Saturday Night Fever – 30th Anniversary
Special Collector’s Edition
(DVD-Video) + Bee Gees Greatest
(2-CD Reissue/Reprise Records)
Picture:
B- Sound: B-/B Extras: C+ Film: B
Music: B
Decades
later, it is amazing how many people are still trying to write off and
trivialize the Disco Era, that brief-but-important period from the 1970s that
peaked in the latter-half before imploding for all kinds of reasons and in all
kinds of ways. Many of the hits were
either dance-only hits, one-hit wonders or we have only a few songs from the
time that have been remembered and often out of the context. Then there is the commercial peak of the
movement in the mainstream, scored by The Bee Gees.
The band
was already a success from 1967 – 1972 with hits like I Started A Joke and How Can
You Mend A Broken Heart, none of which were dance songs, but put them on
the map. Falling out of favor, the great
producer Arif Martin took on the band for a new album in 1975. Main
Course updated their sound, gave it new clarity, structure and introduced
what became their signature falsetto style.
The results were three huge hits in Jive
Talkin’, Nights On Broadway and Fanny.
The trio was back and stronger than ever.
After their
follow-up album Children Of The World
arrived with more hits like Love So Right,
John Badham and Robert Stigwood prepared the film that would become Saturday Night Fever and by 1977, it
included new songs by The Bee Gees and both the film and soundtrack became
unprecedented successes in the entertainment industry, setting new standards
and high watermarks still sought after decades later. On the 30th Anniversary of the
film, Paramount as issued an upgraded DVD of the film, while Reprise Records
has reissued the chart-topping Bee Gees
Greatest hits set with bonus tracks.
John
Travolta was already a star in the rise with Brian De Palma’s Carrie a hit and Welcome Back, Kotter (both reviewed elsewhere on this site) a
sensation that helped make ABC the #1 network.
The buzz on the film was big and by the time it arrived, Disco Fever had
arrived. Though the movement started in
the gay community and was also about women and minority rights, the film was
about a group of Italian friends led by Tony Manero (Travolta) as the king of
the dance floor trying to hold onto that title while juggling women, his
friends and dysfunctional family.
Italians still fit as a minority at the time, though many accused the
film of having just upgraded previous stereotypes and that Italians were “white
enough” for a white audience to accept.
That
theory and/or nonsense aside, the story told might have also made sense in a
B-movie about street guys with little future, but Badham takes it further with
humor, taking advantage of Norman Wexler’s well-rounded screenplay and working
with the actors giving some very good performances throughout. Sometimes, you forget the Disco era is going
on and that New York (especially a pre-9/11 one) is a major character in the
film, the gritty one that has been too replaced by a mall version that has even
seen the fall of CBGBs.
It is all
the non-dance floor moments that make the disco moments more realistic and pay
off. This is not Can’t Stop The Music where Disco and silliness run unbound, but a
drama where music and dance happen to be a key point of expression for the
characters. Sure, the film is not
perfect and holds up far better than its bizarre sequel Staying Alive, but it is able to be an effective film and a time
capsule that more people than ever sudden are finding a new fondness for. It is Travolta that carries the film with his
natural talent and having been back on top for years now, you see that here
that he always did have it, which helps this film endure.
The music
on the soundtrack included more than just The Bee Gees hits and became the
biggest selling soundtrack of all time, still ahead of The Bodyguard when you consider Fever is a double album and Whitney Houston’s is not. During this period, the group would land
eight of their nine #1 hits (including six in a row) and besides brother Andy
having a huge string of big hits himself, set all kinds of sales records even
outside of the hit film.
Though
Mardin set them up, the group next teamed up with co-producers Karl Richardson
and Albhy Galuten in what would be an enduring relationship that would extend
to albums hit albums they would produce for Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick,
Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross. That would
be long after their fall in popularity.
The
tracks from this set include:
CD 1:
1)
Jive Talkin’
2)
Night Fever
3)
Tragedy
4)
You Should Be Dancing
5)
Stayin' Alive
6)
How Deep Is Your Love
7)
Love So Right
8)
Too Much Heaven
9)
(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away
10) Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)
11) Warm Ride*
12) Stayin' Alive -- 12"
Promo*
CD 2:
13) If I Can't Have You
14) You Stepped into My Life
15) Love Me
16) More Than A Woman
17) Rest Your Love On Me
18) Nights On Broadway
19) Spirits (Having Flown)
20) Love You Inside Out
21) Wind Of Change
22) Children Of the World
23) You Should Be Dancing -- Jason
Bentley/Phillip Stier Remix*
24) How Deep Is Your Love" --
Supreme Beings of Leisure Remix*
25) Night Fever" -- Future
Funk Squad Remix*
26) If I Can't Have You -- Count da
Money Remix*
*
previously unreleased
The new
CD set adds extended mixes, something that is common these days, plus a 12”
promo of Stayin' Alive and an unreleased
vault track. Some of the songs are
classics, others (like Love Me, Rest Your Love On Me, Wind Of Change, Children Of the World and Spirits
(Having Flown)) do not hold up so well if they were ever that strong. However, three songs they covered famously
covered by other artists (If I Can't Have
You, You Stepped into My Life and
More Than A Woman) remain three of
their strangest tracks. That all adds up
to this Bee Gees Greatest reissue
making for more interesting listening than anyone could have imagined three
decades ago.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on the DVD is looking good for its age,
though it can show its age and has some haziness in places. An HD-DVD was due at the same time, but was
delayed, so that delays our comparison, but this version has its moments and
color is a plus. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix tries to upgrade the Dolby A-type analog sound from the time, but has its
sonic limits, partly from what sounds like second-generation material. The limits are more obvious when comparing
the music to the PCM 16/44.1 2.0 Stereo on the CD set. Needless to say the HD-DVD delay ought to
ensure an upgrade above this.
With extras
on the CD noted, it also comes with a nice foldout with information on each of
the tracks. The DVD of Fever includes a five-part
behind-the-scenes documentary, dance lessons on how to move like the actors,
quiz, glossary and very good audio commentary by Badham. Deleted scenes from a previous version are
oddly missing, but these are still a solid set of extras, though a few trailers
would have been nice.
- Nicholas Sheffo
