John Travolta month: Saturday Night Fever

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich

So this was not the big start of John Travolta's career. That would be the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But this did elevate Travolta to another level. For any of you going oh come on. This silly movie with a disco soundtrack? Come on, Brooks. Just wait. Have you ever actually seen this? This isn't about disco. Disco just happens to be the music of choice. This about the kind of people who are kings at the dance clubs and then losers the rest of the time. There is a lot of darkness and truth in this film. So if you've never seen it please. Do yourself a flavor and check it out. Just watch it and then come back to read this. 

This is a movie about the different types of people we become between our real lives and our weekend lives. Tony Manero is a regular working class guy in a Brooklyn neighborhood, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with his loving but at times overbearing family. He lives in the shadow of his priest brother. But at night …he is the king of the dance floor. The second that Bee Gees beat hits and the lights catch his collar just right, he becomes someone. Not just Tony from the paint store. Not just the guy whose dad slaps him upside the head for using too much hair product. But a star. A somebody. And that's what makes this movie stick.

Saturday Night Fever isn't a party flick. It's a coming-of-age story in bell bottoms with a sick pop beat. It's angry. It's sad. It's about trying to climb out of something small when you don't know what else exists. Tony's not perfect. In fact, he's kind of a jerk sometimes. But he's real. All of us are an asshole at sometimes. I've been downright nasty in my life. No one is a saint. But most of us have that limit. 

The dancing? Yeah, it's electric. Director John Badham shoots the fuck out of those dance numbers. But it’s not the point. The point is what happens between the dancing. The fights, the bad choices, the complicated friendships, and that feeling that maybe you were born for something more than shelving paint cans and living for the weekend.

This film doesn’t hand you inspiration with a bow on it. It grinds for it. You feel the ache in Tony’s steps. You see the longing in the mirror shots, the loneliness in the subway scenes. It's gritty. It’s sweaty. I personally find it beautiful in a weird way. 

So no, it’s not “just a disco movie.” It’s a story about growing up rough in polyester and platforms. And if you give it the time, it might just stick with you the way it stuck with me.