Staying Alive (1983) Reviews

• Not far from over

  Daniel-Couri1999-03-16

  I don't understand why critics always scorn this film. OK, it doesn't have the magic of its predecessor "Saturday Night Fever", but it works as an "80's point of view" of the original film. The thing is that you should watch this film as a single one, not a 'sequel'. It has nothing to do with "Saturday Night Fever" but the main character Tony Manero (once again played by John Travolta) and his mother (Julie Bovasso) in a brief appearance. Fast forward from 1977 to 1983. Now Tony wants to be a Broadway star and keeps his struggle for a more mature purpose, as he himself is more mature. Manero's "moody girl" here is Laura (Finola Hughes, not so convincing), who also looks down on him. The funniest thing about "Staying Alive" is that it is directed by Sylvester Stallone! (No one remembers...) The soundtrack is one of my favorite, although it didn't received the deserved attention at the time of its release, nor did the movie itself. (I think people were afraid of another 'Bee Gees fever'). After this film, Travolta's career fell out of the spotlight only to be retaken in late 80's with "Look Who's Talking". Summarizing, in my opinion it is a very good movie, but don't expect this to be another "Saturday Night Fever".

• love this movie!!!

  shannonlorraine2007-09-09

  I love this movie. I grew up dancing in my basement to this soundtrack. John Travolta always a genius and Cynthia Rhodes is brilliant. I think it is best to not compare it to Saturday Night Fever. Saturday Night Fever is in a league of its own and I do think Mr. Stallone was not trying to recreate the original. On its own it is a fantastic movie!! Killer soundtrack and amazing dancing!! The best scenes in my opinion, are the opening audition scene, that is some serious dancing from Travolta, as well as the last scene of Satan's Alley-"Jump Damn it!!" What more can you ask for???

• ONE OF THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD MOVIES EVER MADE

  Katmiss2001-07-11

  Sylvester Stallone's "Staying Alive" is one of the most misunderstood movies ever made. It is the sequel to the very popular "Saturday Night Fever". However, "Staying Alive" is often pegged as a turkey in comparison to the first film. That is very unfair. I wonder whether critics have anything against the film or Stallone himself. Stallone had established himself as a very capable director with "Paradise Alley" in 1978 and "Rocky II" in 1979 and "Rocky III" in 1982. But they seem unwilling to lay off Stallone and his many talents. I think he does an excellent job continuing the story of Tony Manero (played again by John Travolta). If you love dance, you will love this film. Stallone uses his camera extremely well to capture the nuances of dance itself. There is one very strong sequence in which Tony and his on-again, off-again girlfriend practice for a Broadway musical that takes up about 12 minutes and is just exhilarating. The story is also very good here. Tony is now a professional dance instructor in Manhattan who has a chance to get a part in the hottest new Broadway musical out there "Satan's Alley". Tony finds himself torn between two women and Stallone asks a lot of tough questions about relationships here that a harebrained movie wouldn't even touch. Travolta is again on target here as Tony Manero. A lesser actor wouldn't even touch material as tricky as this, but Travolta takes the risks and it pays off. The music (by the Bee Gees and Frank Stallone) is excellent and fulfills the same purpose music did in the original. "Staying Alive" probably won't ever receive the recognition it deserves. For those of you wondering, I am not being paid by Paramount to say this. My opinions CAN'T and NEVER WILL BE bought. I genuinely feel that this is an exceptional film and that it deserves better than it has received over the years. **** out of 4 stars

• It's Okay to Like This Movie!

  Hobomok2005-07-11

  I'm not going to say this is the best movie ever made, but I won't deny I've seen it dozens of times, and that it's one of my all-time favorites. Part of the reason that it's become one of those movies people love to hate is that, of course, it's a sequel to a genuinely really good film, a serious movie that's not really about dancing at all, Saturday Night Fever. If you can set aside the comparison and the anger that Stallone may have "ruined" the attempt at a good sequel (please--as if SNF even had a possibility for a serious sequel!), then you can enjoy this movie on its own level, as a fun piece of sexploitation with a dance twist not at all different from that other big 80's dance movie, Flashdance. As such, it's fantastic. Tony Manero has made it across the bridge and now he has his sights set on a starring Broadway role. It's hard, of course, and although he's a fine dancer, he must struggle through two jobs (dance instructor and hot waiter) while trying to break into showbiz. He shares the struggle with the single most underrated 80's icon, Cynthia Rhodes (also in Flashdance and Dirty Dancing). He likes her well enough but likes Finola Hughes (Blossom, How Do I Look?) much better, echoing the struggle between okay and just great loves he had in SNF. His one-night-stand with Laura (Hughes) gets him a part in a musical called Satan's Alley (a Dante-meets-Fosse extravaganza). When the surreptitiously gay male lead turns out to be "too mechanical" to get the sparks going with sultry Laura, Tony replaces him successfully (he has "anger" and "intensity"). Tension is created by the most ordinary love triangle, and just before the final act on opening night Laura tries to deflate an exuberant Tony after he rejects her invitation to get together after the show by telling him he doesn't "have it." To prove he does, Tony spins her into a smoke cloud and performs an impromptu solo that proves to all that he indeed has "it" and then some. The movie ends with the simplest of all conclusions: yep, Tony made it! Sounds awful? It is! On the one hand, you can almost see the idea behind this plot, some genuine (if horribly executed) effort at continuing SNF's storyline: was Tony serious about leaving all the Brooklyn b-llsh-t behind him after he realizes the emptiness of his life that horrible night? Could he really learn to respect women, even to be a friend to one? Did he have what it takes to make it outside his small pond? On the other, apparently no one was able to provide satisfying answers to these questions. The love triangle doesn't move beyond the original; it mocks it. The Tony Manero character doesn't seem to grow at all. If anything, it's even less introspective. But trying to evaluate a plot in a movie like this is like trying to find profundity in an episode of Charlie's Angels. What makes this movie good is exactly what makes it bad, too. Travolta was never in better shape in his life, and he dances well. This can be either gross or riveting. I don't know if Hughes did her own dancing (seems so), but she's supple and sexy, if not as absolutely liquid as Rhodes, who is mesmerizing. Some dance sequences are great; some just awful (the strobe sequence is laugh-out-loud ridiculous). Some music is great ("Someone Belonging to Someone" by the Bee Gees); some pap ("Never Gonna Give You Up"). The fact that the plot and the dialogue are skimpy is actually a blessing. Do you really want to hear these people talking? No. The music does the talking, when it's good. Here's what I propose: I propose that, if this had been a stand-alone film, if the plot were just background and SNF had never been made, this movie would be as beloved as Flashdance or Footloose or Dirty Dancing or any of those. Some people don't like these either, but that's okay because nobody likes them.

• Decent to watch, but don't be misled...

  rocnar2008-07-29

  The problem with Staying Alive is that the foundation of it is from an era that had passed. Sure, in the early-mid 1980s, there were plenty of films about dancing: Footloose, Flashdash, Breakin', etc., etc., but Tony Manero (his attitude and dancing prowess) is a product of the mid-late 1970s disco scene…which, stylistically, by 1983 was dead. Trying to interject him into an era where dancing films were now steeped in spandex, leg warmers, ostentatious synthesizers, turn table scratching, glitzy pyrotechnics, and flamboyant "CATS"-esque outfits just seemed…well…awkward. While John Travolta puts on a great performance and is endlessly mesmerizing throughout the whole film, the Tony Manero character, overall, comes across very "different" than before. Though he continues to be cocky and full of himself, this time around very conspicuous dimensions of merriment, tenderness, vulnerability and patience are so interpolated into his character that it almost seemed—in a way—like not the same guy. Can someone really mellow THAT much in only six years? He comes across more like a nicer, slightly older, cousin of the original Manero. And while it's likable, sure, it's still a bit distracting and weird. Laura, the "heroine" of the film (if you can call her that), meanwhile is thoroughly obnoxious in just about every scene she's in…which is disappointing because at the beginning of the movie you expect to like her. The ending of the film, with Tony (after having given a triumphant performance during his Broadway revue) strutting up the street to the sounds of the Bee-Gee's "Staying Alive" is a delightful throwback to the original film, but at the same time it also immediately hearkens your mind back to SNF and brings to a head why this sequel isn't as good. If you take the film for what it is, and are able to disconnect from what you know about Saturday Night Fever, then it's worth watching…once. But if you go into watching it with SNF in your head (like most of us automatically will), then you are going to be left feeling at somewhat of a loss on how to take it.