| Staying Alive | |
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movie poster for Staying Alive |
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| Directed by | Sylvester Stallone |
| Produced by | Sylvester Stallone Robert Stigwood |
| Written by | Sylvester Stallone Norman Wexler |
| Starring | John Travolta Cynthia Rhodes Finola Hughes |
| Music by | Barry Gibb Maurice Gibb Robin Gibb |
| Cinematography | Nick McLean |
| Editing by | Peter E. Berger Mark Warner Don Zimmerman |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 1983 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $64,892,670 |
Staying Alive is the 1983 film sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as dancer Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso, and dancers Viktor Manoel, Kate Ann Wright, Kevyn Morrow and Nanette Tarpey. It was directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone.
The title comes from the Bee Gees song, Stayin' Alive, which was used as the theme song to Saturday Night Fever and is also played during the final scene of Staying Alive. This is the only film to date which Sylvester Stallone has written that he does not star in (although he does have an uncredited cameo).
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Six years after the events of Saturday Night Fever, former disco king Anthony "Tony" Manero, has left Brooklyn and is now living in Manhattan, staying in a flophouse while he works as a dance instructor and as a waiter at a dance club, looking for his big break in the modern dance productions on Broadway.
His breakaway from his Brooklyn life, family and friends (Joey, Double J.,Gus, and the late diminutive Bobby C) seems to have matured Tony and refined his personality, specifically represented by his diminished Brooklyn accent and his avoidance of alcohol and swear words. But certain attitudes haven't changed, as with his most recent girlfriend, the forgiving Jackie (Cynthia Rhodes). He holds a double standard whereby he feels at liberty to see other women, but becomes vexed if he finds Jackie with other men.
While watching a show in which Jackie is a dancer in the chorus, Tony focuses instead on the lead, a wealthy English dancer, Laura (Finola Hughes). He seduces and spends the night with her, but it becomes clear that Laura only intended to be involved with him for one night.
Tony feels used by her. She coldly dubs their relationship a mere one-night stand and justifies this by saying, "Everybody uses everybody." She even implies that Tony used her in order to get a dance role in her latest show.
Jackie is unhappy by his breaking several promises to meet with her. Jackie is also the vocalist of a local band and, unable to trust Tony, instead presumably begins a relationship with the band's rhythm guitarist (Frank Stallone), further upsetting Tony after his conflict with Laura.
Jackie, Tony, and Laura all try out for the Broadway production, "Satan's Alley". The others land small parts while Laura is once again cast as the lead female dancer. Jackie, sick of being considered second best in Tony's eyes, finally leaves him. Tony realizes how cruel he has been to her.
Tony walks all the way from Manhattan to his old neighborhood in Brooklyn in the middle of the night (in one scene he walks past his former hangout, The Odyssey 2001, where he spent his Saturday nights back in 1977, noticing the discoteque is now a gay nightclub). He visits his mother (Julie Bovasso), who he apologizes to for his selfish ways when he was young. She says the selfishness got him out of a dead-end life in Brooklyn.
Feeling better after this, Tony heads back to Manhattan to make things right with Jackie. He and the snobby Laura remain distant and hostile as the production progresses.
Seeing an opportunity to replace the lead male dancer, Tony asks Jackie to help practice a number. Laura is disgusted by the fact that Tony lands the lead, meaning she must now dance with Tony during the production. Despite her animosity, the two display a chemistry on stage. But on opening night, Tony brashly goes against the script and kisses Laura. She is repulsed and scratches his face.
Tony completes the rest of the performance without further problems, creating excitement with the audience and cast. After the show, he apologizes to Jackie and the two get back together.
Tony exits by the stage door to "strut" in celebration, reminiscent of the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever as he walks alone through Times Square, beaming with newfound self-confidence.
Several cast members from Saturday Night Fever were asked to reprise their roles. However, at the last second, Sylvester Stallone (who directed the film) rejected the idea, choosing to focus on the Tony Manero character instead.
The film was a success at the box office, earning almost $65 million in the US. While the figure is significantly less than the $94 million earned from its 1977 predecessor Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive ranks among the top ten most successful films of 1983.
Despite its economic success, critics blasted the movie, saying it lacked the heart[1] and interesting characters of Saturday Night Fever. In 2006, Entertainment Weekly dubbed Staying Alive the "Worst Sequel Ever."[2] Many critics complained that the sequel did not contain the grittiness or shock possessed by Saturday Night Fever. At Rotten Tomatoes, all the reviews (of which most are written retrospectively nearly 20 years after the film's release) are negative, where the movie has a 0% rating, based on 20 reviews.[3]
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