Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local disco while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his working class ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn. The story is based on "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", a mostly fictional 1976 New York article by music writer Nik Cohn.

A major critical and commercial success, Saturday Night Fever had a tremendous impact on the popular culture of the late 1970s. It helped popularize disco around the world and initiated a series of collaborations between film studios and record labels. It made Travolta, already well known from his role in the popular TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, a household name. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, at the time becoming the fourth-youngest nominee in the category. The film showcases aspects of the music, dancing, and subculture surrounding the disco era, including symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute couture styles of clothing, pre-AIDS sexual promiscuity and graceful choreography. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring songs by the Bee Gees, is one of the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide. Travolta reprised his role of Tony Manero in Staying Alive in 1983, which was panned by critics despite being successful at the box office.

In 2010, Saturday Night Fever was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the highest-grossing R-rated films released in the U.S. in the 1970s, with a total box office gross of $673,899,098 in 2024.

Storyline

Tony Manero is an Italian-American from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, living in his family's house and working in a hardware store. He escapes his day-to-day life by dancing at 2001 Odyssey, a local discotheque, where he receives the admiration he craves as king of the dance floor.

Tony and his friends Joey, Double J, Gus, and Bobby C spend their nights at the disco, trying to have sex with women in Bobby's car, and climbing on the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge. Neighborhood girl Annette is infatuated with Tony, much to his annoyance, and he agrees to be her partner in an upcoming dance contest. Annette's happiness is short-lived when Tony is mesmerized by a better dancer, Stephanie Mangano, who rejects Tony's advances but eventually agrees to be his new partner in the competition.

Tony is pleased to no longer be the black sheep of the family when his older brother Frank Jr, the pride of their parents and grandmother, quits the Catholic priesthood. Frank Jr admits that he only became a priest to make their parents happy, and later advises Bobby, who is under pressure to marry his pregnant girlfriend, that the Pope is unlikely to grant him dispensation for an abortion. Leaving to start a new life, Frank encourages Tony to do what makes him happy.

Gus is beaten up and hospitalized, telling his friends that his attackers were the Barracudas, a Puerto Rican gang. Annette grows more and more desperate for Tony's attention, as does Bobby, who tries to ask him for guidance. Tony helps Stephanie move to Manhattan, and comforts her after discovering her past relationship with an older married colleague. Tony and his friends take revenge on the Barracudas, crashing Bobby's car into their hangout and starting a brawl, but are angry to learn that Gus may have identified the wrong gang.

After much practice, Tony and Stephanie dance at the competition, sharing a kiss at the end of their performance. They win first prize, but Tony believes that a Puerto Rican couple performed better and the judges' decision was racially biased, and he gives the couple his trophy and award money. Outside in Bobby's car, Tony tries to force himself on Stephanie, who declares that she was only using him to win, before fighting him off and running away.

Tony's friends arrive with Annette, who, under the influence of drugs, agrees to have sex with everyone. Tony tries to lead her away but is subdued by Double J and Joey, and they all drive to the bridge. Joey rapes Annette in the back seat followed by Double J, while Tony and Bobby appear uncomfortable. They arrive to a point on the bridge and climb out. The others begin their usual cable-climbing antics on the bridge, an erratic Bobby behaves even more recklessly than his friends, and Tony tries to talk him down, but Bobby's strong sense of despair and Tony's broken promise to call him earlier all lead to a suicidal tirade, before Bobby falls to his death. After the police arrive, a disgusted and disillusioned Tony leaves Double J, Joey, and Annette behind, riding the graffiti-riddled subway into Manhattan. By morning, he appears at Stephanie's apartment and apologizes for his behavior, planning to relocate to Manhattan to start a new life. Stephanie forgives Tony, admitting that she danced with him because he gave her respect and moral support, and they salvage their relationship, agreeing to be friends.

Also See

Stayin' Alive

Sound Effects Used

NOTE: Some of these sound effects coincide with the remastered version first released on DVD in 2002. As of this date, it is the only audio mix that's on all currents prints of the movie, as the original audio mix has not yet been restored for any home media or streaming releases.