Saturday Night Fever Satire

Have you ever wondered why your dad has a white leisure suit deep in his closet? Probably because of Saturday Night Fever, the most popular movie of the late 70s. That was the age of disco, the age when discotheques were the place to be. People weren’t ashamed of wearing bell bottom pants or leisure suits in public. Your dad probably wore his once in awhile. Nowadays, people look back at such a time and can’t believe that disco was the pinnacle of American society, a type of music which gained its own culture and mass following, prompting the question: “Why did disco become trendy?” Who would’ve thought that this was started by Tony Manero, a 19 year-old deadbeat living with his parents in Saturday Night Live?

Tony Manero isn’t a spectacular

character. And he’s definitely not one who parents want their kids to look up to. He’s unlike every other protagonist who you’ll ever see; he’s not a hero, he’s not a role model; hell, he doesn’t even have a good job. But he makes up for that with his unique personality. At first, he’s someone who’s resigned to his current situation, working as a clerk at a paint store and living with his parents in his hometown of Brooklyn. He feels fortunate to even have a job and compensates for his shortcomings by dressing in a snazzy way and strutting down streets, all while acting like the man on town. Every Saturday night, this changes. Tony and his friends head to the 2001 Odyssey, a stereotypical discotheque, filled with drugs, sex, and good times. There, Tony is an entirely different person. He’s not a deadbeat; rather, he’s the king of the dance floor. He’s not an insignificant clerk; he’s popular, the subject of lust and desire among all of the clubgoers. The difference between Tony Manero and Tony Manero on Saturday Night is literally and figuratively night and day.

At the 2001 Odyssey, Tony finds love at first sight in Stephanie Mangano, another spectacular dancer. However, she’s extremely different from Tony. She’s not a deadbeat; in fact, throughout the film, she talks about her glamorous job which includes meeting celebrities. Stephanie’s more mature and cultured than the other women in the movie and, most importantly, doesn’t want a romantic relationship with Tony. She only agrees to be his dance partner. During the movie, however, their relationship develops as more of a romantic one, with Stephanie and Tony almost acting like an old married couple at times. As this relationship develops, however, Tony is forced to deal with many other problems in his life. He realizes that his friends are, as he puts, “assholes,” who are resigned to their position in life just as he was. He’s also forced into a gang war with the hated “Barracudas,” a Puerto Rican gang whose members supposedly beat up one of Tony’s friends. All the while, he’s forced to maintain a healthy relationship with Stephanie as well as practice with her for the dance contest. When they finally win the contest, their relationship seems to culminate in a kiss at the end of their dance, until Tony realizes that the next two dancers, a Puerto Rican one, were better than them. Tony puts aside Stephanie’s beliefs in order to fulfill his own, giving the Puerto Rican couple the grand prize. Directly afterwards, outside the nightclub, Stephanie denigrates their relationship. She says that she was “practicing her act” on Tony, simply using him in order to test her options. After she says this, Tony tries to rape her, causing Stephanie to storm out and leave him. Tony’s social life also culminates when, after this event, one of his friends commits suicide, falling off of a bridge to his death. Tony proceeds to ride the subway all night, contemplating his place in life and his actions, eventually believing that he has to be more ambitious with his life. He is then redeemed romantically the next morning, when he apologizes to Stephanie and agrees to simply be friends rather than romantically involved.

As the movie progresses, the viewer sees these negative aspects of Tony’s life.

He constantly struggles with his place as the black sheep of his family; his brother, a priest, is clearly the favorite child. Tony, at first, doesn’t realize that he’s in a terrible place; this is exemplified by the exchange with his boss: “Fuck the future! You don’t fuck the future. The future fucks you, Tony. The future fucks you.” At the beginning of the movie, Tony’s quite happy with his monotonous daily life and uses his Saturday nights to compensate for this. However, he develops throughout the story. He realizes that he’s not going anywhere in his life. His status as the black sheep in his family is dropped, because his brother quit his job as a priest. Tony begins to dream of a better life, using the Verrazano-Narrows bridge as a symbol of such a life, one with a good job in a suburban

place.

Obviously, the soundtrack is an essential element of the movie. Disco music plays throughout the movie, setting the mood and tone of every scene in which it’s featured. This is exemplified in two specific scenes. “Night on Disco Mountain” plays when the characters arrive at the bridge for the first time, showing the dangerous and careless nature of their actions. But more importantly, “How Deep Is Your Love” plays when Tony rides the subway at the end of the movie, setting the scene as an emotional, thought-provoking one, which eventually completes Tony’s development from a deadbeat to an ambitious character.

There are multiple other scenes in which music plays a huge role. The first is the scene when Tony asks Stephanie if she wants to be his partner. The song “Manhattan Skyline” plays, a song which conveys Tony’s ambition and almost “triumph” while talking to Stephanie. The lighting in that scene is also notable, as Stephanie is put into an almost “heavenly” low-key light, meant to portray her as this “angel” who Tony has met, especially when compared to the darker light placed surrounding Tony. Another scene in which both music and lighting play a huge role is the final dance scene.

John Badham didn’t do a perfect job while filming this movie. Too often, the movie cuts away from the middle of a dance routine in an unnecessary effort to glorify the characters. At times, the angle shifts to one below the subject or from a dutch angle, again most notably in the dance scenes. These camera tricks were all unnecessary, as the characters are already flamboyant enough. If they weren’t, then no amount of camera angles would help their situation.

The choreography in the movie, however, makes up for these angle-related shortcomings.

Not only does Tony’s dancing accentuate his violent energy, but it also accentuates the quirks of the other dancers in the 2001 Odyssey. All of these people seem to be possessed by vitality and pride, yet Tony is clearly depicted as being better than most, if not all, of his peers. Everyone’s dancing is fluid yet strictly choreographed, showing how much these dancers, who feast on style and arrogance, can’t afford to be sloppy.

So do you still believe what you’ve heard about this movie? Do you still think that it’s just another cheesy 70s disco movie? Hopefully you don’t. It has a great story. It features many great cinematic elements. It became extremely popular, even to the point at which people would sneak into theaters to see it. It was, because of that, culturally significant, kickstarting the Disco Era. But most importantly, it makes me want to wear my Dad’s old white leisure suit and dance like John Travolta at a discotheque, strutting to “Staying Alive” the entire way there.

Directed by: John Badham
Written by: Norman

Wexler
Based on: “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” by Nik Cohn
Director of Photography: Ralf D. Bode
Edited by: David Rawlins
Music by: The Bee Gees (Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb)
Production design by: Charles Bailey
Costumes by: Patrizia Von Brandenstein
Produced by: Kevin McCormick, Milt Felsen, and Robert Stigwood
Released by: Paramount Pictures
Rated: R
Running Time: 118 minutes
With: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller, Donna Pescow, etc.