MovieChat Forums > Staying Alive (1983) Discussion > Tony Manero finally grew up a little !

Tony Manero finally grew up a little !

posted 10 years ago by RelpScooby
5 replies | jump to latest

I was having a sh---y day yesterday. On cable on OVAT - Saturday Night Fever aired.

While that was playing on MPLEX they were playing Staying Alive. Now keep in mind, I haven't seen Staying Alive in over 20 years and I had no desire to watch it. Hell, I remembered nothing about it, except a title and that it's part 2.

So I watched this with a brand new pair of eyes and enjoyed it, BIG TIME !!

I know what I'll say will upset people but I don't care, some facts are facts =

Saturday Night Fever = musical

Staying Alive = dance and drama

If the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack didn't exist, would that movie have been anything ? I mean the movie had absolutely no story line what so ever. There's 2 versions of the movie, with and without the Disco Duck. Now the characters in the movie, were very very likable but unfortunately it wasn't a "movie". But I did read how much Travolta got himself into shape, just for the part. But the dances were repetitive but they changed disco/dance music forever.

Staying Alive even though it's an 80's movie you have to "NOT" look for so much of Bee Gees within this movie. Every time Tony will grace the screen you won't hear, "More Than A Woman". So if that's what fans wanted, you weren't going to get it. This movie was the evolution of the man Tony Manero. This movie was a drama, dealt with adult situations and "real dancing" and the not disco usual finger pointing dance. Travolta got into even better shape, while growing a few years older. The dances weren't really repetitive and he wasn't strutting at a night club. He was actually trying to make a living off of his passion for dancing. So if Stallone and all these people believe this was a bad sequel, I disagree.

Saturday Night Fever is a disco Wizard of Oz with bad a script
Staying Alive is male version of Flash Dance and a predecessor to terrible movies like Show Girls and many other movies.

[–] ChocolateButt 10 years ago

I feel like you didn't get SNF at all. Your descriptions of it are just so off base.

Stop! Manners time.

[–] ChocolateButt 10 years ago

I feel like you didn't get SNF at all. Your descriptions of it are just so off base.

Stop! Manners time.

[–] RelpScooby 10 years ago

Hold the --ck up !!

I was born in 1976 and this was the first soundtrack to my ears.

I didn't read your other post I read this. With such a name like "ChcolateButt", do you REALLY believe you have any value to this world ???? Oh right, like that retard Nicki Minaj judging American Idol and trying to rival a living legend Mariah.

I'm done.

Thank You

[–] ChocolateButt 10 years ago

Great debate tactics you got there, chief. Ranting about American Idol and attacking my username (you have no idea what actually inspired it so pipe down)...really impressive...

I don't care what year you were born in. So many fans of this piece of sh!t seem to be watching it through nostalgia-tinted glasses, making their opinions highly compromised anyway (finger pointing? Haha, no). Everyone is entitled to love SA, maybe even more than SNF, but don't try to argue that it is in any way better.

Tony may have grown physically, but mentally he was just as much of a selfish child as he was in the original (which tackled very mature themes- drug abuse, racism, rape, suicide, parental pressure). But in the sequel he doesn't drink, smoke or swear. Very convenient considering the PG rating...

Oh, and my second was an accidental double post. Don't worry your cranky old head about it.

Stop! Manners time.

[–] TMC-4 (20179) 4 years ago

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/9170706-staying-alive

This movie was so far from the themes and energy of Saturday Night Fever. "This" Tony Manero had lost all the charm. He was hard, bitchy and unlikable, whereas the earlier "version" of him was a bit naive, with a big heart. He was a character you rooted for. In Staying Alive, there was no soul to the character. Even with the rest of the movie being total 80's Flashdance shit, if the lead character had retained his original charm, they might have pulled it off. It's a bad film through and through as a result. Camp is it's only redeeming value.

—Anonymous
reply 17 04/26/2010