Adjacent Meridian Point,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow
A63 V1F8
Five decades on, Saturday Night Fever still has the groove…
Given its eventual cultural and commercial impact, hard to believe that Saturday Night Fever (USA-15A-118mins) started out as an indie underdog film.
As with all great disco, its success was all down to timing, the Bee Gees-led soundtrack tapping perfectly into the zeitgeist of 1977 as it took disco from the New York underground and firmly into the mainstream.
Hits such as Stayin’ Alive, Disco Inferno, More Than A Woman and Night Fever topped singles charts all over the world, and helped make the film’s soundtrack album the greatest selling album of all time. https://whaletheatre.ie/Until another dancefloor demon, Thriller, came along five years later.
All of which makes the Rocky Does Disco tale at the heart of Saturday Night Fever surprisingly downbeat, Travolta playing angry young Brooklyn boy Tony Monero, escaping his dreary life by taking to the dancefloor every weekend, besuited and booted, so he might just survive his weekdays generally arguing with his parents and being disillusioned with his limited lot in life.
The film made Travolta a star, gave The Bee Gees a second if ultimately poisoned second wave of success, and, most importantly, had everybody dancing like a loon.
So, put on your dancing shoes and your drinking pants for a Whale night of singalongs and shaking your tailfeather, baby.
Happening on Saturday, May 13th at 8pm, your €12 admission comes with a free box of freshly-popped popcorn. John insisted.