Wondering about Gene Siskel - Saturday Night Fever (1977) Discussion

[–] krdixon12 9 years ago

Ebert has said it's because Tony is what Gene wanted to be, King of the dance floor. I think reading any more into it than that is too much. Siskel only gave this film a 3.5 star rating when it came out. It might be his favorite film, but obviously not the best film he's seen.

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[–] sylvia67 9 years ago

ty for your answer

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[–] rrb 9 years ago

Never heard Siskel wanted to be king of the dance floor. He connected with the movie, esp. the Night Fever scene. He said it brought him back to a precious moment in his youth when he and his friends were all engaged in an activity, like a line dance, and he was loving feeling one with his group. He bought Travolta's white competition suit b/c the film so put him in touch with his youth.

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[–] MyDarkStar 8 years ago

the Night Fever scene. He said it brought him back to a precious moment in his youth when he

...had hair.

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[–] chas437 9 years ago

I've been wondering what people saw in this film for decades. Bleak film about bleak times, these characters aren't people I care about.

I'll take Punctuality

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[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

... but very depressing and bleak in spots ...

That's the reason for the catching of the Fever, to escape the mundane existence of a pretty boring, working class life.🐭

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[–] Redart27 9 years ago

I know I'm in the minority here but I found the Tony/Stephanie friendship uplifting. She took her typing skills and head over to Manhattan to seek a better life. She and Tony have coffee and "lemon with some tea", and she cuts down Tony's world and all the he values when she says:

You live with your parents, you hang with your buddies and on Saturday nights you burn it all off at 2001. You're a cliche. You're nowhere, goin' no place.'

After that, Tony starts to see the smallness of his world: the "perfect" brother looking less perfect, the dead end job, the superstituos Mom and disgruntled father, the stupid friends and their misguided racist-driven street fights, and finally the cronyism and racism going on at the 2001.

You can read Roger Ebert article about Gene Siskel and Saturday Night Fever here:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-saturday-night-fever-1977

---
toh devres tseb hsid a si msacras

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5978) 10 months ago

Thanks for that link!

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[–] GWattson 8 years ago

Siskel said SNF captured a time and a place more than any other film he had seen. He did give the film a 3.5, but that's out of 4 stars. Him and Ebert hated 5 start rating systems since a 3 star rating was a copout to them. Siskel did list it as his favorite film of all time when they did a personal top 10 show.

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[–] Synergetic11 8 years ago

Are you implying he was a homo or something for liking the most famous Disco movie of all time? I love this movie too and I can assure you I'm no homo. lol

It's an amazingly acted, choreographed, danced, edited and soundtracked, realistic film about the lives of tough and macho working-class Italian NYC guys in the mid 1970s. Disco originally coming from gay culture and Travolta being an alleged bi-sexual in real life is pretty irrelevant, since he's not playing a bisexual in the film, but a manly and tough street kid whose friends joke about "killing homos" when they see a couple of gay dudes walk by.

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[–] The_Ultimate_Hippo 8 years ago

Life isn't all sunshine in rainbows, sometimes it can be a downer. The movie was incredibly realistic and that's what made it so good.

"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

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[–] Synergetic11 8 years ago

Absolutely. It's a total "street" movie, from the lower-middle-class and poor neighborhoods, not the "suburbs," like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" or "Valley Girl" or so many other youth films. I especially like the scene where they mock the two homosexuals near the playground, even joking about "killing" them, because it is totally no compromise naturalistic realism. It shows one of the gay dudes very scared of getting his ass kicked, but the other guy, the more street-tough and experienced one, tells the scared guy "don't worry, it's alright," knowing from experience that this particular group of guys aren't all that violent and not likely to physically attack as long as they take their little bit of "ribbing" and "humiliation" like "real men," if they show toughness, which is the only thing they respect. They have a need to "act tough" and only become violent when this need is frustrated.

The screenwriter of SNF, Norman Wexler, did an amazing job and the actors and director brought it to life and made it into a work-of-art, criminally underrated only because of its massive popularity and the "Disco Curse." Oddly enough, he also wrote "Serpico," the Al Pacino movie, the poster to which hangs in Manero's bedroom, and was a Travis Bickle type manic depressive in real life who was arrested by the FBI for threatening to kill Richard Nixon.

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[–] KobiyashiMauru 8 years ago

This film was a national and cultural sensation when it was released in 1978. The soundtrack was all over top 40 radio and part of the disco discontent was that it was happy and uplifting beats after the we are all going to grow old and die someday ballads of the 60's. This film is about much of the slice of the 1970's as anything you will ever see. 

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded. Yogi Berra

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[–] roreyking 8 years ago

Hamlet's a downer too, Sylvia. Are you surprised critics appreciate that as well?

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