I was there. I was a teenager. This movie was a big deal.
All the songs on it were and the groups that wrote those
songs were pushed in the media for years, and honestly it
was mostly really bad.
John Travolta was such a weirdo. All a product of industrial
Hollywood and industrial media, everything about money and
all the movie plots were mostly braindead and pandered to
the young.
I don't even care about the dancing and the music, when you strip all of that away there is a really good story underneath.
shareAgreed. I hated the music at the time, I was into rock and prog, and a friend used to play the soundtrack incessantly in the car.
And I was practically dragged to see it by this friend. And I was quite surprised at how adult the themes were...it was far from just dancing and music.
The problem, at least here in the UK was that Travolta was a teenage heartthrob...and the movie was an X certificate, so no one under 18 could see it. And that means you could not watch it at all if under 18, even with an adult.
The solution was to release an 'abridged' version, where the language, sex and violence was trimmed and it was given a PG certificate.
I would be curious to know if this latter version is still available. Not that I would personally be interested.
The PG version is available on VHS (could probably find it on amazon or eBay) but it greatly reduces the emotional impact of the film and I feel anyone who prefers it is just interested in the music and the dancing.
One way in which the PG version reduces the impact is it bleeps out “shit” when tony tells his mother “you’ve got nothing but 3 shit children now”, the fact that he considers himself a”shit child” shows how he sees himself within the family, then there’s the Donna Pescow backseat scene which is completely removed from the PG version yet she is still crying when they get to the bridge and it makes no sense, what happens at the bridge is dependent upon what happened in the car.
I have never seen it but that's pretty much how I would have expected it to be.
Incidentally, I dont agree with the OP's opinion about Travoltas acting career. He has had a lot of dry periods its fair to say, but he has pulled off some great roles.
Urban Cowboy is an underrated gem and I highly recommend it. Blow Out is also an excellent thriller.
I agree about "Urban Cowboy" and "Blow Out".
shareYeah the PG version is very choppy due to the edits and some of the scenes are alternate takes that they shot without the profanity so that TV networks could use them when they showed the film on TV. Here's an example:
- R version: "Come on fuck head, hey the stubborn fuck won't budge"
- PG version: "Come on you jerk, hey the stubborn jerk won't budge"
- R version: "You phony bastards, you know who should have won that contest, my own fucking friends can't even be straight with me you gotta lie right through your fucking teeth" "Hey what's up your ass man"
- PG version: "You phony idiots, you know who should have won that contest, my own friends, can't even be straight with me you gotta lie right through your teeth" "Hey what's bugging you"
- R version: "You know how many times someone told me I was good in my life, two, two twice, two fucking times, this raise today and dancing at the disco, you sure as fuck never did, asshole"
- PG version: "You know how many times someone told me I was good in my life, two, two times, this raise today and dancing dancing at the disco tech, you sure as hell never did"
I think part of that is simply a difference in where music was going in the US versus the UK. The UK at the time was moving more into the punk movement whereas in the US disco was still very big. So while someone that was into the Sex Pistols would have rather died than go to a movie where they were going to be hit broad side with disco music in the US it was perfect timing. Now if the movie had come out just 2 years later it probably would have been a massive flop simply because disco was under attack. Growing up in the US and remembering how people actually dressed like that and everything I can understand how it was embraced by people in the US... but if you weren't surrounded by that kind of crap it would have seemed ridiculous.
shareThats not how I remember the UK at the time. Disco was massively popular in the mid to late 70's, certainly in the mainstream and was becoming increasingly prevalent in the charts and on Top Of The Pops. Yes punk came along around '76, but the mainstream media largely ignored it ,
save for doing the typical ' look at the state of our youth' style trashy stories.
But for the most part punk and disco co-existed side by side, the audiences were completely different.
I was a kid but I remember Disco becoming mainstream because of this movie.
Over the years I'd see this movie come on cable or broadcast TV (heavily edited) from time to time but I never bothered watching it. It wasn't until my older years when I started studying musical eras did I realize how sanitized and even misappropriated this movie was in terms of exploring disco music in the 70s. FWIW, disco had its roots in the black and hispanic communities as well as the still shun gay community and Saturday Night Fever pushed all three elements aside in favor of an Italian Stallion. They could have made Tony Manure the cousin of Rocky Balboa while they were at it just to codify the genre as some kind of extension of the Italian-American aesthete which was really popular in the 70s thanks to The Godfather, Al Pacino, Rocky, and Francis Ford Copulate.
Do what?
shareI think someone's been using wikipedia too much. Disco music didn't really start to take off until David Mancuso started the invitation only clubs in New York which did cater to the gay crowd. So right there you have your Italian connection where an Italian with connections was able to open those gay events without the police popping up.
Now was the movie sanitized? Only in that it didn't focus solely on the gay aspect of disco clubs, but then the reality is disco weren't exclusively gay anyways, so I'm not sure simply picking one form of the club scene at that time is sanitizing anything it is just focusing on the part that you think would draw in the biggest audience.
From what I understand Disco was basically invented to appeal to gay people and that fact that it ended up having mainstream success was just a fortunate accident.
share
Disco actually evolved from funk music from the 60s and early 70s. The gays may have taken to it, but it was not invented to appeal to any specific audience - just an evolution of music.
Very true. Rock wasn't invented to give white dudes something to listen to while they shoot pool and drink, it just ended up being the group that embraced it the most while others moved on.
shareyes
share
I was a kid but I remember Disco becoming mainstream because of this movie.
>> All the songs on it were and the groups that wrote those songs were pushed in the media for years, and honestly it
was mostly really bad.
Do you really mean that? The soundtrack album is magnificent.
There are a couple songs on the soundtrack that are decent, but disco was pretty much a joke. What songs did you like?
shareI think disco has a bad rep. Songs I like:
1. Disco Inferno (the best disco song ever, and one of the best songs period).
2. All the Bee Gees songs are great, with my favorite being, perhaps, More Than a Woman.
3. "If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman) is a fine, catchy track. Written by the Bee Gees of course.
4. I like David Shire's stuff on the soundtrack. Especially Manhattan Skyline (very 70's sound to it that you just have to love).
I guess my ear aches when the BeeGees are on - the beats are decent, but too much falsetto. I liked the Yvonne Elliman and the song "You Should Be Dancing". All in all just not into disco and found it phony and gimmicky. But you are right, the BGs were super popular at that time and somehow that was a big deal.
shareInteresting. You see it as phony and gimmicky, and I see it as melodic and incredibly catchy music that recalls a time in which music was much, much better than it is today. By the way, that applies to most musical genres and not only disco.
share? I see it as melodic and incredibly catchy music that recalls a time in which music was much, much better than it is today.
I respect your right to like whatever music you like, but - since the 70's most music has been increasingly corporate and manipulating the audience. There has really been a big change over my lifespan. First into corporate ownership and then into manipulation of mass media. It is easier to see with the movies, like Star Wars was the first movie that made more money selling memorabilia, video games, and stuff like that than on the actual movie. Music became like that with the advent of the music video in the 70s.
Now, you cannot watch a movie without popular tunes going off in the middle of every scene with some kind of vague connection to a line or two in the movie.
Me personally, I don't like any of that. I think movies are better without popular music and product placements. It's just my whole philosophy. Disco was just complete commercialism, but you are right, it doesn't mean the music had to be bad. The crafting of the music is clever, I just do not like the falsetto vocals and the superficiality of the songs ... except for a few.
>> Me personally, I don't like any of that. I think movies are better without popular music
Thank you for the reply and I likewise respect your opinion. When you talk about commercialism and the use of songs in movies post Disco (and advent of MTV era) I don't agree with this at all. Songs in movies are amazing. Examples:
- When I watch Back to the Future, I don't really care if the song The Power of Love was used cynically just to earn money (personally I don't believe that). It's all about the feeling the scene in the film gives you, about the characters, about the era, about the story. I like that the song sounds great and fits the scene.
- In Philadelphia, when Tom Hanks is walking out of the office after another rejection and the song "Streets of Philadelphia" is heard in the background, a song Springsteen wrote for the film, I think it's magic.
- In The Breakfast Club the song Don't You (Forget About Me) is played 3 times to great effect. And I like the fact that when I listen to the song outside of the movie (randomly on the radio for example) I instantly think about the movie, scenes from the film, John Hughes etc, because the movie is great and so is the song.
Now, there are instances of dumb use of songs in films, I'm not denying that.
But popular music in movies. What would Goldfinger be without the song?
There are some exceptions, and Power Of Love was a good call.
In TV shows now, every moment has to be paired with some popular song, and I hate it, in fact I think it detracts from the episodes, but also with movies too.
Eh I’m not a disco fan at all but several of the songs in the movie were very catchy (all The Bee Gees, If I can’t have you, Disco inferno, Boogie Shoes)
shareI re-watched this film a few days ago, last time I saw it was probably 20 years ago. lol
I think it has a decent story underneath all the glitz and glamor of the disco era. Sure, its an obnoxious film when you really break it down, but it is entertaining. I think the part that really made the movie such a big deal was Travolta's iconic dance scene where he takes over the dance floor and everyone is just watching him. Best part of the movie in my view. That scene might be more famous than Tom Cruise's underwear dance in Risky Business. What was the last film to have an iconic scene like this? Have we seen one past the year 2000? Hmmmm....
However, it does remind me of Urban Cowboy quite a bit. The cowboy craze was still going strong when that film came out but when you look under the hood, there' really not much to the film. Like SNF, both films are Corvettes with a Ford Pinto engine under the hood. And yes, the characters do act kind of dumb but you'd be surprise how dumb people really are. :)
Still, I'd probably choose this film over UC as the better of the two. The characters in UC act much dumber. lol
I do think a few things would have improved SNF quite a bit but can we do? It is what it is.
Are you gay or a girl? That would explain why you like this movie a lot more than I do.
> but you'd be surprise how dumb people really are. :)
I guess we agree there, but I am not surprised, all I have to do is turn on the news to see who's President.
I have had a dislike for John Travolta since he was Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back Kotter and I had to watch it because that was back when there were just a few TV channels. It was torture.
Damn brux.... what the hell?
Straight guy but I can appreciate a good dance scene. Although, Cruise's scene is definitely on the gay side. haha... I was looking at it as more of an iconic scene rather than as a sexual interest. And it is a VERY popular scene.
No politics in here. haha.. there's a few reasons why Trump won. But I doubt the democrats will ever figure it out. Shame really....
Welcome BC was a funny show. I watched it all the time back in the day. SNF reminds me of Grease too. Another one of John's iconic roles. 70s and 80s were pretty good decades for that guy.
> Damn brux.... what the hell? Straight guy but I can appreciate a good dance scene.
OK, sorry, I had to ask. Him and his whole genre of movies I do not care for. Of the movies I can think of the best one was Battlefield Earth, and that was only good because it was funny and out of character ... oh, and did I mention he looked better in BE. ;-)
This garbage that was written by Scientologist nut job founder L Ron Hubbard is the one movie of Travoltas that you actually like? LOL I'm not much of a Travolta fan, but come on. I don't believe you.
shareOkay, Tom's dancing scene is on gay side. But so is John's showing his black underwear after waking up in the afternoon is definitely for gay interest.
shareI suppose you could say SNF has a few homoerotic scenes in it. In fact, you could make a pretty decent argument that Tony is actually gay. I mean, at the end of the film he just want to be "friends" with Stephanie. Like a gay best friend. lol.
He also tells his buddies to stop saying anti-gay remarks in that one scene. And he turns Annette down multiple times.
Yep, could be gay,.
I remember Tony's pals have done their version of mooning from the bridge two times in the movie. Only we see them in their tighty whitey with their buttock to the camera. Real gay interest!
shareOr for women
shareyou scream toxic masculinity.
shareThis movie is pretty damn good and has a decent story, so I don't know what you're on about. The music from the movie is kind of great too, the soundtrack sold like crazy because it was really bad? Okay.
Objectively you may not like the music, or even the type of music, but to say this is bad music is just subjectively wrong. I don't like country or reggaeton but I can admit when a song is good from those genres.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpqqjU7u5Yc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcCRo2b-ZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjbKgvc6zp8
Seems to me like you're just a hater OP.