistic version of the film.
This may not be for audiences of today, but at the very least it should be seen by them. Saturday Night Fever is one of those movies that sets trends, and reignites forgotten culture. It’s also a classic, so in order to see how movies today come to being and to see how stars were made, Saturday Night Fever is a good jumping off point. It’s currently streaming on Netflix in select territories and available for online purchase, so don’t miss out, give it a look, and be a part of a dance culture that’s all but dead and has influenced many.
