Saturday Night Fever (1977) on Netflix
Tony Manero, nineteen, is king of a Brooklyn disco's dance floor, far from his job at a paint store. He agrees to partner Annette in the contest, then notices Stephanie Mangano.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.8/1095,936 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
Nineteen-year-old Tony Manero lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with his parents and grandmother, works at a paint store and spends his Saturdays at the 2001 Odyssey, a disco where his dancing makes him king of the floor. His friends Joey, Double J., Gus and Bobby C. share those nights, and neighborhood girl Annette is infatuated with him; he agrees to be her partner in the club's upcoming dance contest. At home, his older brother Frank Jr., a priest, is the family's pride. Then Tony notices Stephanie Mangano, a stronger dancer who dreams of moving across the bridge to Manhattan, and she becomes his new partner.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Nik Cohn later acknowledged that he fabricated most of the article he had presented as factual reporting: a newcomer to the United States and a stranger to the disco lifestyle, he based the protagonist who became Tony Manero on an acquaintance of his who was an English mod.
- John Travolta insisted on performing his character's own dance sequences after producers suggested he be substituted by a body double, rehearsing his choreography with Lester Wilson and Deney Terrio for three hours every day and losing 20 pounds in the process.
- John G. Avildsen was originally hired as the film's director but was replaced one month before principal photography by John Badham over "conceptual disagreements."
- The producers intended to use "Lowdown" by Boz Scaggs for the dance-studio rehearsal scene and had choreographed the moves to it, but Scaggs' label Columbia Records refused clearance, so composer David Shire had to write a song to match the dance steps.
- To avoid Travolta's fans, who might disrupt filming, Badham and his team shot exterior scenes as early in the morning as possible, often at the break of dawn, and the producers also generated fake call sheets.
- Jessica Lange, Kathleen Quinlan, Carrie Fisher and Amy Irving were all considered for the part before Karen Lynn Gorney was cast as Travolta's love interest Stephanie; nine years his senior, she found it hard to keep up with him because of injuries from an earlier motorcycle accident.
- Because the Bee Gees were not involved until after principal photography had wrapped, the "Night Fever", "You Should Be Dancin'" and "More Than a Woman" sequences were shot to Stevie Wonder tracks that were overdubbed later; during filming the production was also harassed by local gangs over use of the location, and was even firebombed.
