Saturday Night Fever

[DiscoMan]

Watched the SNF DVD at home last night.
That movie is an absolutely perfect time capsule of the modest urban disco clubs I remember from the mid '70's!

Clubs you would find in the working class neighborhoods of NYC, Providence, Boston, Worcester, Hartford. Not the Studio 54s or the Boston-Bostons or other "mega clubs".

When I watch it it's like looking into a mirror!!!!!!

You youngsters who were either too young to participate in disco or not yet born, watch SNF. That IS Disco in urban America. John Badham and John Travolta really nailed the Disco era with this flick!

I would imagine that this topic has been discussed on this forum in the past, however....It is still the best visual image we have of Disco. I love "Thank God It's Friday" but I was never in a club like the "Zoo". Clubs like the 2001 Odyssey in Bay Ridge (802 64'th st. Brooklyn?) I lived in!

[sammyperez]

Disco Man:

Funny you should bring up this movie. I was just discussing this flick with Jazzman, Blaxman and Zecazevedo because I just watched it the other night also. I mentioned that while I used to think this movie was kind of cheesy when it first came out, I have a deeper appreciation for it now. The music which I did not like too much before because it was so commercially overplayed, I really dig alot more now. I especially like 'Manhattan Skyline' by David Shire which is playing in the background the second time Tony approaches Stephanie in the dance studio. Most of all though, I really enjoy this movie now because it reminds me so much of New York in the '70's. It is so ironic how much I notice the Twin Towers in the movie now. Funny the things you remember and appreciate as you get older. 'Thank God it's Friday' was obviously a cheap Hollywood effort to cash in on the Disco Boom of the '70's where 'Saturday Night Fever' was obviously a more generous ode to the genre. Over 25 years later, while the genre has faded, the movie obviously has not. "I like that new haircut, I like that polyester look".

Easy,

Sam "ALL JAM"

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by sammyperez

'Thank God it's Friday' was obviously a cheap Hollywood effort to cash in on the Disco Boom of the '70's....

Actually, it was more of an informercial for Casablanca product. You can't really blame Hollywood for that one.

[paul]

Good topic DiscoMan. I was going start a similar topic the other day after watching "Summer Lovers" again. Summer Lovers captured the vibe and attitude from that period. Even though it was made at the end of the era in the states, the feeling was still in europe where the movie was set.
As for SNF, I love the music and some of the scenery but it didn't quite make me feel as good at the end of the movie as Summer Lovers did. I do agree though that the club scene in SNF was typical of the clubs I attended back then.
I did go to Boston Boston a few times and you're right, it was a mega club. Everytime I think of that club I can still hear them playing "Countdown." They had a fucking awesome sound system. Damn I miss that era :cry:

[DiscoMan]

About the feelings of hopelessness and being trapped by your environment that pervade SNF; PERFECTION!

That WAS me and my crew. We had 4 to 6 young guys (number would vary), all in our mid 20s from the same background and with the same dead end future and we found our only release was in the clubs on Saturday night.

Some of us have done fairly well down through the years ONLY because we were able to attend and complete baccalaureate programs at our local public colleges. Education saved our asses and gave us some hope - just like the character of Stephanie!

When I see and hear those characters in that movie
it becomes a very personnal experience for me because of it's dead-on portrayal of that time and place - of myself and the guys I hung with - it's really scary!

[NickNack]

Interesting... I grew up in Brooklyn (from Bay Ridge to Bed-Stuy and everywhere in between :) ), attended Fort Hamilton H.S. and didn't leave Brooklyn until I joined the Air Force. With all that, SNF does not ring with me at all. I've seen it maybe 3 or 4 times (I didn't see it when it was first released) and although the music is great I wouldn't miss the movie if it weren't around.

I'm not saying it's bad, just thinking how, as a representative film of an era, it hits so true with DiscoMan and I've yet to find a movie about disco or the era that does that for me. I'm hoping the upcoming release of Maestro will change that.

[paul]

Maestro?
Fill me in Nicky.

[NickNack]

Paul,

Maestro is a documentary they say was "4 Years In the Making" about the beginnings of 'underground disco'. Somebody on the board (K-Bee, efunk, can't remember :oops: ) brought it up maybe a month or so ago. It's going to concentrate on the 'pioneers' and their clubs:

DAVID MANCUSO - THE LOFT
LARRY LEVAN - PARADISE GARAGE
NICKY SIANO - THE GALLERY
FRANKIE KNUCKLES
FRANCOIS K.

This is a small number of the dj's as it will be an international gathering. The film's already opened in several cities in Europe and I believe they've screened it in Chicago. Here's the website for all who might be interested:

http://maestro-documentary.com/indexflash.html

[peppertree5706]

Yes I am from Brooklyn and I loved going to neighborhood clubs. But I am Jewish and from Sheepshead Bay. (I lived in Bensonhurst in the mid eighties). Bensonhurst is a different scene from Sheepshead Bay.

The biggest difference is that my number one "fun" pursuit and priority then was getting sex. Disco was a fun way to go through the pursuit but I was into the sex (no AIDS then) more than the club scene.

I was in college during that time and the movie that I can identify with more was Animal House. I really could identify with it. A second movie I could "step into" was called First Love with the girl from the Partridge Family as the star. Susan Dey?

I think SNF pertains most to Italian-Americans in Bensonhurst. But I do love the movie.

[paul]

Thanks Nicky. It'll be interesting to hear/see the opinions from old school disco people.