| | | Where do you go when the record is over...
Features: DVD, Widescreen, French, Dolby, English, Subtitled, Spanish
John Travolta gives a sensual and intelligent performance as the troubled Tony Manero - Brooklyn paint store clerk by day and undisputed king of the dance floor by night. Every Saturday, Tony puts on his wide collared shirt, flared pants and platform shoes and heads out to the only place where he's seen as a god rather than just some young punk. But in the darkness, away from the strobe lights and glitter ball, is a tragic story of disillusionment, violence and heartbreak.
Without a doubt, Travolta's performance made him a Hollywood legend, but Saturday Night Fever is more than just a movie that defined the music and fashion of a generation. It's a powerful and provocative urban tragedy that carries as much significance today as it did in 1977.
"...the disco film of the decade..." Boxoffice Online
"A powerful sense of place pervades." Nick Hilditch, BBCi
Editor's Note
Director John Badham's hit film propelled John Travolta to stardom, made white polyester suits an instant fashion craze, and garnered praise for its portrayal of blue-collar life. Nineteen-year-old Brooklyn native Tony Manero (Travolta) lives for Saturday nights at the local disco, where he's king of the club, thanks to his stylish moves on the dance floor. But outside of the club, things don't look so rosy. At home, Tony fights constantly with his father and has to compete with his family's starry-eyed view of his older brother, a priest. Nor can he find satisfaction at his dead-end job at a paint store. However, things begin to change when he spies Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) in the disco and starts training with her for the club's dance competition. Stephanie dreams of the world beyond Brooklyn, and her plans to move to the big city just over the bridge soon change Tony's life forever. This portrait of young Brooklyn natives struggling to escape their sheltered lives for freedom and adventure in the big city of Manhattan defined a generation of disco dancers and 1970s youths rebelling against the more traditional expectations of their parents. Set to the popular dance music of the Bee Gees, this instant cinematic sensation revealed the fashions and aspirations of an underground culture to the world.
Plot Summary
The film that made John Travolta a household name is set in Brooklyn to the popular dance music of the Bee Gees. Tony Manero (Travolta) is a paint-store clerk who becomes the king of the discotheque when he puts on his polyester and gets down, with a little help from a social-climbing Manhattan secretary (Karen Lynn Gorney). This definitive portrait of a generation of disco dancers in the 1970s skyrocketed its young star to fame and further propelled the disco inferno infatutation.
| Features | Widescreen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English, French Dolby Digital Surround | | English Subtitles | | Commentary by Director John Badham | | 3 Deleted Scenes | | Highlight's From VH1's Behind The Music |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 3/22/2005 |
| Running Time: 118 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1977 | | Catalog ID: 011134 | | UPC: 00097360111347 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, Spanish | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1978) | | | John Travolta, Nominee, Best Actor | |
Golden Globe (1978) | | | John Travolta, Nominee, Best Actor | | | Barry Gibb, et al., Nominee, Best Original Score | | | Bee Gees, Nominee, Best Original Song |
| Memorable Quotes| "Would ya watch the hair! Ya know, I spend a long time on my hair and he hit it----he hit my hair."----Tony Manero (John Travolta) to his family | | "Maybe if you ain't so good, I ain't so bad."----Tony Manero to Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...Travolta is deft and vibrant and he never condescends to the character....The music moves with a real spring it is step, and the movie does too." 12/16/1977 p.C10USA Today
"...Among the definitive time-capsule pics of any era....It looks and sounds snappy..." 10/11/2002 p.7E Entertainment Weekly
"...Travolta melds brute machismo and hidden yearning; it's little surprise FEVER made him a superstar and earned him an Oscar nomination..." 10/18/2002 p.95 Premiere
"[G]iven a subtle sweetness and vulnerability by Travolta's layered performance." 04/01/2004 p.58 Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] still plays like an impossibly bleak slice of kitchen-sink realism..." 11/01/2007 p.152 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Travolta] pure, chest-out charisma. The camera loves him -- and he loves it right back." 11/01/2007 p.202 Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] mesmerizing portrait from Travolta ensures it stays evergreen." 12/01/2007 p.95 Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
The Travolta performance is a great cocky affirmation, and his performance is vulnerable and mostly lovable; playing a kid of 19, he looks touchingly young. The opening shots set the tone, focusing on his carefully shined shoes as he struts down the street. At home, he's still treated like a kid. When he gets a $4 raise at the hardware store, his father says, ``You know what $4 buys today? It don't even buy $3.'' But in his bedroom, with its posters of Al Pacino and Rocky, he strips to his bare chest, admires himself in the mirror, lovingly combs his hair, puts on his gold chains, and steps into his disco suit with a funny little undulation as he slides the zipper up. (``The peculiar construction of disco pants is a marvel of modern engineering,'' observes Scott T. Anderson, on a Web page devoted to the movie. ``So loose at the ankles, yet so tight in the groin.'') At the dinner table, his dad slaps him, and he's wounded: ``Would you just watch the hair? I work a long time on my hair, and you hit it!'' - Roger Ebert
The Onion 6 of 10
Pretty, dimwitted Travolta and Debra Winger meet at real-life roadhouse Gilley's, marry after a whirlwind courtship, and settle down in their mobile home. Winger's desire to mount the mechanical bull at Gilley's-coupled with her attraction to rodeo-riding ex-con Scott Glenn-drives cartoonishly macho Travolta into fits of jealousy, and the two soon separate. The remainder of the film juxtaposes Winger's attempts to win back Travolta with Travolta's own romance with a rich city girl (Madolyn Smith), as well as his obsession with mastering the mechanical bull. The utter seriousness with which the slight premise and simplistic characters are treated often produces some laughable moments, and the slick, bland, country-lite soundtrack, which went on to plague country and pop radio for years, bears the ravages of time. Unapologetically trashy, Urban Cowboy is a virtual pageant of high redneck style-there are lots of bootleg trousers, halter tops, shag haircuts, and feather-brimmed Stetsons-and Winger is fun as the unapologetically trashy gal who just wants to bag herself a real cowboy. - Maria Shneider
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