Saturday Night Fever Blu-ray offers decent video and audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Tony is an uneducated Brooklyn teenager. The highlight of his week is going to the
local disco,
where he is the king of the dancefloor. Tony meets Stephanie at the disco and they
agree to
dance together in a competition. Stephanie resists Tony's attempts to romance her,
as she
aspires to greater things; she is moving across the river to Manhattan. Gradually,
Tony also
becomes disillusioned with the life he is leading and he and Stephanie decide to
help one
another to start afresh.
I always thought that Saturday Night Fever was corny as heck as a movie. I
thought that the most iconic image of the movie (Travolta with his arm pointed at a 45
degree angle with a lot of gold chains and white three piece leisure suit) was the most
corny and uncool things about the picture. I never wore Angel Flights pants, bell bottoms, or
any other symbolic 70's clothing as I was probably too young to do so, or appreciate the
fashion of that era. Being from New York City, my images of that era focused around studio
54, all its excesses, its popularity, and star studded cliques that I just could not relate to. To
me, Tony Manero was a loser adorn in gold chains (not uncommon for that era) and a cheap
polyester suit, going nowhere, not wanted or striving for anything. It is just this perceive
weakness that makes this movie strong and interesting. Considering that this was pre-
AIDS, where it was cool to dance and party all night, wake up not knowing where you are or
what you did; or whom you were with. Many embraced this lifestyle, which explains the
popularity of this film. Audiences of that period can relate to the euphoric escapism that
disco seemed to offer. However my experience of that period and of Brooklyn itself seems to
have a slight disconnect. Nobody I knew in Brooklyn thought that this film was even
remotely cool, or a realistic view of that period in that location. They viewed the film as
campy and made up by a group of elite that did not represent them at all. Many believed
that this flick was made to capitalize on the popularity of disco music and the disco lifestyle,
and nothing more than that. It would be only a few years after the films release that the
key scenes of this movie would be mocked and parodied endless much to the dismay of
disco lovers.
Starring 22 year old John Travolta whose popularity rested on a four year stint as Vinnie
Barbarino in Welcome Back Kotter, Travolta shows off his dancing skills to the hilt in
this flick. His moves and look spawned a fashion and dancing craze that lasted for years
after the film closed in theaters world wide. White leisure suits and polyester based clothes
enjoyed popularity for years as well. What I liked about this movie is its frank honesty in the
portrayal of characters of that period off the dance floor. Tony and his pals are casual but
flagrant racists and misogynist, who smoke too much and do drugs on the side. It is this
juxtaposition to the dancing that makes this movie an interesting watch. These guys were
doing the things that were actually done back in that day, which makes guys like me relate
even if I did not do them myself. You would never see this lifestyle portrayed on television,
or any other mainstream source. As a New Yorker, you knew it was there, even if not
widespread. This movie is definitely worth the watch, even if you want to make fun of it, or
cannot relate to it personally.
Tony (John Travolta) is an ambitionless 19 year old man working in a paint store and going
nowhere. Tony life at home is suffocating, and he dreads a life of selling paint. He is
uneducated, unpolished, and uncultured but he can dance. He chases women, is a
thoughtful and kind brother, is trusting, kind hearted, and thinks fast on his feet. Tony's
mother blames him for Frank Jr. leaving the priest hood; his father criticizes him about his
dead-beat life. What drives Tony is not his career, but spending Friday and Saturday nights
partying and dancing at the 2001 Odyssey. Tony is king of the dance floor at the Odyssey
which is why he looks forward to being there each week. Tony has many problems in his
daily life that seem never ending to him. Things change dramatically as Tony falls for
talented dancer Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney) who is years older than he is. She thinks
that he is "cliché", and will derail her ambitions to move from Brooklyn to Manhattan. She
does not want Tony's lack of ambition to kill her dreams, so she wants nothing to do with
him. Annette (Donna Pescow) is in love with Tony, but he treats her like dirt, and she
becomes self destructive as a result. As if Tony did not have enough on his plate, a friend
Bobby C. (Barry Miller) comes to Tony for help after he gets a girl pregnant. However Tony is
just too pre-occupied to deal with Bobby's problem. There is a dance contest coming up, and
Tony persuades Stephanie to partner with him in the contest. As they rehearse, their true
feelings began to grow and it becomes increasing difficult to hide them. After an earlier gang
brawl involving Gus, Tony and his gang retaliate but tragedy befalls the gang. Tony feels
totally responsible for what happened. The closer that the contest gets, the more Tony
begins to examine his life and where it is headed. He realizes that he wants more in life,
and comes to understand what is truly important.
Saturday Night Fever dances onto the Blu-ray format in a 1080p/AVC encode,
framed in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio. I was completely taken by surprise at how good this 31
year old flick looks. I have seen this movie in so many incarnations, on television, DVD, and
even at the theater in its 20th anniversary presentation, and it never looked this good. This
is truly a 70's flick complete with diffusion filters, soft light, and dull colors. Filmed in spherical
Panavision the source is clean, dirt and blemish free, with grain that is well managed and
never obtrusive. Colors are well balanced with well saturated primaries and no bleeding.
Flesh tones are realistic, have excellent texture, and without the push toward too much red.
Detail is excellent in facial features and clothing, and close ups are particularly impressive.
Wide angle shots are variable in the level of detail rendered, but they are always clean and
clear. I found the details in interior shots of the club to be fuzzy in the background, but
clean and clear in the foreground. I would attribute that to the low lighting and the diffusive
filtering applied to the images. Blacks are noise free and deep without being crushed.
Contrast is excellent which helps colors pop during bright scenes. The movie looks very
good for its age, and Paramount should be congratulated for their fine work on this film.
Presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround at a 24/48 kHz bit and sample rate, Saturday
Night Fever sounds impressive for a 70's movie production. The music really benefits
from this encoding as the Bee Gee's music sounds terrific, and really sparkles in remixed 5.1
surround sound. It has more midrange weight, high frequency detail, and clean punchy low
bass than I have heard in past releases. I found dynamics to be a bit constrained, dialog a
bit canned and lacking weight, but always intelligible. The sound field opens up during the
musical numbers, as they benefit from the use of the surround channels. The frontal
soundstage has good lateral separation and excellent clarity. To be fair, this is a 70's sound
track, and it will never sound as good as sound track recently mixed. Overall I thought this
sound track sounded pretty darn good for its age.
Commentary by Director John Badham Pop-up trivia - 70's Discopedia is a pop of track that is fun and easy to watch.
Documentary: Catching the Fever (HD 75 minutes total running time) is broken
down in the following segments: A 30 year legacy (15 minutes) Making soundtrack history (12 minutes) Platforms and polyester (10 minutes) Deejays and disc (10 minutes) Spotlight on Travolta (3 minutes) (HD) Featurette: Back to Bay Ridge (9 minutes) hosted by Joe Cali (HD) Featurette: Dance like Travolta and John Cassese (9 minutes) (HD) Featurette: Fever challenge – Interactive feature Deleted scenes feature three deleted scenes with commentary by John Badham.
I always thought Saturday Night Fever was a corny movie, even when I was a kid.
I thought disco was cliché, disco fashion horrific, and Travolta's dance moves so staged they
looked weird. I didn't know anyone who would go to a dance club and break out with
moves like his. However I do like the music of the Bee Gee's, which is why I have watched
this movie over and over again. I liked what took place off the dance floor, as it looked real
and credible for the place and time it portrays. This film looks and sounds incredible on this
Blu-ray disc, better than I have ever seen and heard it before. Despite the fact this video
presentation has already been released on DVD, I highly recommend getting this Blu-ray
release, and ditching the DVD altogether. It is a better representation of this film, and can
truly be called a "definitive" release.
In an early alert to retailers, Paramount Home Entertainment revealed an impressive list of catalog titles they will be bringing to Blu-ray this May. As these are just retailer alerts, no technical specs or special features have been revealed for any of these titles, ...
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