Opening

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—— Populaire May 17
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—— The Hangover Part III May 23
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—— Epic May 24
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Saturday Night Fever (1977)

tomatometer

60

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

audience

67

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 159,489

My Rating

Movie Info

John Travolta graduated from minor celebrity to superstar with Saturday Night Fever. Travolta plays Tony Manero, a Brooklyn paint-store clerk who'd give anything to break out of his dead-end existence. In life, Tony is a peasant; on the disco dance floor, he's a king. As the soundtrack plays one Bee Gees hit after another (including "Stayin' Alive"), we watch white-suited Tony strut his stuff amidst flashing lights and sweaty, undulating bodies. Tony's class aspirations are mirrored in his

R,

Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics

Nik Cohn, Norman Wexler

Aug 10, 2002

Paramount Pictures

Cast

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All Critics (40) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (5) | DVD (35)

A small, solid film, made with craft if not resonance.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Travolta's characterization, given the script and directorial demands, is okay. It will please the already-committed; but it won't win him any new fans.

March 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In the end, the real killer is the movie's abject sincerity.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment (1)
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mr. Travolta is deft and vibrant, and he never condescends to the character, not even in a scene that has Tony and Stephanie arguing about whose Romeo and Juliet it is, Zeffirelli's or Shakespeare's.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There's a lot in the movie that's sad and painful, but after a few years what you remember is John Travolta on the dance floor in that classic white disco suit, and the Bee Gees on the soundtrack.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Disco drama is not just daaancin' yeah!

December 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

In a just world, this movie would've been soundtracked with Donna Summer's "Could It Be Magic" and Diana Ross's "Love Hangover." So, in other words, the soundtrack to Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

May 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment (1)
Slant Magazine

Saturday Night Fever's heart is actually in the right place. It's ears, though? That's another story.

May 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comments (3)
Slant Magazine

...one cannot dismiss its cultural significance, which today may be part of its campy appeal. (Blu-ray Edition)

May 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Today, it's like a kind of '70s jukebox that hasn't quite aged that well.

May 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment (1)
Movie Metropolis

The omission of John Travolta in any of the commentaries or documentaries is a major shadow that the new disc cannot get out from.

October 13, 2007 Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com
FilmJerk.com

John Badham's film (his best to date), a zeitgeist picture that captures the disco subculture of the 1970s like no other work, features a star-making performance from John Travolta who dominates every frame.

November 29, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

My "how to" book as a teenage.

April 29, 2005

Audience Reviews for Saturday Night Fever

I was shocked. This film was way better than I expected. I was tempted to fast-forward the many dance sequences, but around them, John Travolta builds an interesting and compelling character with a performance worthy of its Academy Award nomination. His character, Tony Manero, has Rocky and Serpico posters on the bedroom wall in his parents' Brooklyn home, and he joins his idols as an Italian-American everyman on-screen, breaking free from a traditional family, and learning - when he meets Stephanie, who's leaving Brooklyn for Manhattan thanks to a job at an advertising agency - that his big-fish-in-a-small-pond days may be coming to an end. And though the film culminates in a dance competition, the movie's not about disco dancing at all; it's about class, and upbringing, and social status: a place to stand in the world... but yeah, fast-forward the dance sequences. There are some Bee-Gees songs that deserve to stand the test of time, but those used in this film, if not for this film, would have been otherwise forgettable.
April 15, 2012
danperry17

Super Reviewer

Silly but, for some strange reason, charming.
April 25, 2010
DragonEyeMorrison
Tsubaki Sanjuro

Super Reviewer

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Latest News on Saturday Night Fever

August 9, 2006:
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Foreign Titles

  • Nur Samstag Nacht (DE)
  • Saturday Night Fever (1977) (UK)
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