Saturday Night Fever (1977)
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A young Italian-American man finds escape from his mundane life by becoming the king of the dance floor at a local disco.
The story
Tony Manero is an Italian-American man living in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. He spends his weekends at a local discotheque called 2001 Odyssey, where he finds the admiration he craves as the king of the dance floor. While dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his daily life, he becomes involved in a dance competition with a woman named Stephanie Mangano. The film explores the subculture surrounding the disco era, including the music, dancing, and the lifestyle of the characters as they navigate their identities in the late 1970s.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Tony Manero, a working-class man in Brooklyn, finds solace and status as the 'king' of the 2001 Odyssey discotheque. He spends his nights dancing with his friends, who engage in various activities including a trip to the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge. Tony enters a dance competition with Stephanie Mangano, a woman he becomes increasingly involved with. Amidst these events, his brother Frank Jr. leaves the priesthood to start a new life. After a series of conflicts, including a confrontation with a local gang and a tragic accident involving his friend Bobby, who dies in a suicide attempt, Tony and Stephanie win the dance competition but experience a falling out. Following a final confrontation with his friends and a girl named Annette, Tony finds himself alone and disillusioned. He eventually reconciles with Stephanie in Manhattan, and they agree to remain friends as he seeks a new beginning.
- First release year
- 1977
- Runtime (minutes)
- 119
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Badham
- Writers
- Norman Wexler · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- John Travolta · Tony Manero; Karen Lynn Gorney · Stephanie Mangano; Barry Miller · Bobby C.; Joseph Cali · Joey; Paul Pape · Double J.; Donna Pescow · Annette; Bruce Ornstein · Gus; Val Bisoglio · Frank Manero Sr.
- Genres
- dance drama; drama
- Themes
- identity; disco culture; working-class life; masculinity
- Tone and mood
- dramatic; atmospheric
- Premise and plot tags
- coming-of-age; dance; disco
- Source material / true-story basis
- "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" (1976 New York article)
- Content notes
- profanity; nudity
- Reception
- The film was a major critical and commercial success, having a tremendous impact on popular culture and helping to popularize disco music worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 82% · scale: percentage · review count: 55; Metacritic · score: 77 · scale: 100 · review count: 7
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Actor · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2010.; The soundtrack was one of the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide.; The film was shot entirely on location in Brooklyn, New York.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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