MovieChat Forums > Staying Alive (1983) Discussion > The best bad movie of all time.

The best bad movie of all time.


I'm a huge fan of Saturday Night Fever, the iconic best selling movie soundtrack of all time by the Bee Gees and love the character of Tony Manero, but Staying Alive is a bad film, but here's the deal, it's so bad that it's actually fun to watch and gets better after years and years of viewing.

The dialogue is god awful, some of my favorites "Where are you imported from, the vicinity of England," "Does anyone know who's lemo this is?" "I don't care if I ever get a message." "Are you expected? To do what?" And my favorite, "I'll have to cancel my brain operation, do you think that's a good idea." How can you beat that dialogue! It's classic stupidity lol. It's fascinating that Sylvester Stallone and the screenwriter from Saturday Night Fever, Norman Wexler, who also wrote the screenplay for Al Pacino's Serpico, and he's also considered a great screenwriter, wrote that dialogue, I really believe that the dialogue was ad-libbed, and not in the shooting script.

My other guilty pleasure bad films are, "Road House," and "The Karate Kid Part III."

reply

Ok, some of the lines are corny but look at everything else. Dancing! Dancing! Cynthia Rhodes! I love it! One of the best Good movies ever!

reply

Cynthia Rhodes is enough reason to watch this movie.

reply

Abso-freaking-lutely!!! She's amaze. Like a human rubber band. I'm so envious!

reply

Sly reportedly went in and rewrote Wexler's script. I think I heard somewhere that Wexler's original screenplay had something to do with Manero being a community worker or something like that. Itt had nothing to do with dancing! However, most of the corny dialogue is blatantly Stallone's. It's very Rocky-esgue.

I never earned a nickel from another man's sweat!

reply

"Everbody uses everbody" my favorite line!

reply

Yes, mine too! Especially in that accent.

reply

Just awful! John takes it Way to seriously. Silly little movie.

reply

What about, when Tony, Carl and (I think) Jackie are all around:

Jackie (to Carl): I'm in good hands.

Tony: Yeah, she's in good hands.

Carl: What are you, All State?

Tony: Yeah, you want disability?!

reply

Oh, it's true, absolutely everything about it is bad, and every time you watch it again you see new godawful details that you missed before! And you laugh and laugh and LAUGH!

It was running when I got home from work and I was able to catch the hilariously awful finale, and laughed and marveled at the dance photography - which could very well be the worst in the history of film. I mean, Ed Wood did a better job of photographing the strippers in "Orgy of the Dead" than Stallone did with professional dancers and a big budget. And I'd totally forgotten about the last line and the final strut down the streets of NYC, a dumbass idea that showed that although Tony has fulfilled his dreams of success in a frankly impossible way, he hasn't grown or learned a damn thing, he's still the same stupid douche he was at the beginning of "Saturday Night Fever".

This film is deeply, endlessly entertaining.

reply

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/21641572-just-finished-watching-staying-alive-on-cable.-what-a-hilarious-shit-show!

1) John Travolta was at his physical perfection in this one. He had a beautiful body any cruise ship masseuse would have been happy to rub down. Too bad he sucked at playing an older Tony Manero.
2) Who the hell decided to cast Finola Hughes in the lead? She couldn't act and she couldn't dance. I guess she was 1983's Karen Lynn Gorney.
3) Cynthia Rhodes played yet another mousy, non-descript also-ran dancer. No wonder Richard Marx eventually dumped her ass.
4) What the fuck kind of Broadway musical was the cast performing in, anyway? It was more like a tacky Vegas attraction.
5) The ending made me laugh so hard I cried. "Jump!" "I can't!" Holy shit, that was some good stuff!

reply