The opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever is very similar to Shaft not only in the sense it's the main character, male, walking through the streets of New York, but it gives insight into who the character is based on their interactions.
We get the idea Tony is a young, working class, ladies man with little direction in his life. Tony's family is very traditional, his father is used to working to support his family while his mother does housework. When his mother mentions getting a job, his father becomes angry, later we see similarities in the way Tony treats women. He sees women as nothing more than sex objects until he meets Stephanie who wont even give him the time of day. Used to being wanted by women, he sees this as a challenge. When he finally does get a date with her she speaks nothing, but how great her life is and all the famous people she's met. Later in the film Tony loses his job to help Stephanie move only to get it back when he returns because the customers and store owner like him. The store owner tells him he has a career at his store, at that point Tony realizes his life is going nowhere and he doesn't want to end up working in the store for the next 15 years.
His life consists of working during the day and going out to the club with his childish friends. Their juvenile antics catch up to them after a night drinking causes Bobby to fall off the bridge. Tony re-evaluates his life and the film ends with him apologizing to Stephanie for disrespecting her. He agrees to remain friends as well as move to Manhattan to start a career. The viewer isn't sure if Tony is capable of changing for the better, he is used to being the center of attention at the club, but can he deal with being a nobody?
We get the idea Tony is a young, working class, ladies man with little direction in his life. Tony's family is very traditional, his father is used to working to support his family while his mother does housework. When his mother mentions getting a job, his father becomes angry, later we see similarities in the way Tony treats women. He sees women as nothing more than sex objects until he meets Stephanie who wont even give him the time of day. Used to being wanted by women, he sees this as a challenge. When he finally does get a date with her she speaks nothing, but how great her life is and all the famous people she's met. Later in the film Tony loses his job to help Stephanie move only to get it back when he returns because the customers and store owner like him. The store owner tells him he has a career at his store, at that point Tony realizes his life is going nowhere and he doesn't want to end up working in the store for the next 15 years.
His life consists of working during the day and going out to the club with his childish friends. Their juvenile antics catch up to them after a night drinking causes Bobby to fall off the bridge. Tony re-evaluates his life and the film ends with him apologizing to Stephanie for disrespecting her. He agrees to remain friends as well as move to Manhattan to start a career. The viewer isn't sure if Tony is capable of changing for the better, he is used to being the center of attention at the club, but can he deal with being a nobody?
Trivia
- The film was rated R when it was released in late 1977. The studio was so eager to attract more young people to the film because they were buying the soundtrack album, that the film was cut by a few minutes and the shorter version was given a PG rating. The PG version was released in 1978. Both versions were released on VHS but only the R rated version was released on DVD.
- When they shot the first bridge scene, director John Badham kept secret from Donna Pescow the fact that when 'the guys "fell off" the bridge they actually landed on a platform a few feet below. Badham and the other actors didn't tell her about the platform because they wanted a genuine look of horror and anger on Annette's face when Tony, Double-J and Joey appeared to fall off. Therefore Donna's reaction to them falling, and her facial expressions turning from horror and shock to outright anger, were real, and her next line, "YOU FUCKERS!", was not scripted.
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