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Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

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

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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, 1 hr. 59 min.

Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics

Nik Cohn, Norman Wexler

Aug 10, 2002

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (5) | 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
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

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 | Comment
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 | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Disco drama is not just daaancin' yeah!

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

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

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

My "how to" book as a teenage.

April 29, 2005 Comment
More Critic Reviews

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. Tony Manero has Rocky and Serpico posters on the bedroom wall in his

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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Foreign Titles

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