Which movie (not soundtrack, theres a thread for that in the non-Prince music forum) do you like better?

Grease. The characters are more likable than the characters in SNF.

Interesting. My first reaction was that Grease is very superior. I believe that. The songs are stronger, and feed to the storyline more, yet stand as pop hits on their own.

While Saturday Night Fever isn't a bad record by any means, it's a disco record. It's in one time era that people ended up hating. And it feels like what The Bodyguard soundtrack was - a Bee Gees album with guest stars. Both of those had a main artist for half the record, then a smattering of other songs to fill in the gaps.

There are a few throw away songs on both albums, and pairing them down would probably make either album even stronger. (Sounds like a Graffiti Bridge argument.)

PS Grease is also a better movie.

Saturday Night Fever.....full disclosure: I am someone who thinks that the disco era was an incredibly exciting time I love everything connected to that era.

Grease is one of my top five favorite movies so easy win there.

I love the disco choreography of Saturday Night Fever and the time capsule that was New York in the 70s, but it's pretty insular. The nightclub the characters frequent is conveniently in the same Bay Ridge neighborhood where they live.

SoulAlive said:

Saturday Night Fever.....full disclosure: I am someone who thinks that the disco era was an incredibly exciting time I love everything connected to that era.

I don't know why disco still gets an eye roll from other folks. It really was an exciting time. It was a liberation, rebellion, and free thinking. It was a direct blowback against all the anti-war-Joan-Baez type shit from the late 60s and into the early 70s. People needed a damn break. (The same thing happened again when grunge took over for the hyper-produced pop era of the late 80s/very early 90s.)

There's always an ebb and flow to music. Disco rebelled against anti-war/folksie music, punk rebelled against disco. Disco came back as pop/dance music (see: Donna Summer "She Works Hard...") against punk. The big echoy Taylor Dayne type music came in as an answer to the mid-80s pop machine, and grunge rebelled against that and heavy metal. Then that horrible pop/rock hybrid in the 90s (see Hootie, etc).

All that said, disco was amazing. It was the first real "extended version" era of its kind. I fucking love "MacArthur Park Suite." All 17 fucking minutes of it!!! Those songs, overall, were anthemic, uplifting, and spoke directly from people's spirits. Then you add in gay singers like Sylvester singing about love and sex, in a pre-AIDS era were love and bodies were offered free for the taking... fuck yeah it was an exciting time!

TrivialPursuit said:

SoulAlive said:

Saturday Night Fever.....full disclosure: I am someone who thinks that the disco era was an incredibly exciting time I love everything connected to that era.

I don't know why disco still gets an eye roll from other folks. It really was an exciting time. It was a liberation, rebellion, and free thinking. It was a direct blowback against all the anti-war-Joan-Baez type shit from the late 60s and into the early 70s. People needed a damn break. (The same thing happened again when grunge took over for the hyper-produced pop era of the late 80s/very early 90s.)

There's always an ebb and flow to music. Disco rebelled against anti-war/folksie music, punk rebelled against disco. Disco came back as pop/dance music (see: Donna Summer "She Works Hard...") against punk. The big echoy Taylor Dayne type music came in as an answer to the mid-80s pop machine, and grunge rebelled against that and heavy metal. Then that horrible pop/rock hybrid in the 90s (see Hootie, etc).

All that said, disco was amazing. It was the first real "extended version" era of its kind. I fucking love "MacArthur Park Suite." All 17 fucking minutes of it!!! Those songs, overall, were anthemic, uplifting, and spoke directly from people's spirits. Then you add in gay singers like Sylvester singing about love and sex, in a pre-AIDS era were love and bodies were offered free for the taking... fuck yeah it was an exciting time!

If there was a time machine that would take us back to 1978,I would be first in line to get on it Studio 54,here I come,lol

I like the movie Grease

"SNF" all the way. The film may seem tame today, but it was hella controversial when it was released. Great storyline and soundtrack...Definitely one of my favorite films of the 70's.

As a movie, I like Grease

My vote goes to Saturday Night Fever. I'll be honest, although you are not talking about the soundtrack; it's impossible for me to think of the movie without the music.

After Prince, the Bee Gees are my next favourite.

SPYZFAN1 said:

One of these is a rated PG musical with fantasy sequences and a fairy tale story,
One of these is tough rated R realistic gritty drama with abuse and someone dies.

They are only similar in that they had hit soundtracks and starred John Travolta and are both from the 70's. I love both of them!

Purple Rain copped some Saturday Night Fever drama/abuse/gritty vibes.

ufoclub said:

One of these is a rated PG musical with fantasy sequences and a fairy tale story,
One of these is tough rated R realistic gritty drama with abuse and someone dies.

They are only similar in that they had hit soundtracks and starred John Travolta and are both from the 70's. I love both of them!

Purple Rain copped some Saturday Night Fever drama/abuse/gritty vibes.

Both were also produced by Robert Stigwood. I agree with your assessment - there really is no point in comparing these.

Genesia said:

ufoclub said:

One of these is a rated PG musical with fantasy sequences and a fairy tale story,
One of these is tough rated R realistic gritty drama with abuse and someone dies.

They are only similar in that they had hit soundtracks and starred John Travolta and are both from the 70's. I love both of them!

Purple Rain copped some Saturday Night Fever drama/abuse/gritty vibes.

Both were also produced by Robert Stigwood. I agree with your assessment - there really is no point in comparing these.

But we are

SoulAlive said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

"SNF" all the way. The film may seem tame today, but it was hella controversial when it was released.

Indeed that film definitely deserved its R rating,lol Do you remember,several months later,when they cleaned it up a little and released a PG version? They wanted kids to be able to see it too.

Makes sense since a lot of kids were buying the soundtrack. Kids watching it means more money at the box office

SoulAlive said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

"SNF" all the way. The film may seem tame today, but it was hella controversial when it was released.

Indeed that film definitely deserved its R rating,lol Do you remember,several months later,when they cleaned it up a little and released a PG version? They wanted kids to be able to see it too.

They even made a PG version of "Excalibur" for cable TV. That was my first rated R movie in the theater, and it was an eye opener.

Many parents took their kids to see the film, thinking they were going see the lovable, goofy "Barbarino" from "Welcome Back, Kotter" star in a movie about dancing..... but saw the exact opposite. I remember reading articles about how great Travolta was, but also how raw, vulgar,

profane and offensive the film was....That only spiked my interest more in seeing the film.

SPYZFAN1 said:

ufoclub said:

One of these is a rated PG musical with fantasy sequences and a fairy tale story,
One of these is tough rated R realistic gritty drama with abuse and someone dies.

They are only similar in that they had hit soundtracks and starred John Travolta and are both from the 70's. I love both of them!

Purple Rain copped some Saturday Night Fever drama/abuse/gritty vibes.

They also both had horrible sequels

[Edited 7/28/21 3:09am]

"Grease 2" was an abomination. Paramount wanted John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John to make a cameo at the end of the film, but they were smart enough to stay away from it....Sorry, but "Staying Alive" is a guilty pleasure film for me. ....Robert Stigwood and Paramount originally wanted "Staying Alive" to come out in 1980 (with a much darker script and storyline) but Travolta didn't like any of the ideas that were sent to him.....It wasn't until he saw "Rocky III" that he decided to call Stallone and have him direct the sequel....Despite the reviews, it did very well in the theaters...Yeah, it's over the top, but I guess that's the charm of it.

SPYZFAN1 said:

"Grease 2" was an abomination. Paramount wanted John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John to make a cameo at the end of the film, but they were smart enough to stay away from it....Sorry, but "Staying Alive" is a guilty pleasure film for me. ....Robert Stigwood and Paramount originally wanted "Staying Alive" to come out in 1980 (with a much darker script and storyline) but Travolta didn't like any of the ideas that were sent to him.....It wasn't until he saw "Rocky III" that he decided to call Stallone and have him direct the sequel....Despite the reviews, it did very well in the theaters...Yeah, it's over the top, but I guess that's the charm of it.

Yeah I saw it too in the theaters, not the worse movie ever but definitely a down grade from SNF for sure. I do like that song "Far from over" from Frank Stallone

SPYZFAN1 said:

Many parents took their kids to see the film, thinking they were going see the lovable, goofy "Barbarino" from "Welcome Back, Kotter" star in a movie about dancing..... but saw the exact opposite. I remember reading articles about how great Travolta was, but also how raw, vulgar,

profane and offensive the film was....That only spiked my interest more in seeing the film.

Yup me too. I was 7 at the time and I knew John Travolta from"Welcome Back, Kotter" was in it and I knew he wasn't going to be anything like Vinnie Barbarino. From a 7 year old point of view all the sexual innuendo and drug use went over my head. For me the movie was about a guy who dance very well and lot's of Bee Gee's music. I do remember laughing when the dad hit John Travolta head.

I still have my trading cards that I bought back then

[Edited 7/28/21 9:36am]

Lol!...I had no idea (until a few years ago) that there were "SNF" bubble gum/movie cards. Never saw them around when I was a kid....I remember TV ads (for the film) to buy the album, t shirts, necklace and pins, posters (I even have the "SNF" photo flik book) but not the cards....I'm kind of surprised that RSO didn't include a poster or iron-on decal in the album (like Casablanca Records did)..My folks wouldn't let me see the film (for all the reasons I mentioned), so I had to wait until it came on HBO late one night two years later.

'Grease 2' was awful They shouldn't have even bothered.This time,the songs were really dumb.Notice that none of those songs became hits or got alot of radio airplay.What a fiasco.

I didn't really like 'Stayin' Alive',either....but it could be because I just think that the late-70s disco era was EVERYTHING and nothing else compares to that era I have an obvious bias,lol.

interestingly.....in the late 70s,John Travolta was on a roll with two big blockuster movies in a row....but then came a third movie 'Moment By Moment',released in December 1978 this was such a boring dud! Can't see why he chose that ridiculous film.

fun fact: Andy Gibb auditioned for the male lead role in 'Grease 2',but it went to Maxwell Caulfield instead.