By coincidence (or do great minds REALLY think alike?), I watched “Saturday Night Fever” from start to finish yesterday. Set aside the music and the dancing; as Tony himself says, “Disco is just a thing.” There IS some interesting coming-of-age stuff going on. When he tries to get his job back at the paint store, and the boss welcomes him like family and points out the other two workers who have been there for “fifteen and twenty years” respectively, you can just see the horror behind Tony’s impassive facade. But honestly, other than Travolta’s pretty-boy looks and his dance moves I don’t see what the all fuss was. I’ll say this for 70s cinema, they were swinging for the fences. They gave us enduring classics like “The Godfather”, “Jaws”, and of course, “Star Wars”. But even the hits like “Saturday Night Fever”, “Logan’s Run”, or (God help me) “Convoy”, are very much stuck in their time.
By coincidence (or do great minds REALLY think alike?), I watched “Saturday Night Fever” from start to finish yesterday. Set aside the music and the dancing; as Tony himself says, “Disco is just a thing.” There IS some interesting coming-of-age stuff going on. When he tries to get his job back at the paint store, and the boss welcomes him like family and points out the other two workers who have been there for “fifteen and twenty years” respectively, you can just see the horror behind Tony’s impassive facade. But honestly, other than Travolta’s pretty-boy looks and his dance moves I don’t see what the all fuss was. I’ll say this for 70s cinema, they were swinging for the fences. They gave us enduring classics like “The Godfather”, “Jaws”, and of course, “Star Wars”. But even the hits like “Saturday Night Fever”, “Logan’s Run”, or (God help me) “Convoy”, are very much stuck in their time.