Why Saturday Night Fever Wouldn’t Be a Blockbuster Today

National Review ^ | 05/12/2017 | Kyle Smith

[NorthMountain]

In the late ‘70s, I was all Country & Western and Rock & Roll ... the existence of Disco barely entered my consciousness.

[discostu]

One of the interesting things about SNF is that the movie is very much NOT the movie that was advertised. It was advertised as this disco fun time fluff piece, but it’s actually a pretty deep and dark movie. Usually advertising a completely different movie fails, but somehow it succeeded.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***In 2016, each of the top 13 films at the box office was either a superhero fantasy or a cartoon,***

I’ve been saying this for years that today’s young people live in a world of fantasy.
Our six-plex movie theater often has six fantasy superhero si-fi shows on at the same time.
The only time I have been there is when the remake of True Grit came out.
In the olden days a superhero movie would be filmed cheaply in black and white, cheap special effects and be shown on the bottom half of a drive in double feature with Hercules and the Mars Maidens.

Now they are made with 150 million dollar budgets.

[Hyman Roth]

I wanna strut..............

[Dr. Sivana]

Gen-Xers (like me) either sneaked in to see its forbidden R-rated depravities

After it hit big, a PG edited version was released on the big screen to expand the audience. I only saw snippets when I was at the drive-in for Tron with high school pals, and SNF was on a screen behind us.

[alexander_busek]

Now they are made with 150 million dollar budgets.

You say that like it was something bad.

Regards,

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

**You say that like it was something bad.**

As long as it is not my money... they can turnout all the duds they want.

[dangus]

What NR misses, but was an important point is that stayin’ alive suffices. The author almost seems to wish for defeatism, which is merely a failure in his writing, I’m sure. There’s a reason this was PARTY music; it made people feel good to know everyone has it tough, but we’re all surviving:

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I’m a woman’s man: no time to talk
Music loud and women warm,
I’ve been kicked around since I was born
And now it’s all right, it’s okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand The New York Times’ effect on man

Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother you’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive
Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’ and we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

[NorthMountain]

[dangus]

Also important about SNF:

That Tony is almost a rapist is key. He SHOULDN’T win at life; he’s not virtuous. We’re not supposed to be horrified at his violence because she’s not; she’s still friends with him. But we’re relieved that he doesn’t have a happy ending.

[truth_seeker]

My wife and I enjoy movie diner-dates, but is increasingly difficult to find suitable movies.

We want adult films, and most of today’s offerings are juvenile.

I often joke they are for children, often even in their 30s and 40s.

IOW a cross-section of today’s society.

[Bonemaker]

Right you are. They weren’t obnoxious in your face pains in the ass then.There wasn’t even a hint of queer marriage...it would have cost them severe dental problems.

[Albion Wilde]

[gathersnomoss]

Gay?

Nahhhhh.

[Albion Wilde]

There was also fag-bashing in it as well.

And plenty of f-bombs, before that was a thing. The one he said when they were sitting on a bench looking at the Brooklyn Bridge near the end of the movie still cracks me up.

[CrimsonTidegirl]

I agree. I was only about six years old when the movie came out & I didn’t watch it until I was in my twenties.

I was expecting a fun movie. Instead, as you stated, it was pretty dark & depressing at times.

My older Sister had the Soundtrack LP & I loved listening to it. I may receive flack for this but I enjoy Disco, when I’m in the mood.

I guess I like Disco because it was one of the first genres of music I was exposed to & it reminds me of my childhood.

[ExGeeEye]

Even when today’s movie heroes are in extreme danger, such as Matt Damon’s stranded-on-Mars Mark Watney in The Martian, they’re so cool and confident that quips never stop flowing out of their mouths.

I think many of us would like to be the guy who can look in the face of (reasonably) certain death, recognize it as such, and come off with a jocular remark rather than crying and wetting his pants.

Of course, it does help to have the screenwriters on your side...and if the shooting schedule means you performed the ending in a studio before going out on location to perform the "gonna die now" stuff, that's just gravy!

[philled]

"in the urban south where I grew up-- you didn't do disco"

That made me laugh and think of this from Blake Shelton :

"Well the boys round here, they're keeping it country--ain't a damn one know how to do the Dougie. (You don't do the Dougie?). No, not in Kentucky..."

[discostu]

Disco gets a bad rap because of the clothes and society that went with it. When push comes to shove disco is just funk with an emphasis on dancability. And funk is awesome.