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Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: [none]
Review: BR>I can not get enough of this movie, I have watched it over and over and over again, and it just gets more exciting and funny with each view.
The characters play superbly in their roles. All the relationships are quite admirable, because of their realism, minus the usual hollywood sugar coating! I sympathise with all the characters, despite their dispicable actions in some scenes. Travolta is the most adorable of them all, as he is the type to do things from his heart for other people, but looking cool always comes first (or scoring the chick of his liking!)
I particularly love the scene where he performs the dance sequence to the BeeGees, mesmorizing the whole disco. I also love when Tony and Stephanie hang out, both acting so pretentious, showing each other off, but Tony acts cool, not bothering to even chew his food! And what about the guy who gets a girl pregnant! Poor guy he has SO much on his mind, when his mates go retaliating against a gang called the Spitts, he pussy foots around! THIS IS SO HILARIOUS! When asked, "Where were you??" He says, "I was just driving around, LOOKING FOR YOU!" That cracks me up. But poor Catholic kid! I wont tell you what happens to him.
If you're looking for a good wholesome family entertainment movie, this is not for you. Try Rebel without A Cause, may be.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: DVD's great, but the dvd jacket is cardboard!
Review: Just be aware that the cover is made of cardboard, so even as new it looked worn at the edges. How Paramount could do this to such a classic movie is beyond me. The industry standard would have been alot better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Travolta Fever!
Review: John Travolta is beyond Patrick Swayze in this movie. His clothes are hip and the women love him! I highly recommend this DVD to any John Travolta fan, or any women that likes to see men in tight, hip-hugging pants.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: [ ... ]
Review: I think [ ... ]. This movie is definetly [ ... ]. I don't think [ ... ]. My personal opinion is [ ... ].

I hope this [writing] was [of help].

P.S. [ ... ]

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cultural Signpost Finally on DVD
Review: Having acquired the VHS version of this film about two years ago, I was shocked that something that is such an important part of our cultural heritage looked awful. There was a bad print, the music wasn't mixed very well, and it really distracted from the viewing process. That has all been changed with the DVD. From the beginning, with the Gulf & Western Paramount Logo that was used at the time, the screen is as crisp as you could hope. The opening shot of the Brooklyn Bridge looks like it could have been shot today, not 25 years ago. And the soundtrack has been given the treatment it needs in terms of clarity and crispness, in order to help tell the story of this film. The scenes in the club may look like they're from a bad dub, but that's only because there is so much color filter use there, which you'd have at a disco.
The extras are okay, and it's nice to hear the director's commentary explain some scenes, including the events in the car right up to the crucial life-changing scene on the Brooklyn Bridge. The one legitimate complaint, is why the VH-1 "Behind the Music" has been abridged so much, that it barely makes mention of the Bee Gees and their musical contributions to this film. I also agree with others, that it would have been interesting to see the original theatrical trailers for this film.
And, by the way, if anyone's confused, this is the original R-rated version, not the sanitized PG version that frequently airs on cable, and strips away the darkness of Tony and the other characters.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: FEEL THE FEVER!
Review: Saturday Night Fever is an enjoyable dramatization of tough Italian-American New York life in the late 1970s. The film fascinates me because their rough urban working class lifestyle, and the exhilarating night club adventures, is another world to me.

SNF is incredible during the first 30 minutes, when it's a dramatization of Nik Cohn's article, "Tribal Rites Of A New Saturday Night". Tony Manero finishes a dull week of minimum wage work, comes home, dons polyester and prepares for the "Saturday Night Fever". His trashy friends pick him up and they head to the 2001 Odyssey Disco. The disco scene is sexy, seedy, and inclusive to all. The Bee Gee's ultimate masterpiece, "Night Fever", sums it all up in an infectious and catchy groove.

The music, especially tunes by the Bee Gees and The Trammps, is absolutely sensational; slick, fun, funky, melodic, and emotional. You can dance to them or just listen; they provide a perfect soundtrack for the drama. As most critics have noted, John Travolta's complex and ultra-cool performance is the highlight of the film. Travolta's dancing is really something else. Travolta's solo, danced to "You Should Be Dancing", is killer. Travolta is a better dancer than Michael Jackson could ever be. Travolta moves suavely with his masculinity intact. Women love him, and all men want to be able to be able to dance that well.

Alas Saturday Night Fever falters when it digresses into melodrama. The character of Stephanie MacDonald hurts the film. Although the audience can sympathize with her, she just isn't as interesting or charismatic as the other characters are. Her scenes drag the film into soap opera. The death of Bobby C., although a dramatic motivation for Tony to ditch his punk friends and their dead-end lifestyle, is a real downer and seems like a climax from an after-school TV special. Double J's rape of Annette seems out of character and contrived. Besides, why would Bobby C. and Tony let it happen? Every movie needs dramatic climaxes to propel the action and resolve the characters' dilemmas, and sometimes they have to be sad, but I would have liked something less manufactured and more thoughtful.

After re-watching the film recently, I realized the film failed to live up to it's potential. The screenwriter could have delved deeper into the characters' blue-collar roots. Tony's family, his pathetic and cruel father, and his superstitious and ignorant mother, could have been fleshed out more. It's hard to believe people as intelligent and likable as Tony and his brother Frank have such difficult and frustrating parents. It would have been interesting to have seen parallels between Tony and his father.

Another weakness is Badham's directing. His jerky style suits this particular film but the scene where Tony and his friends drive their car into the Puerto-Ricans' hangout is horribly shot, even for him. Slow motion is pretty lame.

Overall Saturday Night Fever is a good movie but not the masterpiece it could have been.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Paramount disappoints again with DVD transfer
Review: What's going on at Paramount? We all know they didn't want the DVD thing to take off, but it has, so accept it guys! They really mistreat their classic titles when transferring them to DVD. They did it with the recent release of GREASE and now with Saturday Night Fever (SNF). What do I mean? The poor quality! Paramount didn't clean up the film first before transferring to DVD. It's grainy, it's spotty and it's just like watching the video of it. Ok, so it's from 1977, but there have been older movies transferred to DVD which are picture perfect (from other companies, of course). What puzzles me, is that tiny movie release companies are putting out stunning transfers of old movies, and often with fantastic menu's (check out Princess Bride for an example). SNF DVD's saving grace is that it contains deleted scenes and a decent doco (with rare rehearsal footage of Travolta practicing his dance steps - this footage was apparently locked up and forgotten about for a long time). At least in that respect, Paramount are starting to give their consumers more! As for the deleted scenes, they are nothing to rave about, but are worth having for historic purposes. If only Paramount could spend more time on getting a crisper and cleaner picture for their old movie classics, then everybody would be grateful. Shame on Paramount. By the way, they have just released Footloose on DVD, and it has no extras - be careful! Just rent it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FINALLY!
Review: This movie is one that I have been waiting years for it to come out on DVD. Finally it is here and it is NO disappointment. Saturday Night Fever is one of the best films ever made. It tells the simple story of a young man trying to pull himself out of the gutter and achieve his dreams. It's something everyone can relate to. The music and dancing in the film are also incredibly well-done and the DVD presents the picture and sound quality quite well. There are also a few extra features on the disc, the best one being the VH1 Behind the Music of the movie. It offers a lot of behind-the-scenes info and interviews with the cast and crew. It also includes a touching bit about the late movie critic Gene Siskel, who was probably SNF's biggest fan. All in all, a very well put-together DVD release. The one beef I do have with it however, is the packaging (which is the same as the Grease packaging is). It's rather flimsy and the DVD is difficult to remove from the outer sleeve. Other than that, this is a wonderful release. Kudos to Paramount!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Shame on Paramount
Review: Here is a film whose soundtrack was one of the greatest selling soundtracks in film history. It was so hot, it rocked disco houses back in 1977 the entire year with hits like Disco Inferno.

Unfortunately for us, Paramount Home Entertainment has given us a barebones release, in a card-board box, with hardly any extras. They did the same thing for Grease, Flashdance, and Trading Places. No special editions. Nothing but the minimum on a simple disc. This is shameful when WB and other studios are release their classic films in special two disc versions.

These are great films brought to us with great skill and care by artists and craftspersons whose work deserves a better venue than the one they have recieved.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE DVD HAS ARRIVED! THANK GOD!
Review: No use reviewing the film; that's been done. The relevant question is: is the DVD version worth it? The answer is a resounding YES!!

Picture quality improved. Sound quality GREATLY IMPROVED, it's like going from a table radio to hi-end audio. If you are a die-hard SNF like myself, find someone with a wide-screen monitor and surround sound and have the time of your life!

THE 3 DELETED SCENES--of course I won't spoil the suspense, only to say they are very short, averaging about 1 minute each (well, at least they SEEM that short) But they are interesting in how they tie into the story. Great discussion material

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY OVER FILM DIALOGUE--excellent, full of inside scoops and tidbits, guaranteed to please.

Also includes VH-1 BEHIND THE MUSIC--this was broadcast before but certainly fits right in, you get to see the stars today. Sadly, the actors who played the mother, father and brother are not seen.

In conclusion: ever since I first saw SNF in theatres, I have never felt the "pulse" of the movie in VHS format due to technical limitations. On Oct.8, 2002, that challenge is now solved!! Long live SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER!

p.s terrific packaging too! Thank you to amazon.com for prompt shipment. I pre-ordered this back in August. They said it would be available on Oct.8th. Surely enough, I got home 10/8 and the package was there!


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