Made in 1977 at the height of the disco trend, Saturday Night Fever takes place in and around Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Here a working class nineteen year old named Tony Manero (John Travolta) spends his days working at a local hardware store. His home life isn't so hot. He's constantly fighting with his blue collar dad and he can't seem to measure up, in his parents' eyes at least, to his older brother, a priest.

At night time, however, it's a different story. Tony and his pals hit the local discos, their hair done up just right and all decked out in the finest clothes. It's here that Tony forgets about the drudgery of his day to day existence. When he hits the dance floor, people pay attention. When his friend Annette (Donna Pescow) lets him know about an upcoming dance competition, he agrees to partner with her for it. Things start off pretty smoothly but once Tony sets his eyes on Stephanie (Karen Lynn Gorney), he pushes Annette aside in favor of her, a better dancer who will give Tony a bigger shot at taking the prize.

Travolta was nominated for an Oscar for his turn in this picture and while he didn't take the statue home, there's a reason he's still so closely associated with this picture and so fondly remembered for this role: he's very, very good in the part. Sure, it's easy to snicker at the seventies fashions and to ape on the actor's speech patterns but Travolta makes Tony believable. He's not the smartest kid on the block, he doesn't have a lot of career options and it doesn't look like he's the type of guy who can really make much of himself… until he hits the dance floor. Once he does, he's alive, no longer concerned with measuring up to his brother or having to put in overtime selling paint to old ladies. He's also not distracted by the self-destructive tendencies of some of his pals. When Tony's dancing, he's a star. So you can see why he'd take to disco the way that he does. It's the type of competition he's got a shot at winning. Of course, tossing Annette aside in favor of the flashier Stephanie doesn't wind up doing him any favors in terms of ‘nice guy appeal' but Tony's not out to be a nice guy, he's out to win. Travolta shines during the dance scenes, the guy really could move, and he handles the film's not insignificant dramatic content just as well. The supporting players are all pretty solid here too, but it's Travolta's show, let there be no doubt.

Shot on location in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the movie is also a fascinating snapshot of New York City's aged love affair with disco. All the clothes, the lights, the crazy fashions and the over the top dance moves are captured with loads of style by director John Badham and his crew. It's a very glossy, polished film in terms of its visual style, at least during the dance scenes (the more dramatic scenes have a heavier, grittier tone to them which accurately reflects the feel of the story being told here). If the film is undeniably an obvious product of its time, so be it. The coming of age themes that the plot deftly explores still hold true today. You don't have to be a disco fan to appreciate the story that Saturday Night Fever tells.

Of course the film's use of music is also extraordinary. The soundtrack was a huge hit in its own right when it was first released and many of the Bee Gees tracks used in the film have gone on to become iconic in their own right. From the opening scene where Travolta walks down the street to the sounds of Staying Alive to the infectious boogie of tracks like More Than A Woman, Night Fever and More Than A Woman the movie wouldn't have been nearly the hit that it was without the contributions of the Gibbs.

Note that this Blu-ray release of Saturday Night Fever contains the original theatrical cut of the movie (running an hour and fifty-nine minutes) as well as the never before released director's cut of the film (clocking in at two hours and two minutes). The main additions to the director's cut? A scene where Tony gets out of his friends car and stares, deep in thought, at the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, a scene where Tony's dad winds up going back to work and a scene where Tony stops at Stephanie's apartment to talk to her. These additions don't change the film much but they do add to Tony's relationship with Stephanie and flesh out his relationship with his family a bit more effectively.

Video:

Saturday Night Fever is presented on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded transfer framed in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85.1 widescreen. Restored in 4k from the original negative, the picture quality on this release is really strong. The image is very clean but it never looks scrubbed, there's no obvious DNR here and grain looks nice and natural, never distracting or clumpy. Detail is, in many scenes, outstanding. You can make out all the fibers in the different outfits and the scenes that take place in the hardware store, a well-lit environment, allow you to take in all the different labels, stickers, et cetera. once things shift to the various nightclubs, it's a bit of a different story, but that's part of the movie's look. In these scenes the players are bathed in all manner of lights, often times deep reds, and understandably detail isn't as strong in these scenes but even still, with all of that stylized lighting being used here the picture is still really impressive. Colors look great, skin tones nice and natural and black levels are deep but never to the point where they exhibit any crush.