When I was an elementary school, Saturdays were usually spent riding around in my Mom’s Ford Taurus going from Bradlee’s to Fortunoff’s to Caldor’s to Pathmark. I didn’t like shopping that much (still don’t, really), but I did enjoy the car rides during which she’d play the likes of Air Supply, Helen Reddy, Barbara Streisand and, most notably, the Bee Gees. I love my jambands and metal, of course, but I can get down to those artists.
And I have a soft spot for the Bee Gees. “Night Fever.” “Tragedy.” “More Than a Woman.” I can’t not groove to those tunes.
The story revolves around Tony Manero’s life in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. By day, he works in a hardware store. By night, he’s the king of the dance floor at 2001 Odyssey. He and his posse strut in there every Saturday night, drink, take pills, dance, hook up with young ladies in the back seat of the car of Bobby C, and generally live hedonistically. The women at the club worship Tony.
Yet he wants something more, to get out of the confines of his chaotic home life and seemingly limited Brooklyn existence. He seems to find it in Stephanie, who’s into dancing as much as he is. She also works in Manhattan as a secretary, where she’s had lunch with the likes of Paul Anka and Eric Clapton. He likes her, not just in a sexual or a romantic way. To him, she represents a life he’d like to have. One in the big city. They enter a dance competition, and there are hints of romance, but it doesn’t happen. He does try to sleep with her (in a scene that, by today’s standards, would easily be defined as rape). But, at the end, they agree to be friends (as opposed to “just friends”), while “How Deep Is Your Love” plays on the soundtrack. Cue the end credits.
The other pro-singlehood thread comes in the character of Annette. Annette is in love with Tony and spends the entire film trying to sleep with him. There’s even a scene where she shows him the condoms she bought; in an earlier scene, he rejected her because she didn’t have protection. Roger Ebert noted his opinion that Tony should have wound up with Annette because she “has fewer delusions.” My thought is that Annette has no self-respect. And I think Tony sees that. By the end, he’s left her and his buddies behind to pursue a better life (which we see in the sequel, Staying Alive, which I thought was terrible, but I digress).
Saturday Night Fever has been an icon of our culture, particularly that image with John Travolta flinging up his right arm. But I think it’s that way due to the disco tunes that pepper the soundtrack, which gives the film a fun edge. But the story is deep, and the pro-singlehood angle is real. I’d love others to see what I see in that area.