“Tony, the only way you’re gonna survive is to do what you think is right, not what they keep trying to jam you into.”
Talking about dreams often and almost definitely interesting, especially when pursuing it is faced by many obstacles like from the environment or even from ourselves. From the very beginning, we see Tony Moreno (John Travolta) walk confidently in the streets of Brooklyn, like he’s strutting in a catwalk. He sometimes stops to flirt at pretty girls. But don’t be fooled, as charming as he is, Tony is in fact a regular staff in a paint shop. At night he prep himself seriously in front of a mirror, wearing fashionable clothes at that time. And he enters the disco room like a celebrity. Apparently, Tony is known as a King of Disco in his neighborhood, people cannot not see his moves in disco floor.
Though many women fall for him, there’s one girl he couldn’t take his eyes off that night. He doesn’t know her name, but he sees the girl’s excellent dance moves. Tony wants to join a local dance contest, but he have his doubts on Annette (Donna Pescow) as his dance partner. Because Tony really wants to practice and win, while Annette real goal is to be his girlfriend. Luck is on his hands when Tony met the girl he saw on the dance floor the other day, Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney). Tony successfully persuade her to be his dance partner. From her, he recognize new world that was different from his friends and his known neighborhood. At the same time, Tony’s older brother comes home and said he quits himself as a Priest, which surprises their family. The reckless behavior of Tony’s friends and the disco scene help richen the story.
Honestly I did not expect to love this film. In a glance it looked like a full-of-dance movie, which is also true, but there’s another strong reason why people thought it was legendary and become the role of many aspiring dancers. It’s because Tony as a character who is charismatic and very good as a dancer, he also very serious to be the best. Came from a small but very familiar neighborhood, his story was experienced by many people. There are plenty of things to be thought of when pursuing our dream, one of it is being aware that our dreams could be bigger than the place we grew up. The question is, are we willing to get out of it and can we focus to our own path rather than following our parents expectation? The film is also about Tony’s journey to maturity.
Maybe only John Travolta who could pull off wearing silk shirt and tight pants, and danced disco excellently without losing his charm as a hunky man. He was really into his character. And though he stole the screen, the actors in it were absolute great support. The Brooklyn background were pretty thick from their accents, style and culture. Certainly the ’70s night scene described thoroughly, through mischievousness by Tony’s gang. Their rebel and naughtiness were such a contrast to Stephanie, who was focus and determined. But every character has its own soft spot. Their potential love affair also pretty interesting. The songs in the movie was such a guilty pleasure for that time, like Bee Gees songs that almost dominating the soundtrack.
What I love about Saturday Night Fever is how it was honest and real, out of the formulaic dream-pursuing feel-good movies and is also a coming-of-age movie. Every character have two sides. The story of Tony’s brother though small but quite moving. There’s one scene where it didn’t need Tony’s actual dialogue, when his boss re-hired him after he got fired and said he have a years-dedicated staffs and Tony looked at them without saying a word. Enough to tell that he worried that he might be one of them. And also one of the most thought-provoking scene was when Stephanie labeled him as a cliche. How comfort can be misleading sometimes and comfort zone can be a trap, is the best message I can take from this movie. A dancer or not-a dancer, this is a good movie about dreams.
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