Saturday Night Fever [VHS]

Saturday Night Fever is an interesting film. I think it's reputation undermines the quality of the film. People remember the poster of John Travolta in his now cliché dance pose, the hit Bee Gees single Stayin' Alive and the fantastic soundtrack that it came from. But how many people who know these things have actually seen the film? How many are mature enough to even understand it?When I was growing up, I always heard about this movie from the same people that loved the musical Grease. A classic in its own right. But the movie they spoke about and the one I eventually saw were quite a contrast. These folks saw a reasonably family friendly movie about dancing and disco music. What I saw was a movie about Tony Manero coming out of his shell, growing up, how shallow life can be and human insecurity. As it turns out, many people I know have never seen the full movie. But instead grew up watching a family friendly edit that was released to milk the success of Grease. Typical.Saturday Night Fever is a fantastic movie. It was originally released in 1977 and is well known as one of John Travolta's early successes. He plays the character Tony Manero (Travolta), an insecure young man hiding behind his good looks and reputation with his friends. He works hard during the week to have enough money for fancy outfits and to spend weekends at his favourite dance club. After meeting Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney), Tony starts to question his life and if there is more for him out there. The film was directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood.The movie is well made. It shows a great contrast between the gritty surreal world of Tony's daily life and the super bright energetic night life. Everyone remembers when they were eighteen years old and felt like they were invincible. Those were great times. But life quickly catches up to us all and that is what this movie is about. Saturday Night Fever captures that vibe wonderfully. It does a great job of slowly taking it away piece by piece as real life catches up to the lead character. The pacing is right on. It doesn't feel slow, not for me at least. I was quite invested in the characters. It's was also helped along by the previously mentioned soundtrack. The disco rhythms from the Bee Gees, Kool & The Gang, The Trammps etc really took it up a notch.The quality of the bluray itself was quite good. I thought the image was quite sharp. You could see many details in the characters outfits, the make up was well done and the disco scenes looked superb and colourful. The surround mix was also really well done. The scenes that didn't have music were very atmospheric and the one that did, they were incredible. I would love to hear this soundtrack properly in surround.I could waffle on about this movie for a while but I'll stop here. I strongly recommend this movie but I will say, this is NOT for the faint of heart. There's a lot of things in this movie that is now considered highly offensive and would be removed from every platform if the wrong people see it. It isn't a family friendly movie. It is very dark, has a lot of mature themes, strong language, politically incorrect jokes and more. This is an adult film for mature people. If you want to watch something like Grease, you better look else where because this is definitely not for you.

A really good movie you can't believe how we used to behave back then ,Travolta is excellent in the lead,4k bluray could have done with a dolby atmos remix and some scenes look soft but this is an old movie recommended.

This is my first ever review for Amazon so I apologize if I get a little carried away. This film made me want to start reviewing the many films I purchase from Amazon :)I just have to start with the fact that this film had a profound effect on me. I was excited and sucked into this wonderful film from the get go. Contrary to what I have read about this film, I have zero problem with the music used. None what so ever, and I'm a 21 year old male who's into just about any music except pop/hip-hop/dub-step. I love most of the music from 70's, disco and rock are the best. There's so many classics used in this film it's almost to good to be true.The plot is, as mentioned, a wonderful coming of age story. Like a lot of character study films of the '70s this is amongst the best.I can identify with the main character, Tony Manero (expertly portrayed by a young John Travolta in his prime). He is close to turning 20, has a pretty basic yet steady job going at the paint shop, has a bunch of immature know it all friends and a love interest that's out of his league. Or is it? The one factor in Tony's life that I think a lot of people, myself included can relate to is his family. Especially his father. The scene were Tony is in a good mood after he gets a raise and tells his dad about it is so realistic it's kind of eerie as my dad would react the exact same way. The fact that Tony feels his life needs a new direction and his dancing is what takes him to a whole different level of freedom/escapism is something we can all relate to, in our own personalized way.That's what I love about this film, it's fun, exciting, inspiring, emotional, engaging, realistic, romantic, shocking, disturbing and most of all deep. What I mean by deep is the fact that it's not a simple happy dancing sort of film, although it can be viewed this way, which is fine as it's still brilliantly entertaining. The events that unfold throughout the film reaches a very human level that provokes thoughts and feelings that, depending on the viewer, can leave you with a very positive or dark experience or both, as it did for me. Of course people also like to watch films for escapism and see films as entertaining and nothing more, this film has both of those elements that make or break a film. What you get from the film may be very different from what I got, which is what makes films so personal and phenomenal.I was inspired by this film no end. The disco scenes are like a time capsule of the 70's nightlife I wish I was around to see. Although admittedly there are a few cheesy scenes (the strutting to stayin' alive though I loved that part,the pretty bad dance extras and the crowd clearing the dance floor for Tony to do his thing).There's so many individual scenes that I haven't mentioned that are just wonderful. The first time Tony and Stephanie converse over a tea and cheese burger is genius. I can safely say that the dialogue and acting in that scene was sensational. In fact the dialogue (although a little heavy on the foul language) and the acting is very well executed. Believable is the best way to describe it.Buy it for a fantastic experience that will inspire and excite you. Or just for an excuse to listen to the BeeGees!I think I'll end it here. You will not regret buying this timeless classic. Better than anything released today and at an all too generous price!

Good price.

Weak story line that petered out to a limp ending

Beautiful…

Tony's predicament is not outdated.This film could have been made nowadays.Just brilliant

Great film