...you're nowhere, on your way to no place...My appreciation of this movie just intensifies as time passes and I get older. It is a perfect snapshot of an era (albeit the much maligned "disco era"), a time, a place. Exactly what cinema exists for.Having relocated to nyc in the '90's, i feel blessed to have made a point of visiting the very real 2001 Odyssey club, in the year 2001, just for fun. And before it was demolished as part of Brooklyn's then booming gentrification.And it is simply a brilliant coming of age piece. Travolta was electrifying in it. The perfect second act to Vinny Barbarino. Growing up; changing.

Saturday Night Fever is a movie phenomenon not for its screenplay, cast or photography but the Bee Gees inspired disco soundtrack. The shrieking notes of several Bee Gees songs are featured throughout as well as several other recognisable tracks that they wrote. The disco 'phenomenon' was a blink and you'll miss it era during the late 1970s and this film epitomized that era. Starring John Travolta as Italian-American teenager Tony Manero. Travolta's dance moves and disco wear have featured in several other films and have been the forefront of 'dad' dancing on dancefloors everywhere! It was interesting to watch the film to see the costumes. Very memorable scenes. Travolta wouldn't be able to fit into them now. The first two thirds of the film are pretty moribund and I only found some resemblance of storyline in the final act of the film. A storyline focusing on Manero's troubled New York City family life, questionable love interests and friends. A good portrait of the era but a film I am unlikely to seek out again if I am honest.

If I was honest I should admit this is one of my all time favorite films. But understand I also realize this movie is hopelessly dated and some elements of the plot may not work as well in hind site. Having said that I still believe if you take into consideration the impact and influence this film had and still has, the fact that it is linked to an era in film that is largely considered fantastic, and lastly that it contains perhaps the most impressive acting debut for a lead in history and you have a stone cold classic.The music is also very much of its time, and in its time it was hugely successful. If one wanted to be transported back to 1978 this is its soundtrack. But the way the film uses music is in my opinion unique in that its not a musical in the traditional sense- nobody breaks into song mid-scene. However the music is organic to the story of how this young man comes of age and begins to realize the imprisonment of his friends,of his family, and of his environment.Another thing about this movie that I have long admired is how the story is told. This is one gritty urban tale and it captured NYC circa 1977 perfectly. Forget the disco, this is the era of Son of Sam and blackouts, and as a lover of NYC I gotta say I love seeing the trash and the graffiti everywhere. The script by Wexler is authentic and bites. But most of all the simple motif of escaping an environment is a passage that is incredibly profound and not explored often enough. Who cannot relate in some way to that.Bottom line this is a classic very much rooted in its place in time. Saturday Night Fever deserves its place as one of the best films of the 1970s. And that was one hell of an era to be one of the best films in.

Tony Manero (John Travolta) is a strutting 19 year old Italian-American in Brooklyn. He works in a paint store, fights with his loud combative family, and lives for disco. He's the local disco king with a group of friends. Local girl Annette is desperate to be his girl. The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge divides this world from the magical world of Manhattan. He is taken with new girl Stephanie Mangano. Annette convinces him to be her dance partner in the big contest. Tony pushes to get Stephanie who has her eye on Manhattan. The family is shocked when his sainted brother decides to leave the priesthood.From the first scene, Travolta brings a power into this disco fable. It's the music. It's the fashion. It's the family and friends. Best of all, it's a hungry Travolta on the prowl. Tony is clueless but he's hungry. He doesn't know what he's hungry for but he's restless for it. Travolta is uninhibited. He's a disco god. Special mention goes to Donna Pescow and her great portrayal of Annette.