Saturday Night Fever on DVD

By Jim Bray

The movie that made John Travolta a star has been given an excellent DVD treatment in honor of its 25th anniversary.

John Badham’s film was a smash hit when it came out in 1977, and its disco soundtrack was probably even bigger. I remember clearly being forced to play such hits as “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” and the rest. I hated every one of them and thanks to my aversion to all things disco I managed to avoid Saturday Night Fever until this new DVD release came out and I was forced to watch it for reviewing purposes.

Perhaps the extra 25 years of perspective (I hesitate to say maturity) has served me well, because I enjoyed the film, even the disco stuff. Not only is it a decent movie, but viewed now it’s a fantastic time capsule, an affectionate look at an era where tight pants and leisure suits were the rage and life seemed a lot simpler than it is now.

Travolta, moving beyond his success as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” plays Tony Manero. By day he works in a Brooklyn paint store, but by night he’s a blow dried dancing king who rules the floor at the local disco. He has an unhappy home life, complicated by the return home of his older brother who has decided to shrug off a life of the cloth, much to the chagrin of his parents.

There’s a dance contest coming up, and Tony’s a natural to be there. Vying to be his partner is Annette (Donna Pescow), who’s pretty good but not really in his dancing league. So when Tony spies Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) on the floor and is smitten by her ability, he tracks her down and practically throws himself at her to get her to partner with him.

They’re a match made in disco heaven, of course, and though they intend their relationship to be all business, it doesn’t take long for them to have feelings for each other - causing the rejected Annette to go seriously on the bounce.

It’s a pretty good flick, with interesting characters and good performances all around. The opening credit scene, with the famous Travolta strut to the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” sets the mood and the scene terrifically and the ball is never dropped for the rest of the film.

The DVD is very well done, too. Paramount has given it a nice remastering and the anamorphic widescreen picture (16x9 TV compatible) is appropriately colorful and features a crisp image with sharp edges and little in the way of artifacts. The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio is good and great, the good being the parts without music (which are clean and clear, but sound 25 years old) and the great being the parts with music, which has been remixed and remastered and sounds excellent.

They’ve also piled on more extra than most Paramount releases, including a running commentary by director John Badham and parts of a VH-1 “Behind the Music” special on the movie. There are also three deleted scenes.

So even if you’d rather be torn apart by wild dogs than watch this flick, give it a chance; you may just be surprised.

Saturday Night Fever, from Paramount Home Video
118 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring John Travolta, Karen Lynne Gorney, Donna Pescow
Produced by Robert Stigwood
Written by Norman Wexler, Directed by John Badham

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