HTF REVIEW: "Saturday Night Fever" (Highly Recommended) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Elizabeth S]

Wow, that is so cool! (Regarding the e-mail from John Badham!) Great review!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Kudos on the email from Mr. Badham, Ron.

I'm hoping that Costco might have SNF in the normal Amaray cases (like they did for the Grease DVD). I'm crossing my fingers until Tuesday!

 

[Michael Dueppen]

Great review, Ron. Thanks. And kudos on the mail from John Badham. Very nice surprise.
I just ordered the disc although I didn't have any intention to get it. I'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

My copy showed up yesterday. It looks great!

The packaging is a bummer though. I had a tough time sliding the insert back into the sleeve. It turns out there is a security tag on the inside of the already tight sleeve.

Neil

 

[Dave Mack]

Great news re: the Email from John Badham, Ron!
If you do communicate again, can you find out if his '79 Dracula is going to get a DECENT (anamorphic) re-release?
Also, I've read here that he chose to desaturate the color for the DVD release. Neat idea, but I feel that the original "color" was MUCH better.

Thanx! Dave Mack

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Back to the cover, I like the glitter design, and I like the Travolta photos on the insert. I don't like the VH-1 logo on the front, and I'm incredibly dissapointed by the typo on the back.

"Every Saturday, Tony puts on his wide collared shirt, flared pants and platform shoes and heads out to the only place where he's seen a god rather than just some young punk".

Ummmmm, I think they meant to say "where he's seen AS a god..."

Neil

 

[David Von Pein]

I think they meant to say "where he's seen AS a god..."

Yes, Neil! Just got my copy ahead of time on Saturday as well...and was thinking the very same thing you were. I wonder if the scribes of the packaging were thinking that the word "As" just might be expendable in this passage (similar to "The" being omitted many times). But it does look kinda funny (it's written as if Tony himself has had a vision of "seeing a god" while at 2001!
Also Neil....If you work hard enough (about a 45-minute chore for me [slight exaggeration included] ), you can remove that damn security tag from the innards of the outer slip-sleeve. Grease, I just now noticed, has the same deal. But it's not nearly as tight a fit with the tag in place as is the SNF box.
I ask you...WHY can't all the studios use those loose white insert cards for the security device?! (With the device embedded into a corner of the paper.) This would make things much more pleasant for all DVD collectors (anal-ites, and otherwise)!
And who's the Einstein in "Hub Development By The Mentally Retarded" that keeps giving us these hubs in custom-type cases with 2 of the 4 finger-indented areas plugged up with plastic...thereby making it impossible to grab the disc at opposite ends while attempting to twist it out of its super-tight hub?! If they have to plug up 2 of these finger areas (which is silly to begin with), why can't they plug them up at opposite ends, instead of only the bottom 2?! Makes no sense! Sorry, but this really gets my spring wound up!
Compare this SNF hub with the PERFECT hubs put into the Mary Tyler Moore Season 1 case....you'll see what I mean. Mary's MUCH easier to take out! (Sorry, Mary, didn't mean to make you sound like a lady of the evening. )

 

[Jonathan_]

I just picked up Saturday Night Fever at a well known warehouse club. It came in a keepcase which was a big plus, but the price was even better. Only $13.48!!!!! I also picked up Flashdance, Footloose, and Urban Cowboy for only $13.48!! So not only did I get the movies early, I got them cheaper than any other retailer is advertising them fro this week. If anyone would like to know where to find them just e-mail me and I'll let you know.

 

[Carlo_M]

Wow, you are the man, Ron! I hope he does give you permission to reprint his email, that would be an eye-opening read, I think...

My copy's on its way!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Actually, I can't reprint it.

There's a lot of private stuff in there about
the filming.

Don't think he would appreciate me reprinting it.

It was just real nice of him to write. I need
to write him back as soon as I have a moment.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

I missed this one in the theaters but was definately a part of the disco scene. I was there when it started c.1974 and ended c.1982, have a massive collection of disco music, and even still have some of my garb stashed away in the closet somewhere. Oh those were the days when you could just forget about almost anything negative in your world while up on the dance floor
This is one of the definitive movies to own if anyone was a part of the era. Isn't "Staying Alive" also slated to come out around the same time? Of course "Can't Stop The Music" is already out so now if Columbia would come out with "Thank God It's Friday" then we would have the complete "trilogy".

 

[Douglas R]

Back to the cover, I like the glitter design, and I like the Travolta photos on the insert. I don't like the VH-1 logo on the front, and I'm incredibly dissapointed by the typo on the back.

Just got the UK version which has the correct text on the back cover "seen as a God"! The cover is similar but features a picture of Karen Lynn Gorney next to Travolta.

 

[David Von Pein]

the UK version ... the cover is similar but features a picture of Karen Lynn Gorney next to Travolta.

I'll be darned! (Note the subtle difference in the way the title is spelled out as well.) .....
UK:

USA:
Link Removed
Hey....speaking of UK vs. US differences in packaging: take a look at the Grease U.K. box! Much different from the U.S. version. ....

 

[David Von Pein]

the UK version....

Douglas....Did you get it in a keepcase or the paper digipak?

 

[David Von Pein]

Packaging notwithstanding, I love this SNF DVD! Fabulous picture and sound!
Question, though, about the soundtrack (to whoever might know): It seems that some sounds have been "added" (or beefed up at least) to this new DVD soundtrack. Such as: being able to hear Travolta's shoes strike the pavement with each step he takes in the opening credits sequence. I don't recall this on the VHS tape. I think a line of dialogue has been added as well (Tony mumbled something under his breath in a scene, but on the DVD it's brought out as intelligible).
The purists will probably hate these minor changes (similar to the "plate-rattling" scene in Jaws that was added for the DVD release). But they do not interfere at all with the scenes in question. I liked hearing each click of Tony's shoes on the sidewalk. (Perhaps these sounds were, in fact, there on VHS. But with the DVD, you can hear them easily now.)

 

[John Tillman]

Got mine today at Costco's for $14.99 in a keepcase.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Will anybody with the keepcase version be able to make a high-rez scan of it? I don't really care for this tight cardboard case that mine came in.

Neil

 

[Douglas R]

Douglas....Did you get it in a keepcase or the paper digipak?

The UK version is a plastic and paper digipak inserted into the outer sleeve.

 

[David Von Pein]

What happened here?!
THE day of SNF's release, and NO HTF member reviews/comments?! Come now!
Don't tell me it's yet another instance of the It comes in shitty packaging, so I can't possibly lower myself to buy it, no matter how much I love the movie syndrome! Not with SNF! It's too good a Classic to use the crappy-case excuse!
The film looks tremendous on this DVD! The sound is great too. The only thing missing is the original trailer. One can only shake one's head in bewilderment as to why we don't see the trailer on the disc. But, that's a minor quibble.
"Al Pacino? I don't look like Al Pacino."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

THE day of SNF's release, and NO HTF member reviews/comments?! Come now!

Maybe everyone's too busy boogieing to write?