#15 - SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
Directed by - John Badham (USA)
Much like previous entry Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Saturday Night Fever takes a look at a young man's obsession and fulfillment offered by the prospect of his weekend downtime. The fact that John Badham's film is looked upon as the quintessential film of the disco era has actually harmed its re-evaluation throughout the years, and many people even felt the need to dismiss its seriousness. Yes, it is true that the fashion, style and even memorable soundtrack embellish it greatly. But that is not a bad thing at all. If anything, in retrospect, it makes it even more true to its standpoint as a huge pop cultural representation.
In reality, the film is far more meaningful than one would expect, if one were to base his perception of the film on the many prejudices that follow it. There's no mistaking the fact that this film, as much as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and more, is an angry young man drama. The difference here is that instead of speaking with a thick Brit accent it hails proudly from Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn accent, like all social realist films, categorizes its sociological aspects in lingo as well as through its imagery. This is an aspect that is often overlooked. After all, even Italian neo-realism made use of dialect.
Furthermore, its shape and size is very relatable to the kitchen sink dramas with a bigger budget. Tony Manero may be as iconoclastic a character as they come, but off the dancefloor, he is a schmuck, a kid who has a life set out for him at a dead-end job. Some would be happily sheltered in his same situation. Not Tony. He has no real goal or ambition. But like the protagonist of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, he doesn't want to be "dead from the neck up" and carries a belief that people "don't know a thing about me."
His whole existance revolves around his saturday nights, which provides him with an escapism that is nevertheless not entirely able to completely dull the fire inside him. This fire leads to fights, violence and even rape. It is a fire induced by the clear split and difference between his two lifes; at his dead end job and at the discotheque. It's pathological.