Other than to play and dance to disco music... what was the point? There didn't seem to be any kind of plot. Just kind of an aimless movie. The only thing I got from the movie is that John Travolta's character matures a little bit by the end of it.
shareThe point of this movie? To make a boatload of money (which it did) and to make the biggest soundtrack album of all time (which it did).
~~Bayowolf
There's a difference between being frank... and being dick.
character study
Character studies are subtle. This one is about how a young man starts to think about his life and his environment and his future. And class destiny. And the imprisonment of his friends. And the imprisonment on his family. And does all this mean he is destined to it all.
Basically its about transcending an environment. Not an easy thing to do. I have often wondered if people who find sociology interesting would likely be the ones who would enjoy a story like this. Its similar to doing a case study on someone brought up in the KKK. Are they likely to be racists forever? What are the odds that they can escape that environment? Would they ever think to want to?
That is the basis to the story here.
It's about a guy who is torn between his old life in Brooklyn and the new, more sophisticated life he wants in Manhattan. All he has going for him in Brooklyn is being popular at the Disco (and based off what happened at the dance contest it's possible he wasn't really that good all along, people just told him he was good because he was popular) and a job at a hardware store. The scene where he gets his job back is very significant, he looks at Harold and Mike and he sees what he his going to be like in 20 years if he stays there and he doesn't like what he sees. The bridge is also very symbolic, it represents Tony's desire to cross over into a new more sophisticated life. Bobby on the other hand has to cross the bridge as well because he got Pauline pregnant but he didn't have the mental strength or the self esteem to make it so he was teetering along the symbolic bridge the entire film (and the literal bridge at the end) and because he couldn't handle it he fell in and didn't make it. This encourages Tony to make changes in his life and actually cross the bridge (at least that's my interpretation).
It's also about the way that people treat each other, ie Tony's family is mean to him so Tony is mean to his friends, that guy at Stephanie's work uses her so she uses Tony, Annette just wants to have babies with Tony so Tony is mean to her, everyone is mean to Bobby, etc.
Sounds like you need to watch other movies, it seems SNF went right over your head. It's definitely about a lot more than just Disco Dancing.
"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine
Mytravelbug1 summed it very well, but you have to understand what it was like growing up in the mid 70's. We were in a depression. Crime was through the roof in New York City. It was a rough time and many didn't see that things were going to change. So young people fell into the depression themselves and drugs, drinking, music, etc. were there escape.
Karen Lynn Gorney's character is trying to break out and try for a better life and Travolta's character Tony is aware of the rut he is in (as well as his friend's and family). He is looking for a way out to better himself and has hope.
Saturday Night Fever is the greatest coming of age film I have ever seen. I was born and raised in NYC. While I am much younger than the main characters I remember the gritty NYC. While I grew up in one of the "good" neighborhoods in NYC, I had numerous friends from Bay Ridge and this film captured the neighborhoods psyche perfectly.
Tony had accepted his life. He was uneducated, he lived at home, worked in a paint store, his friends were all low class and his one out was disco dancing on weekends at the 2001 Odyssey were he was practically worshiped. He was not happy but had pretty much accepted this fate.
Then along came Stephanie who woke him up. Unlike most girls at the club who threw themselves at Tony, she wanted nothing to do with him. He was not used to be rejected. She made him take a closer look in the mirror and Tony realized he did not like what he saw.
While there were many incidents along the way that made Tony realize he needed to get out the final nail was when he comes back the paint store and asks for his job back. The owner says he can come back, and tells him how long each employee has been working for him (in most cases it was more than 20 years). Tony realized that he did not want to waste his life working in a paint store and hanging out with his friends who are going nowhere and get him into trouble.
At the end when he is talking to Stephanie you realize he is going to make the next needed steps to improve his life.
Scary thing is, Bay Ridge has not changed much. It is still has people who have excepted their not so great life and those who want to get out like Stephanie.
Bay Ridge isn't the only place where some have "excepted" (how's that spelling class going?) a mediocre lot and others strive for a better life. I daresay that describes people in most locations.
shareI am not going to get into a grammar discussion today. :)
Bay Ridge is far from the only place where people like Tony and his friends accept their situation while others strive to get out. However, Bay Ridge is where the film takes place and almost 40 years later their neighborhood has not changed much. What make Bay Ridge interesting is the island of Manhattan is close by and looms over the neighborhood. That cannot be said for most small towns in America.
Spelling and grammar are not the same thing. But we move on...
...the island of Manhattan is close by and looms over [Bay Ridge]. That cannot be said for most small towns in America.
Manhattan is practically a taunt to Bag Ridge. The see it, know it is filled with unlimited wealth and opportunities. Yet it remains out of reach for most people in Bay Ridge.
There is nothing like Manhattan in their plain eyesight inspiring and taunting people in the small towns in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania.
My God, you must be high. And not from New York. Where is Manhattan in "plain eyesight" of Bay Ridge except on the Verrazano, from which it's quite a distance?
How is Manhattan a "taunt" to Bay Ridge, Jackson Heights, Cedarhurst, Hoboken -- any town in the Tri-State area? Do you really not grasp that many are happy living in those neighborhoods, vs. the impersonal intensity of Manhattan? And you ignore the fact that many who live in those towns WORK in Manhattan.
You sound like a Wyoming native who's watched too many Joan Blondell movies.
You mad bro? Trying to have a discussion here and you seem to be taking a lot of unnecessary cheap shots.
You can see Manhattan from Shore Road in Bay Ridge and from the Belt Parkway. Sure many are content but they know they are second fiddle. While neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope have a vast majority of people who work in Manhattan, that is not the case with Bay Ridge. About 1/3 of my high school class lived in Bay Ridge and not one of their parents worked in Manhattan.
How is it a taunt to Bay Ridge, it is less than 10 miles away it is accessible via bus and subway, it offers unlimited upside, yet many in Bay Ridge never take the leap to search for opportunity and wealth Manhattan offers.
I'd love to have a discussion about my hometown. But your take on BR & Manhattan and projections onto the former's inhabitants’ thoughts are beyond the bounds of logic and beg credibility. How do you know how BR residents who like their lives there "know they are second fiddle"? How do you know how they all feel? Are you their therapist?
Very few people know where both parents of one-third of their high school classmates worked. I doubt you did either.
Your idealization of Manhattan shows you to be ignorant of it. As I said, you've got a movie fan's notion of it as a place where, as Stephanie says, "Even the lunches are beautiful." I’ve lived in and loved Manhattan over 40 years, but it doesn't offer "unlimited upside". No place does.
Your inability to relate to people who are happy with their lot, who choose to make their way in a familiar neighborhood and not in a teeming cosmopolitan center, who have no need to pursue your notions of success, say more about you than they. Your assumptions and wrong-headed assertions say you’re not much of a thinker. Can it be you’re just a troll?
Still mad I see!
I attended a private school that was grades 5-12. My graduating class size was only about 90, we all knew each other pretty well. So yes, we did know what everyone's parents did. Those who lived in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights parent's worked in Brooklyn and a few had parents who had their doctor's office in Staten Island. Those of us who lived in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Park Slope all had parents who worked in Manhattan.
"No need to pursue your notion of success," hahaha! Really! Do you honestly believe that if you offered someone in Bay Ridge a loft in SoHo and a well paying job in Manhattan they would not take it? I think we both know the answer to that question.
If you were defending Brooklyn Heights as a place where there is no taunt or feeling of being second fiddle I would agree. Most people I know who live in the Heights could afford Manhattan but would rather live in a quiet neighborhood. However, Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights know they are second fiddle. They do not have an inferiority complex by any means, but they know the vast majority of people in Manhattan (well up to about 96th St. and excluding the housing projects) have better lives than them.
<yawn> Still the same delusional rant of someone who believes he sees all and reads minds: who believes everyone in BR thinks they're "second fiddle" and wants a SoHo loft and Manhattan job. That everyone in Manhattan - to 96th St (you're forgetting Morningside Heights) – makes great money has a better life. I thought you were a troll exercising some creative NYC fantasy, but you're not even that. You're just a garden-variety snob.
Your character issues and faulty reasoning notwithstanding, I’m curious - what school did you attend? I probably know it.
you forgot one other major factor adresher-1, his older brother. the conversation in the club w/ Bobby made Frank Jr realize he was living vicariously thru his parents and now for himself thus Tony taking this into account of his life.
remember Tony took Frank's 'present', his Cassock Rabat and pretend to hang himself. this movie took a hard shot at religion.
The only thing I got from the movie is that John Travolta's character matures a little bit by the end of it.