Starring John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gornley, Donna Pescow, and Barry Miller
Directed by John Badham
Music and Lyrics by various
Let's dance into the holidays this week with two of the most popular movies made during the disco era. Disco got its start in gay black bars in the early 70's. By 1976, it had spread enough to other cultures in New York for an article to be written on it. The article was later discovered to be mostly fictional, but it was still interesting enough to inspire the characters in this film. Does it still own the dance floor today, or should it be booted out of the club? Let's start on the streets of Brooklyn with cocky resident Tony Manero (Travolta) and find out...
The Story: By day, Tony works in a tiny paint store and lives with his parents, who wish he'd do something with his life like his priest brother Frank (Val Bisoglio). It's at night where he truly shines. Every Saturday night, he and his friends Bobby (Miller), Joey (Joseph Cali), Double J (Paul Pape), and Gus (Bruce Ornstein) go to the 2001 Odyssey disco club and dance the night away. Annette (Pescow) is a friend of the guys who has a crush on Tony. She's thrilled when he asks her to join a dance contest at the club, but he ends up dumping her in favor of secretary and dance instructor Stephanie Mangaro (Gormley), who is frankly the better dancer.
Tony begins to question his life choices when his brother leaves the priesthood and encourages him to pursue dancing. His parents are horrified, but he's tired of living up to their expectations. He's also getting more than a little tired of his friends' immature antics and inability to take control of their lives. After a fight with a Puerto Rican gang leaves them all battered for no reason and Stephanie turns away his attempt to make out, Tony wonders if it's time he finally left Brooklyn to pursue the one thing he truly loves - dancing.
The Song and Dance: Wow. I was not expecting Fever to get this intense or this dark. Travolta earns his stardom, not only with his amazing moves on the dance floor, but with his tough performances as the cocky young man for whom dance is an escape and a way to show he has what it takes to be someone. Pescow and Miller are also excellent as the girl who loves Tony way more than he ever could and his buddy who is the only one with a car and who ends up having the most problems. Everything is filmed as realistically as possible for 1977, from location shooting in the actual Brooklyn and Manhattan to using a real Brooklyn nightclub for the disco, and it really goes a long way to bringing Tony's down-and-dirty world of white polyester suits and black boots with chunky heels to life.
Favorite Number: We begin with one of the most famous openings in musical film history. Tony struts down the street, eating two slices of pizza and comparing his boots to the fancy ones in a window as "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees plays in the background. A second montage to their "Night Fever" gives us Tony doing his hair and preparing for his night out.
Tony gets his first big dance routine as he and Annette burn up the floor in the Trammps' "Disco Inferno." Stephanie catches Tony's eye when she and a random partner take to the floor with the instrumental David Shire number "Salsation." Tony joins two girls on the floor for an encore of "Night Fever"; one of the girls he kisses thinks he's Al Pacino. This turns into the closest thing the movie gets to a big chorus number as everyone else dances along in line.
Tony's brief instrumental rehearsal number with Annette doesn't go so well, which is why he ends up begging Stephanie to join him. They rehearse to Tavares' version of "More Than a Woman," and end up falling in love to it. "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Ellerman becomes a second chorus number as we see everyone enjoying their time at the bar, including a topless dancer. That's none other than a young Fran Drescher getting Tony on the floor to a reprise of "Disco Inferno," before he goes into his iconic moves for "You Should Be Dancing" on that light-up floor.
Tony gets very jealous when he sees scuzzy Pete (Bert Michaels) dancing with Stephanie to "If I Can't Have You." Things go better at the dance contest. The first couple really get down in their billowing pants to "Open Sesame." Tony and Stephanie do their beautiful, graceful twirls to the Bee Gees' version of "More Than a Woman..." but Tony's right that the Puerto Rican couple's hot dance moves to "K-Jee" by MFSB are probably better.
Trivia: A stage version opened first in London in 1998, then at the Minskoff Theater on Broadway in 1999. Both shows were hits, with each running two years. The stage version seems to have made a slightly bigger impression in London. It toured the UK extensively and saw an equally popular revival in 2004. The US version turns up occasionally in regional theaters looking for darker material.
A PG-rated version with most of the darker elements - including strong language - eliminated was released to theaters in 1979 for teenagers who made up a large portion of the film's fan base. It was put out on video and seen on cable in the 1980's, but has not yet made it to DVD or streaming.
The 2001 Odyssey Club was a real disco in Brooklyn that has since been demolished. Other locations used include the Verrazzo-Narrows Bridge, John J. Carty Park, a real paint store that operated in Bay Ridge, an actual Bay Ridge apartment home for the Manero's home, and a dance studio in Brockhurst.
What I Don't Like: This movie is so much of its time, that a lot of it - especially the treatment of the women in Tony's life - hasn't dated well. There's gang violence, group rape, attempted rape, and a visible suicide. Not only that, but Annette, at least, supposedly claims she wants the rape...but even the movie makes it clear that she's not as eager as the boys want to think. Not to mention, as per the characters and down-and-dirty New York milieu, almost everyone uses language that would make a sailor blush. No wonder they wanted to make a PG version for kids. For the original version and director's cut, I would heed that R rating. This is one disco that's for adults only. Start the kids off on the soundtrack before they come anywhere near here.
The Big Finale: This one might be a little too dark for me to watch often, but I still recommend it for adult fans of Travolta, disco, or those who want to know what the disco era was really all about.
Home Media: The R-rated version is easily found just about anywhere, including for free with a subscription at Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime.
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