The comparison also reminds you that Ryan Phillippe may be cute, but he’s no John Travolta. Lest you think 54 might profit from a little reflected glory, let me assure you that this comparison mainly serves to remind you how well Saturday Night Fever captured the feeling of lives lived by young people in a particular time and place, and how utterly 54 fails at the same task. That portion of the film was cut, new scenes were shot, and the result is a second-rate version of Saturday Night Fever that retains the central storyline, but loses nearly everything else of importance. Most notably, the original version of the film included a gay subplot that received negative reactions from screening audiences. It’s not entirely Christopher’s fault, because the released version of 54 is quite different from what he originally presented to Miramax.
More damning, it also fails to tell a story of any particular interest, leaving the viewer with some well-executed set-pieces held together only by a lot of wishful thinking. Stillman’s film is more interesting than 54, but treats the club scene as a backdrop in contrast, 54 places Studio 54 at the center of its story, yet still fails to capture the feel of either the club or the era. It’s certainly not 54, written and directed by Mark Christopher, and released in 1998, the same year as Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco.
#Studio 54 busboy movie
It was not only the worst of times (in 1975 the city was essentially bankrupt) but also the best of times, a period marked by great creativity in popular culture (e.g., hip-hop was developing in the Bronx while disco ruled Manhattan).Ī legendary nightclub that flourished during a richly creative period in popular music-doesn’t that sound like a great topic for a film? It does indeed, but the great movie about Studio 54 has yet to be made.
Studio 54 was not merely one nightclub among many, but a venue that captured the mix of high and low that was a key aspect of the New York City zeitgeist of the period. The dance floor was filled with beautiful people, and you might catch a glimpse of a celebrity like Andy Warhol or Truman Capote. If you were cool enough to make it past the doormen, you were admitted to a magical world where glitter and intoxicants (legal and otherwise) flowed freely. From all accounts, Studio 54 was a happening place in the late ’70s.
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