MovieChat Forums > Saturday Night Fever (1977) Discussion > How was this movie received in the 70s?

How was this movie received in the 70s?

posted 10 years ago by dgbenner
19 replies | jump to latest

How was this movie received in the 70s?

Was it just taken in as a "disco movie" with a hit soundtrack?

I know the soundtrack and dancing is a big or major part of it, but it seems like a real subtle story too. It's self deprication to the main characters reminds me so much of Dirk Diggler and Brock Landers in Boogie Nights. The characters are goofballs, but you learn to love them endearingly. (Even Dirk and Tony's room are similar and those scenes almost seemed borrowed from SNF.)

The purposefully odd dynamic between Stephanie and Tony, both trying to better themselves, but not able to realistically connect without a front seems really well shaped from a character/writing standpoint.

The tight-knit Italian family replete with faith-questioning priest seems really an artful add to this story.

So, I guess what I am seeing is a really well written movie from writers who have some awful track records. How did this movie go over? Even by the solid writing during the 70s, this seems on par but from kind of mediocre writers.

Was it perceived as more than a Dirty Dancing-melodrama type of movie?

[–] Prismark10 10 years ago

The film was massive. It ran and ran and caused a sensation.

Its that man again!!

[–] wmlopez 10 years ago

Came out in December 1977 and disco took off with major rock stars putting out disco music in 1978. T.v. series had to have a disco episode and even commercials would throw in disco. By 1979 the white male youth was upset at all this disco and started the "DISCO SUCKS".

[–] Noir-It-All 10 years ago

It was a complete sensation. No one thought the music was bad.

[–] winterview 10 years ago

It did have a long run in theaters, and after that it ran in drive-ins.

I saw it several times, it was a very big cultural phenomena. Maybe what confuses people now is that so many of the other 'disco movies' weren't very good (and let's not even think about Roller Boogie) but Saturday Night Fever really hit the mark.

And quite a bit of the music from the movie were chart toppers on their own, there was tremendous amount of radio play.

I don't know if it still holds the record, but the Saturday Night Fever album sold an incredible number of copies. I was thrilled when I found it on CD.

[–] Noir-It-All 10 years ago

It was also one of the first movies that HBO showed and advertised to get people to include them in their cable packages.

The soundtrack was unusual in that tracks were released before the movie opened. That was unusual in the day but the playbook today.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] dgbenner 10 years ago

interesting. i do vaguely remember the early days of hbo.

[–] preppy-3 10 years ago

It was a huge hit but it was considered pretty raw for all the swearing in it. I heard there was a lot of controversy over the rating--the MPAA wanted to give it an X for language alone! By today's standards it's not that bad.

[–] winterview 10 years ago

You're right, the swearing in the movie was at an entirely new level. I was working a factory job, and there was plenty there, but the movie really surprised me with how far they went with it.

Doesn't hit me the same way these days, being able to say sh!t on South Park 200 times in one episode pretty much wore down my sensibilities.

[–] Noir-It-All 10 years ago

Yes, motels used to advertise on their signs that they offered HBO.

[–] dgbenner 10 years ago

hahah. used to? visit baltimore sometime. they even advertise color...

[–] priscilla-hopkins 10 years ago

I saw it as a dang good movie with well-written characters which also happened to have good music and dancing. The main cultural difference was that the inexpensive dance clubs I was frequenting which already were playing disco music suddenly were more of a dress-better affair and attracted more dedicated dancers.

[–] rrb 10 years ago

@priscilla - yours may be the only answer that shows taste, intelligence, and is accurate about the period!!! I howl when I read claims about disco being "underground" and not big till SNF came out, when the first disco I went to was Le Jardin on W. 43rd in Manhattan in 1974!

The film was huge for several reasons: it's a great story about youth, finding oneself, and having a dream; it's extremely well acted by should-have-won-the-Oscar that-year Travolta (one can only imagine how much better it would've been with Amy Irving as Stephanie, as originally planned); it has a great soundtrack that was released and a hit before the movie even opened; and it beautifully captured, vs. established, the pulse of the disco era just as it came into full swing.

SNF was a major critical as well as commercial success. Even that most revered, erudite, but savagely damning film critic, Pauline Kael of The New Yorker, sang the praises of SNF and Travolta to the skies. I suggest those who dismiss the film read her review and learn something about what makes a movie good.

[–] information_police 10 years ago

It was THE movie for its time. The soundtrack was the biggest selling album of all time for quite a while. I think it wasn't until Michale Jackson's Thriller that it was outdone, but I might be wrong.

I hated the Disco scene and saw this movie and thought it captured the stupidity of it all.

I think it's really a classic at capturing that time.

Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.

[–] dgbenner 10 years ago

glad to hear it was seen more than a flash in the pan. travolta is great in it. i dont think anything else has been a standout except maybe pulp fiction. 77 was a tough year to win best actor... some big competition.

[–] rrb 10 years ago

77 was a tough year to win best actor...some big competition.

Are you kidding? Did you see those performances? Burton flailing, Allen just being Woody Allen, Mastroiani having no chance as a foreigner, Dreyfuss giving a decent performance is an undistinguished, now-forgotten film. Travolta’s was the only dynamic, surprising performance, requiring him to act and dance, mind you – he deserved the award.

Dreyfuss only won b/c his star was ascendant, with his nomination coming on top of starring roles in American Graffiti, Duddy Kravitz, Jaws, and Close Encounters. Travolta, at the time a TV star and teen heartthrob, had just exploded on the Hollywood scene with SNF. His bravura work was undeservedly trumped by Dreyfuss’s career momentum.

[–] mytravelbug1 9 years ago

Totally agree, Travolta should have won everyone has heard of this movie but how many people have heard of the goodbye girl or could even tell you who acted in it. It was an ok movie at best but not the phenomenon that SNF was.

[–] mytravelbug1 9 years ago

[–] daughterofolaf 9 years ago

As I understand it, it was a huge hit. My older sister loves to tell the story of how my mom was pregnant with me when this came out and that she stood in line, pregnant, in the rain for hours to see it. lol

"Why couldn't the monkey arrange this from INSIDE the garbage can?"

[–] KobiyashiMauru 9 years ago

Took $3 million to make, took in over $94 million in ticket sales. Do the math. 💰

Luke Skywalker, your Mom was hawt! Darth Vader