Based on a New Yorker Magazine article by British writer Nik Cohn, TRIBAL RITES OF THE NEW SATURDAY NIGHT, the rights to the story were snapped up by Robert Stigwood, who had already got John Travolta in mind when the wheels were set in motion to create a movie.
John G. Avildsen (ROCKY) was the original director, but was removed from the project due to creative differences and John Badham, who had just directed Richard Pryor and James Earl Jones in THE BINGO LONG TRAVELING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS, a critically acclaimed period drama about baseball, was brought in to helm the film.
Travolta plays Tony Manero, a Bay Ridge teen who works in a paint store and finds his only source of escape at the local disco, 2001 Odyssey, where he hangs out with his friends and at a local dance studio.
One Saturday night, he claps eyes on sophisticate Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney) and tries to woo her over by asking her to be his partner at a dance contest at the Odyssey.
His family are very biased towards his brother, Frank Jr. (Martin Shakar) who is a practicing priest, but when he suddenly quits the priesthood, the dynamic changes and Tony suddenly realizes that his life is limiting in more ways than one. The fact that his friends are not keen to do anything with their lives and keep to where they are, which includes fighting the Puerto Rican community of teens where possible, is proving another source of conflict for Tony…
With profanity and some strong sexual moments, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER was purely for adults only on its’ original release, but a family-friendly version followed a couple of years later (and was the main evening film on ITV UK on the night of Charles and Diana’s wedding in July 1981), as did a sequel directed by Sylvester Stallone in 1983, STAYING ALIVE (Stallone’s brother, Frank, had a US No. 1 with a track in the film, FAR FROM OVER)
There has been a rumour of a third FEVER film at some point, but nothing is confirmed. Travolta certainly earned his crust on this film, having spent months preparing for the film’s key disco dance sequences under the tutelage of disco champion Denny Terrio, particularly in the YOU SHOULD BE DANCING sequence.
The soundtrack remains one of the all-time best sellers, thanks in part to the excellent classic tracks by the Bee Gees, up there with the likes of Fleetwood Mac’s RUMOURS, released around the same time as the original version of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER in cinemas.