The best songs from 'Saturday Night Fever'

The story of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ coming to life is not a typical one; the film was actually made on a whim. After reading a 1976 article by British rock critic Nik Cohn titled ‘Tribal Rites of The New Saturday Night’, Robert Stigwood thought it would make a good movie and decided to just go ahead with it. Stigwood and John Travolta had some time on their hands before starting ‘Grease’, which they were both slated to work on, and thought it would also be a good addition to Travolta’s repertoire.

The article tells the story of a group of Italian-Americans in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn caught up with their dead-end jobs, but temporarily escape their worries by dancing at a local disco, 2001 Odyssey (interestingly, this was a real disco in that part of town, but has ceased operations). The movie adaptation stars Travolta as Tony Manero and Karen Lynn Gorney as Stephanie Mangano, who Tony trains with for a dance competition. The stage version removed many of the darker elements of the movie including mentions of racial conflict, drug use and violence to make it more family friendly.

Also the manager of the Bee Gees, producer Stigwood showcased his clients on the movie’s soundtrack, which became a successful hit. In US, the album stayed on Billboard’s charts for 120 weeks. The ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack, an epitome of great disco hits, has been selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

It has been 38 years since the movie premiered, and just under 20 since it came to the stage at London’s West End in 1998 and New York’s Broadway in 1999. Some Malaysian fans may remember when the Australian production came to Istana Budaya in 2004. This year, the production is back with a more contemporary edge with its use of technology while retaining the realistic portrayal of the disco era, along with vibrant stage designs created by an award-winning team.

Here are our favourites from the soundtrack.