Fascinating Facts About Saturday Night Fever

"Saturday Night Fever," the seminal film that catapulted John Travolta to super stardom, turns 30 this year. The film debuted in 1977 and achieved both box office and critical success. Here are some fascinating facts about the movie.

Early test screenings of "Saturday Night Fever" were unfavorable. Audiences at early test screenings of the film reacted unfavorably to the excessive use of profanity and the boorish behavior of the characters. Despite the criticism, however, the film was left unaltered.

"Saturday Night Fever" received critical acclaim. The renowned film critic Pauline Kael wrote a gushing review of the film in the "New Yorker." The late film critic Gene Siskel (of Siskel and Ebert fame) considered it his favorite movie. At a charity auction, Siskel bid on and won the white disco suit worn by Travolta in the film. The winning bid was $17,000.

"Saturday Night Fever" propelled John Travolta to super stardom. In the '70s, John Travolta became a heartthrob to millions of teenage girls as a result of his memorable portrayal of swaggering bad boy Vinnie Barbarino on the ABC sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," but it was his Oscar-nominated role in "Saturday Night Fever" that launched his career into the stratosphere. He was only 23-years-old at the time.

"Saturday Night Fever" was based on a magazine article. The film was based on a 1976 "New York Magazine" article entitled, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night," by British writer Nik Cohn. Interestingly enough, in 1997 Cohn confessed that the story had been completely fabricated.

When production began on "Saturday Night Fever," disco was in decline. In fact, Travolta, who bought his own wardrobe for the film, found it difficult to find the polyester suits, platform shoes, and bell-bottom pants that characterized the disco era. He found most of his wardrobe stashed away in boxes in the back of various stores in Greenwich Village. As a result of the film and its soundtrack, disco enjoyed a brief renaissance in the late '70's.