![]() Probably the most obvious attempt at a Saturday Night Fever redux, Thank God It’s Friday attempts to be a peppier, more comedic take on disco culture, this time out on the west coast. But as time capsules from the era, they are priceless. Perhaps the bad acting and craptastic scripts had something to do with it (because it definitely wasn’t the clothes). In fact, they could all be classified as bombs. Unfortunately for them, a few jersey knit dresses and some feathered hair don’t guarantee box office success and not one of these even came close to Saturday Night Fever‘s record-shattering triumph. In the wake of its success came a whole slew of bump-and-grind pictures that tried to capitalize on disco’s reignited inferno. So while Fever may be the poster child for the disco film genre, it is by no means the only flick to exploit 70s boogie down nightlife. ![]() However, instead of dying off, Saturday Night Fever gave the scene a second-life, turning the booty-shaking craze into a full-blown phenomenon that was inescapable until a ‘Disco Sucks’ backlash took it down for good by 1980. By the time production concluded in 1977, the discothèque trend was already waning. Inspired by a 1976 New York Magazine article about a (fictional) young working-class hero who danced his weekends away at Brooklyn night club, Fever had its ups and downs all along the production schedule, from screaming fans showing up on location to Travolta’s mesmerizing solo dance number almost getting cut from the film. The back story of Fever is as intriguing as the film itself. Because beyond the iconic white suit and flashing dance floor, the film that defined the disco era was actually a compelling piece of story-telling complemented by Travolta’s masterful acting chops, dance moves and pitch-perfect soundtrack helmed by the Bee Gees. So I was kind of surprised that it turned out to be so much more. And to be honest, that was enough for me to actually sit down and watch it (I loves me a tacky 70s movie). How Saturday Night Fever impacted cinema of the 70s.īefore I actually saw Saturday Night Fever (which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month), I thought it was some cheesy disco movie starring a supremely coiffed dance machine called John Travolta.
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