0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains strong language, and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:08 > 0:00:1140 years ago, one film changed the world. It was the greatest disco film ever made.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15# Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a woman's man... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Saturday Night Fever was made for peanuts
0:00:17 > 0:00:23but it became one of the biggest box office sensations of the decade.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26It's a little disco movie. We have no budget for anything.
0:00:26 > 0:00:32To me, it felt more like an art film and not a pop commercial film.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34The last thing I thought was we were going to have a movie
0:00:34 > 0:00:36and we'd be talking about it 40 years later.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39That movie is Taxi Driver with dancing.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43# You should be dancing, yeah
0:00:44 > 0:00:45# Dancing... #
0:00:45 > 0:00:48It was a tale of love and ambition
0:00:48 > 0:00:52that sparked a worldwide disco craze.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57It inspired a new passion for flamboyant disco dancing
0:00:57 > 0:01:01and its soundtrack captured the imagination of a generation.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04The album was huge, right from the day.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10It gave the Bee Gees a string of number one singles.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14In that moment, this was the greatest time of our lives.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16It wasn't just this hit movie, it was this phenomenon,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and you couldn't get away from it.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Overnight, it turned John Travolta
0:01:21 > 0:01:24into one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27My whole life has been a blessing with that movie.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30It's the foundation, it's the blueprint for my whole career.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It gave me a job as a character actor,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35I got my first Oscar nomination.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39And it broke new ground with high-octane action scenes.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44It was more than just a dance movie
0:01:44 > 0:01:47and it had a gritty sense of reality to it.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51It was one of the most iconic movies of all time
0:01:51 > 0:01:55but the journey from script to screen was far from straightforward.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Saturday Night Fever only got made
0:01:59 > 0:02:02because of a series of accidents and lucky breaks.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07# Yeah, you should be dancing, yeah
0:02:08 > 0:02:11# Dancing, yeah
0:02:11 > 0:02:15# What you doin' on your back, aah?
0:02:15 > 0:02:17# What you doin' on your back...? #
0:02:17 > 0:02:24In 1977, I was a dancer here, in New York, and I lived for the disco!
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Saturday Night Fever was my life in time.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32I thought I remembered it all but, in fact,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I'd forgotten just how incredible the story was.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Great performances.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43Even some of that dance floor action that gave us all "the fever".
0:02:45 > 0:02:48It was a New York story made at a time
0:02:48 > 0:02:53when the city was crime ridden, filthy and almost bankrupt.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Unemployment was running high.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Times were hard in Manhattan and harder still out in the boroughs.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07The biggest of these, Brooklyn, is just across the East River
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and, back then, was home to Italian-Americans,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12African-Americans and Hispanics.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20On Saturday nights, in the neighbourhood of Bay Ridge,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23young Brooklynites danced their troubles away
0:03:23 > 0:03:27in a club called 2001 Odyssey.
0:03:27 > 0:03:33Really, at that time, disco was the minorities' haven
0:03:33 > 0:03:35and, of course, in Brooklyn,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40it was a very predominantly Italian club,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42the 2001 club.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47And in spring, 1977, Hollywood came here
0:03:47 > 0:03:49to recreate this Saturday night ritual
0:03:49 > 0:03:53that saw kids seeking escape on the dance floor.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56MUSIC: Night Fever by Bee Gees
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Four decades later,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Italian-Americans who were extras in the film
0:04:03 > 0:04:06remember the story like it was yesterday.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09I've got this guy, his name is Tony Manero,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11he works in a hardware store.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13MUSIC: Stayin' Alive by Bee Gees
0:04:13 > 0:04:17- It starts out with him... - The feet walking.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Walking with his tin of paint and then he stops at Lenny's.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22- "Give me two slices."- Right.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25"Hey, Phil, I want that shirt. Hold that shirt for me."
0:04:25 > 0:04:28The mother, she's kind of religious...
0:04:30 > 0:04:32..and the brother, he was a priest.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34The father was out of work, so he's pissed off anyway.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38- What are you doing? - "One pork chop!"- One pork chop!
0:04:38 > 0:04:41He's got a dead-end job and he lived for Saturday night,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44combed the hair and everything, and it was a thing.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Tony dances at the discotheque
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and then he realises that he wants to go other places in his life.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52"Annette, cigarette?" She was good.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54When he saw Stephanie, he was like,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56"Oh, my God! See you later, Annette."
0:04:56 > 0:05:01I changed my mind about us dancing together. I got another partner.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05I don't know what he saw in her. "She's a snotty bitch, man."
0:05:05 > 0:05:06She's a snotty bitch, man.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10And after the Spanish people dance, then they dance and they killed it.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13When he gives the prize away, he grabs her hand
0:05:13 > 0:05:15- and he walks up to this dancer and he goes...- "Shithole!"
0:05:15 > 0:05:17And everything just came to a point at the end
0:05:17 > 0:05:19when the friend dies and all that.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22SCREAMING
0:05:22 > 0:05:24He fell off the Verazzano bridge.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26White suit, he's all dishevelled.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29He was trying to understand what he's doing with his friends
0:05:29 > 0:05:31and they're just hoods that got no future.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34And he says, "I've got to get out of here and try to start my life over."
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Astonishingly, the man who spotted the story potential
0:05:38 > 0:05:41of Brooklyn's nightlife wasn't a New Yorker at all.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43He wasn't even American.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46He was a British journalist called Nik Cohn,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49who was scouring New York's disco scene for material.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52I started going first of all to these gay clubs
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and then the disco dance contests all over the five boroughs.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00I went to 2001 Odyssey,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03where the story is set
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and I got the cold shoulder. Nobody would really talk to me.
0:06:06 > 0:06:13Outside the door, there was this guy in a body shirt and striking a pose.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16At that point, the light bulb went on.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20I'd seen this culture before with Teddy boys and with mods,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22a certain self-sufficiency,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26and I wrote a fictional story about what was inside his head.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32And that was my story that became Saturday Night Fever.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Cohn's story appeared in New York magazine.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40He'd been a novelist since he was 19
0:06:40 > 0:06:45and you could tell that by the way he described nightlife in Brooklyn,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47a world away from Manhattan.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51# Controlling my mind and my soul
0:06:51 > 0:06:53# When you reach out for me... #
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Three great dances featured in Saturday Night Fever,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00enrapturing the public and making it a box office sensation.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04The line dance is the first and easiest.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08It gave audiences something new, a piece of film action
0:07:08 > 0:07:12they could recreate in their own local dance hall.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15This is Hackney in London and choreographer Carl Parris
0:07:15 > 0:07:19is at work with a new generation of disco dancers.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21He's introducing them to the routines
0:07:21 > 0:07:24that went down in disco history.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26One, two, three, four,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28five, six, seven, eight.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30One, two, three, four...
0:07:30 > 0:07:33One, two, three, four,
0:07:33 > 0:07:34five, six...
0:07:34 > 0:07:37I want to ask you, actually,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40how does it feel for this new generation?
0:07:40 > 0:07:44How does it feel doing this? It's fun, isn't it?
0:07:44 > 0:07:47There is no kind of trying to outdo each other.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51There is a sense of having a lot of people together,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54having great fun, without giving attitude.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56One, two, three, four,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58five, six, seven, eight.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02To my eye, the line dance has a tinge of country and western
0:08:02 > 0:08:06but it turns out it's a glimpse of a dance
0:08:06 > 0:08:09that was current in New York in 1977.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Five, six, seven, eight.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15I never saw it in the clubs before the movie.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Well, this dance existed from the black clubs,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21known as the electric slide -
0:08:21 > 0:08:26a line dance, basic, but giving more funk, more soul.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29- It's a lot more earthy. - And then everybody did it.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32- Then everybody is doing a black dance.- Exactly.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36One, two, three, four, and round. And here we go.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40In the film, we can see how seriously Tony takes his dancing.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45He's like an athlete. He treats dance like sport.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50This attitude allowed straight white males to feel comfortable
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and take to the dance floor.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57It has that kind of feel, hasn't it? It makes you feel happy.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00Come on, get down to it, kids!
0:09:00 > 0:09:04# That sweet city woman She moves through the light
0:09:04 > 0:09:07# Controlling my mind and my soul... #
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Nik Cohn found the Brooklyn dance story
0:09:11 > 0:09:15but it was Australian music supremo Robert Stigwood
0:09:15 > 0:09:18who realised that it could transfer to the big screen.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Robert Stigwood is 37, a millionaire and having fun.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25I was working for Robert Stigwood.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27He'd made his fortune being an outlier.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29He was a maverick. He didn't go by the rules.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31He wasn't interested in received wisdom
0:09:31 > 0:09:35and he took that approach into all the businesses he was in.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39# ..To Massachusetts... #
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Stigwood managed pop groups, among them the Bee Gees.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46By the mid-'70s, the supergroup were in the doldrums,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49reduced to playing in working men's clubs.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52We did a whole stint
0:09:52 > 0:09:56at Batley Variety Club and places like that in Sheffield and around,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59during what we used to call the pop wilderness.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03We were at a point where we would probably have gone back to Australia
0:10:03 > 0:10:06and accepted the fact that we were a five-year group.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08# Jive talkin'
0:10:08 > 0:10:11# You're telling me lies... #
0:10:11 > 0:10:15But Stigwood had seen how disco might salvage the Bee Gees' career.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17# Jive talkin'
0:10:17 > 0:10:20# So misunderstood, yeah... #
0:10:20 > 0:10:21He was a visionary.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24He was probably one of the only guys left like that
0:10:24 > 0:10:27who created opportunities for the artist.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28And he was always the kind of guy
0:10:28 > 0:10:31that would make you do something that maybe you'd never done before.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33He drew the originality out of you.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Doing something different is always the biggest risk.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39# With all your jive talkin'... #
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Leaving the R&B ballads behind, the Bee Gees wrote Jive Talkin'.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48It was a huge hit and they became a major disco act.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51It wasn't long before they'd be singing the soundtrack
0:10:51 > 0:10:53for Saturday Night Fever.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Meanwhile, Stigwood had his eye on another career -
0:10:57 > 0:11:01that of a young TV actor playing a character called Vinnie Barbarino
0:11:01 > 0:11:04in US sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07The first time I heard John's name was Robert saying
0:11:07 > 0:11:10he was watching Welcome Back, Kotter and he said,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13"There's this kid in it who's great and he's going to be a movie star."
0:11:13 > 0:11:16It was kind of a phenomenon - at least among young girls, it was.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18He'd gotten a lot of attention
0:11:18 > 0:11:21and Stigwood decided he wanted to sign him to a three-picture deal.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27The three-picture deal, from my end, was what said to me
0:11:27 > 0:11:30that everything my manager and I had worked hard for,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33since I was 16 years old, had come to fruition
0:11:33 > 0:11:37and that it was our job to do the best with that three-picture deal.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39No-one had signed a television actor
0:11:39 > 0:11:42to a three-picture million-dollar deal and that was typical Robert.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44He did nothing by halves.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45I was 17 years old
0:11:45 > 0:11:47and I was auditioning for a big Broadway musical
0:11:47 > 0:11:51called Jesus Christ Superstar and I gave a really good audition
0:11:51 > 0:11:55and I didn't know really who Robert Stigwood was but, apparently,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00he was in the audience, taking notes on a yellow pad, work pad.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04And cut to... That was 1971,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and then cut to 1977 and he said,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10"Now I might show you what I wrote about you."
0:12:10 > 0:12:14And he took the yellow pad and it read...
0:12:15 > 0:12:17"This boy is too young
0:12:17 > 0:12:19"for this production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24"However, watch out. He's going to be something." And...
0:12:25 > 0:12:27How about that?
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Stigwood had the rights to make the musical Grease for the big screen
0:12:32 > 0:12:34but it was delayed.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36I think Grease was running as a show.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39They didn't want to start the movie till later,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43so Robert was on the lookout for something for John to do.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48One of the first projects I acquired was this magazine article
0:12:48 > 0:12:51called Travel Rites Of The New Saturday Night.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52Right from the beginning, Robert saw this
0:12:52 > 0:12:54as a commercial piece with wide appeal.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56He read the article and he said, "I want to do the movie."
0:12:56 > 0:13:02The lady I was living with said, "We got a call from a Rabbi Stigfelt.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04"I think he was looking for contributions.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06"I told him where to go."
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Bill just rang and said, "Is that true? Are you available?"
0:13:10 > 0:13:13I said, "I'm totally available." So, I bowled around for tea.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16We were able to make a deal with him
0:13:16 > 0:13:20and so we showed it to John Travolta and he loved it.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22There's not a guarantee that the story,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24about a slice of life in Brooklyn,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27will turn out to be a valid film story.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32And, to me, it felt more like an art film and not a pop commercial film.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37It turned into that but I'm not sure whether we expected that.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44Stigwood had a star, the Bee Gees for the soundtrack, and a story,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47but no cash for a big Hollywood production team.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Overnight, his assistant Kevin McCormick became a film producer.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56The ramp-up to this becoming a movie was both quick and unguided
0:13:56 > 0:13:58and I'm on the front lines of this
0:13:58 > 0:14:00with literally no experience and no supervision.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04So I went out to California and I went to various agencies
0:14:04 > 0:14:07and said I was looking for a director
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and I had this magazine article
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and basically got a cold shoulder from everybody,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14and there was one particular director
0:14:14 > 0:14:15that I was kind of interested in.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21John Avildsen had just made another Italian-American story
0:14:21 > 0:14:23on a tiny budget.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24It hadn't been released yet
0:14:24 > 0:14:27but everyone said he was a director to watch.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30The phone rang and it was this Marvin Moss
0:14:30 > 0:14:31and he said, "Kid, you're in luck.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33"He read the article and he's interested
0:14:33 > 0:14:35"but you'd better see his new movie first."
0:14:35 > 0:14:37So, we went to see Rocky before it opened.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45And John Avildsen became the first director of Saturday Night Fever.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Avildsen wanted screenwriter Norman Wexler
0:14:49 > 0:14:53to work on the Nik Cohn story. It was another gamble.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55He was manic-depressive.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58He seemed extremely subdued and he chain-smoked a lot
0:14:58 > 0:15:02and was very low-key and very slow to speak.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06He made it his duty to really do research in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08He would stay up all night and write.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10He would haunt those clubs in his old raincoat
0:15:10 > 0:15:12and a little scratchpad, making notes.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Norman Wexler's an excellent writer.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17He captured the grittiness and the language.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20It's probably, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
0:15:20 > 0:15:25the most rough language movie in movie history.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28And, without repeating the lines, I could tell you,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31because we used them so effortlessly
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and as punctuations for sentences or operative words,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40that it didn't offend, it was just natural communication.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44My Vincent is a quite two-dimensional character.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46He was able to put much more flesh on the bone.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49He was written no differently
0:15:49 > 0:15:52than a De Niro character in Taxi Driver
0:15:52 > 0:15:55or James Caan in The Godfather.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00He was gritty, sensitive, rough, but stylish.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05His instinct for dance and dressing was of another level
0:16:05 > 0:16:08but, at the same time, he was a Brooklyn tough kid,
0:16:08 > 0:16:14but he had hopes and dreams that went beyond the obvious
0:16:14 > 0:16:16and that's what made him so special.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20We'd all read the first draft
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and, as long as it was, there was real cinematic gold in it.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27That movie is Taxi Driver with dancing.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It's a rough, tough movie.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33People should be offended by everything we do in that movie.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Come on, fuckhead! Hey, son of a fuck won't budge.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Wexler's dialogue was harsh.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41John Avildsen began to worry about it.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45He also began worrying about other aspects of the film - the music.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50But Stigwood had no fears about the soundtrack.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52He and his record exec, Bill Oakes,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55headed to France to discuss the film with the Bee Gees.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Robert called me up
0:16:57 > 0:16:59and said, "Would you write a few songs for this film?"
0:16:59 > 0:17:01And it just went from there
0:17:01 > 0:17:05because we were really mixing a live album in Herouville
0:17:05 > 0:17:10at the Chateau and they came to see us, Bill Oakes, Robert.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13They were in the studio mixing stuff and we told them about the movie.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16I said, "Do you want to see a script?" They said, "No."
0:17:16 > 0:17:17We never read the script.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20All we needed to know was what's the subject matter.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22"Did I have any titles?" - that's what he said.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And I said, "Yeah, I've got some titles."
0:17:25 > 0:17:29I liked Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love
0:17:29 > 0:17:31and Staying Alive.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34And Robert liked all the titles but there were no songs at that point.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38A few days like later, this cassette arrived, magically,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41with five number ones on it. It was extraordinary.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45We were in a very, very old building
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and we stood on the stairs because the echo was great.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Truthfully, songs were written in a day or two.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52It usually happened quick.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54I can't recall a time when someone had written
0:17:54 > 0:17:58so many obviously smash hits in such a short time.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Back in New York, director Avildsen was now worrying
0:18:01 > 0:18:03about the dancing in the film.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06He realised Travolta was going to have to deliver
0:18:06 > 0:18:08something exceptional.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12Dancer Deney Terrio was hired to build his athleticism
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and take his performance to another level.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Travolta, already a natural, thought it would be easy.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19Because I already know how to dance.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23- I turned the radio on, Jungle Boogie, Kool & The Gang.- Yeah.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25And he started dancing and I watched him.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28And I said, "That's very good, John. Now sit down."
0:18:28 > 0:18:31And I put the music back on and I started doing the Russian leaps,
0:18:31 > 0:18:36the splits and the knee drops and he went, "I've got to learn that."
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Now, I would show him a move and it wouldn't look good on him.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42- So you have to make it good for him? - Yes.- Yes.- So, we used to do...
0:18:43 > 0:18:48- And if you notice, if you watch John...- Yeah, that's the classic.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52- The point!- The point.- The point.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54THEY LAUGH
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I mean that is just, like, for ever.
0:18:56 > 0:19:02You go from the kind of classic disco, you know, the hand movements.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08- The knee drops.- I call it the knee cracker. Oh, that's hard.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Yeah, one arm comes out and then you cross over like this
0:19:11 > 0:19:13and then you start...
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Down and up, down and up.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21And then the other one was when he did the clock splits.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Where he'd split like this and come over and split.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Yeah, that was to the clock.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Every day, five, sometimes six days a week,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34from about seven in the evening until ten,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36after Kotter was over, trained.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38It's not that I'm limited as a dancer.
0:19:38 > 0:19:39I'm an actor who loves to act
0:19:39 > 0:19:42but I'm also an actor who loves to dance.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45The dance I learned for Saturday Night Fever
0:19:45 > 0:19:47took months to train and drill.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52A real dancer could learn that in a couple of weeks.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Deney gave John Travolta brilliant moves for a solo dance.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58The producers were invited to preview steps
0:19:58 > 0:20:00that would go down in dance history.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02John comes up to me and goes,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04"Robert's coming tonight to the studio."
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Robert comes in with Kevin McCormick and they all sat down.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10John goes, "Let's go." So, here we are, the two of us.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13Yeah, we're together.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17We're doing this together and we're doing the point, you know.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19Oh, yeah, but it was so much fun.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23# Dancing, yeah... #
0:20:23 > 0:20:27In London, Carl Parris walks his young troop through the sequence.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32- Love that!- Into above the head.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36And then you're doing the roll.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Some are already professionals who know how hard it is.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45They understand what Deney put Travolta through
0:20:45 > 0:20:48for a career-defining performance.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54For these kids, dance is life and work.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Of course, they've spotted the very dangerous manoeuvre
0:21:00 > 0:21:03at the heart of this dance and it's a reminder
0:21:03 > 0:21:07of the genuine risks Travolta took for his first big film.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13The knee cracker and those incredible slides into the rolls,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17I will never ask you to do, because he had months to get it right
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and, you know, you've got your lives ahead of you.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22You put your leg in the wrong place,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25you're going to twist your knee and you're out.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32If Travolta had been injured, filming would have been delayed.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Time was money and there wasn't any.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39Scenes had to be shot in real Bay Ridge locations to save cash.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Tony Manero's family home was found on 79th Street.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Kevin McCormick's career began in this house.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53He hasn't been back in 40 years.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54Where you been?
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Your mother wants to know where you've been.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02I don't remember wood floors but they look great.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07And it's a lot brighter and bigger than it seemed.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Your father's asking you where you been.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Famous dinner table scene took place around here.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16It was full of people and equipment and table.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19You were kind of cowering over in corners, holding your breath,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21so that you didn't disrupt the shot.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Upstairs is the bedroom Tony shares
0:22:24 > 0:22:27when his brother suddenly leaves the priesthood.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29I'm leaving the priesthood.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31I think it was darker.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34You got fired, huh?
0:22:34 > 0:22:36I didn't get fired. I quit.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Rather than it being a tragedy for Tony,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40it's a completely liberating experience
0:22:40 > 0:22:43because, if his brother is not that good,
0:22:43 > 0:22:45then he doesn't have to be that bad.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49The task of finding the house
0:22:49 > 0:22:52and all the other locations fell to Lloyd Kaufmann.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55He was a stranger to Bay Ridge and remembers it well,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57all things considered.
0:22:57 > 0:23:0040 years, 40 years.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Our company, Troma, put together
0:23:02 > 0:23:07all those locations in Rocky, so Avildsen brought me on
0:23:07 > 0:23:11to make sure that we could get the locations for nothing.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13It was a low-budget movie.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16I don't think we paid more than 100 a day for anything.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I had never been to Brooklyn. This thing was a nightmare for me.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21- I knew nothing. - What do you mean, you knew nothing?
0:23:21 > 0:23:24How did you find all these places without knowing anything?
0:23:24 > 0:23:26There was no GPS, there was no MapQuest.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29The only thing I had was my partner's mother-in-law.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33She gave me some driving directions. It was hell, I hated it.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35It was horrible. I hated the job.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37John Avildsen, I was there for him,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39- cos I knew he would make a great movie.- Yeah.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42- We are approaching 86th Street.- Yes.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Key location, the famous walk.
0:23:44 > 0:23:50Yes, which was done with a skateboard, I think.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52# Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk... #
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Oh, look! Lenny's Pizza.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59- Yeah.- Here we are. The original.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01# And now it's all right, it's OK
0:24:01 > 0:24:03# And you may look the other way... #
0:24:03 > 0:24:07- Well, Bruno, here we are. - We are recreating history.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10- Was it his sister that actually served him...- Yeah, his sister.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12..the double whammy pizza sandwich?
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Hiya, Tony, two or three?
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Two, two. Give me two. That's good.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20- Give me two.- Right away. - We don't have John's sister.- No.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22So, we have to make do.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Oh, there you are! So, we do that.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28- I think it's like that, right? - Oh, like that he did it?
0:24:28 > 0:24:30- Yeah.- Mm.- Good, huh?
0:24:30 > 0:24:32We make it here, it's 100%.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34# We can try to understand
0:24:34 > 0:24:36# The New York Times' effect on man... #
0:24:36 > 0:24:42- Oh! Mm! It's delicious! - Yeah, it's good pizza.- Oh, my God.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44- The way John had it.- Yep.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48# Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive... #
0:24:48 > 0:24:53Finding the buildings was only the beginning of Lloyd's problems.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56The DP, who wants lights on the roof next door.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59And then he wants lights in the windows across the street.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02And then you have to get the streets wetted down.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04We had to have bathrooms outside
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and all that stuff I had to provide for nothing, basically.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11There was no money for that. It was a constant stress. It was not fun.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14- It would cost millions.- It was amazing.- It's the hardware store.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16- Is it still here? Is this it? - Oh, Lloyd, this is it!
0:25:16 > 0:25:18But it's still a hardware store.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Yeah, it looks like it's now a Home Center.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28But how did you convince them to let you have the shop?
0:25:28 > 0:25:31They were really nice. I think they just let us do it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I don't even think they charged us. It went very well.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36The people who ran the store were lovely.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Was it his sister or his mother that played one of the clients?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- No, his mother was buying the paint. - Buying the paint.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45I had to get a place for John Travolta to stay
0:25:45 > 0:25:47because we didn't have the big honeywagons.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50The bathroom couldn't be on location,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53because it makes noise flushing the toilet.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56If one toilet gets stopped up and you've got a 200-man crew...
0:25:56 > 0:25:59- You're done.- Your whole production is constipated.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04But then, just weeks from the start of shooting, John Avildsen,
0:26:04 > 0:26:08now lauded director of Rocky, began to lose faith in the film.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10The more successful he got,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12the more doubt he had about Saturday Night Fever.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14He couldn't figure out who the choreographer was.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Should it be like ballet? Should it be like this,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18should it be like that? And, in the end,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20he never could quite figure out exactly what it should be.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25And then John, bless him, changed the script...
0:26:27 > 0:26:30..to Mickey O'Neill, an Irish boy,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34who was a good deeder on the streets of Brooklyn,
0:26:34 > 0:26:39and he did favours for old ladies
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and he wanted to show his generosity to all,
0:26:43 > 0:26:48which is a fine idea, but it wasn't anything what I agreed to.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50So, I went to Robert Stigwood and I said,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53"Robert, this is another movie, man.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55"This isn't the movie I signed up for."
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Stigwood calls from London and says, "What's going on?"
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I said, "John Avildsen's been thinking and he thinks
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"the Bee Gees are over so he wants to get rid of the Bee Gee music."
0:27:04 > 0:27:06He said, "Really?" And I said, "Yeah."
0:27:06 > 0:27:09And he said, "Well, tell him to be at my apartment
0:27:09 > 0:27:11"tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."
0:27:11 > 0:27:13The two of us show up at the appointed hour a little bit early
0:27:13 > 0:27:15and Stigwood comes in and goes,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17"Listen, John, I have good news for you and bad news for you.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19"The good news is I just took a call,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21"you've just been nominated for an Academy Award.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23"The bad news is you're fired."
0:27:23 > 0:27:25The production was suddenly rudderless.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Newby producer Kevin McCormick was facing a disaster.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31He didn't even have his leading lady yet.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33We didn't have Stephanie yet.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38We had seen a bunch of the faces they weren't committed to yet.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40This house was picked.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43A lot of the key things were already sort of settled on,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46but the schedule and the shape of the script
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and what we were going to shoot was not.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Now what do we do? You get another director and you go
0:27:51 > 0:27:53because you have the slot with Travolta.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56And if you don't get him, somebody else does.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58But I was shit-scared, I'll say that.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04I come out to California,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08I go back to a bunch of different people's offices.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10There is one particular guy, John Badham, who I'd met.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15And John Badham had directed a baseball film, I forget the title.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18I thought, "Well, he knows how to put a picture together
0:28:18 > 0:28:20"but he's from Texas.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23"How the hell will he duplicate, understand Brooklyn?
0:28:23 > 0:28:26"I don't know. It's going to be a real task here."
0:28:26 > 0:28:28I got to his agent and said,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31"Listen, if he wants to do it, we'll fly him to New York.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33"He's got to meet with me and Stigwood, and meet with Travolta."
0:28:36 > 0:28:37I got on a plane
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and went to New York and, as I'm on the plane,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42I'm reading this very long script.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I was going, "Oh, my God, this is a great movie."
0:28:46 > 0:28:51And as I'm reading it, I go, "This is a bloody musical.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54"What's the music going to be? What's the dance going to be like?
0:28:54 > 0:28:56"Oh, my god, and we're starting in two and a half weeks!"
0:28:56 > 0:28:59He comes into New York and we have this meeting
0:28:59 > 0:29:03and it's decided to go with Badham.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Although the film didn't even have a complete cast,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11John Avildsen had, however, done some auditioning.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14I think I had three auditions with John Avildsen.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17John Avildsen had a Super 8 camera
0:29:17 > 0:29:21and my screen test was with Ray Liotta and David Caruso
0:29:21 > 0:29:25with John Travolta and, eventually, I got put on hold for the movie.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28It went away for a while, so I just assumed
0:29:28 > 0:29:30I didn't get it, it didn't happen.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34Now Badham continued the auditioning process.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38And we went casting and, through his casting process,
0:29:38 > 0:29:43I realised he was more of a film-maker than I had anticipated.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45He was tastier than I thought
0:29:45 > 0:29:51and more interesting than I thought and who he liked, I liked.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53They would put out a casting call
0:29:53 > 0:29:55for guys that were relatively big in size.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57I didn't really look like I was from Brooklyn.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00So, I showed up for this audition thinking I had nothing to lose
0:30:00 > 0:30:02and I just sort of went for it.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04I thought, all along, this was a nothing part.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07When it came back again and John Badham was directing,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11I thought, "Why are they bringing me back in for five or six lines?"
0:30:11 > 0:30:15And then the call came in and I was thrilled.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18I was brought in to read for a new director, John Badham,
0:30:18 > 0:30:19and ended up getting the part.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23I came through the two directors and got the part.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26And then the script came and I nearly had a heart attack.
0:30:28 > 0:30:29It wasn't a bit part,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32it was the second biggest female role, Annette.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Badham, meanwhile, still needed to find
0:30:35 > 0:30:37his lead female character, Stephanie.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41- She came by chance and by taxi. - We took a taxi
0:30:41 > 0:30:44down to see A Star Is Born
0:30:44 > 0:30:49and in it was the nephew of Stigwood
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and he said he's making this movie.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53And I said, "Am I in it?"
0:30:53 > 0:30:56She hadn't even been put up for the job.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59And she probably went and hassled her agent.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02I said, "Submit me for this part or I'll kill you."
0:31:02 > 0:31:04She was not even on the short list.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06She basically pushed her way into being seen.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11When Karen came in, she had it. She just could right away do it.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13And she ends up with the job.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18Badham had his cast and just days to turn them into characters.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23John Badham is an actor's director and he believes in rehearsal,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27he believes in promoting a closeness with the cast
0:31:27 > 0:31:31so they feel very comfortable once you're on camera.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33- JOHN TRAVOLTA:- Film-makers were doing that at the time.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35Scorsese was doing that,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Brian De Palma was doing that at the time.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39These film-makers wanted authenticity.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42There's less work to do if there's a chemistry that's organic
0:31:42 > 0:31:46than to try to create a chemistry on-screen.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52The whole idea was that we would do everything we could together
0:31:52 > 0:31:55as a gang - play basketball...
0:31:55 > 0:31:57That's when we started to create that bond.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00We'd all go to lunch as these characters.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03We went out to restaurants together, pizza joints,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05and we just basically improvised.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07And they were just god-awful to me.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11They would order pizza and leave me out.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13That's the only way the movie would work,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16is if we believed that we grew up together in the neighbourhood.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20By the time we hit the set, I would say we were a family of sorts.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26The Badham bunch finally looked like they'd grown up together
0:32:26 > 0:32:28but what about dancing together?
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Badham now drafted in another choreographer
0:32:31 > 0:32:34to make his actors into disco fanatics.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36He brought in this choreographer
0:32:36 > 0:32:38who's this hilarious guy, Lester Wilson.
0:32:38 > 0:32:44He was a wonderful juicy guy that brightened up the movie.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46He'd show up and everybody had to get into it
0:32:46 > 0:32:48and you had to learn how to do it right.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53And we worked for a long time on the way
0:32:53 > 0:32:56the look of the dancing would be, the style of the dancing.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59He had a feel for that. He had the rhythms, he had the moves.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02- # Night fever, night fever...- #
0:33:02 > 0:33:08I wanted a choreographer who was going to treat all of our dances
0:33:08 > 0:33:12like ones that the kids had learned themselves,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15learned from each other.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20What Lester brought in was very practical,
0:33:20 > 0:33:25this is what kids do, authentic basic dance moves.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28They wanted the feeling that everyone in that club
0:33:28 > 0:33:33was like this, that we did this all the time, that we came together
0:33:33 > 0:33:35because of the dancing, you knew the step.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39MUSIC: Disco Inferno by The Trammps
0:33:39 > 0:33:41I felt very clumsy at first
0:33:41 > 0:33:45because a lot of the dance that I did with John had spins
0:33:45 > 0:33:48and moves I had never really seen.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50For me, it was very new territory.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53But John Travolta is such an amazing dancer
0:33:53 > 0:33:56and Lester was such a great choreographer
0:33:56 > 0:33:58that you had this wonderful safety net.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02For the first nine months of training, it was just with Deney
0:34:02 > 0:34:05but, by the time we came to the movie, we needed someone
0:34:05 > 0:34:10that might have had more experience at film and Broadway,
0:34:10 > 0:34:12so we hired Lester.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14And Lester basically did something very smart.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19He said, "Show me what you got. Show me what Deney taught you."
0:34:19 > 0:34:22And I showed him my whole portfolio of dance.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27And he said, "OK, we're going to use all of it
0:34:27 > 0:34:30"but I'm just going to have to find
0:34:30 > 0:34:35"the glue that puts these kind of street steps together
0:34:35 > 0:34:38"in a way that we can film." And he did.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40He did it beautifully.
0:34:40 > 0:34:46That solo was 70% Deney Terrio and 30% Lester,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49but Lester put it together so it looked like a performance.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53# Dancing, yeah... #
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Lester put the soul in the picture
0:34:55 > 0:34:59and allowed John Travolta to find the soul that's in Tony Manero
0:34:59 > 0:35:02and I think he meshed it well with the music.
0:35:04 > 0:35:10By the time I first saw John dancing, it was like a miracle.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12It was like, "This guy is wonderful."
0:35:12 > 0:35:16# What you doin' on your back, aah? #
0:35:16 > 0:35:23And they said, "Well, he's worked really hard to get this good."
0:35:23 > 0:35:28It's unbelievable and it's so physical and he's so strong.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31I was blown away by how professional he was, how good he was.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36You watch that now, you look at the dancing moves
0:35:36 > 0:35:39and look at how magnificent Travolta is. He's incandescent.
0:35:44 > 0:35:50Lester Wilson shaped all the dances except the most famous one of all.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53Do you know the tango hustle?
0:35:53 > 0:35:56One day, for one crucial scene we have in the movie,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00there was no Lester and I had to speak to his dance captain
0:36:00 > 0:36:04and she said, "Oh, Lester took a fashion show today."
0:36:04 > 0:36:07And you go, "Oh, no!"
0:36:07 > 0:36:09There would be moments when you couldn't find him.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12He had a beautiful assistant that was usually covering up for him
0:36:12 > 0:36:14when he had another job which nobody knew about.
0:36:14 > 0:36:15She said, "I'll work something out,"
0:36:15 > 0:36:21and she and John played around and came up with this tango hustle.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25The tango hustle came from my inspiration
0:36:25 > 0:36:31from the Last Tango In Paris, which is a Brando film,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and it was the first time I really saw a tango on film.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41And it worked just great, so we felt like we always had a backup
0:36:41 > 0:36:43if Lester were to take another fashion show.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Invented in an emergency, the tango hustle wins
0:36:47 > 0:36:50the Odyssey dance contest for Tony and Stephanie.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54And eight. Turn one, two, three, four, five and six.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59In Hackney, the company have watched the dance that looks simple,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01but is anything but.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03The unusual stepping pattern
0:37:03 > 0:37:07and the flamboyant head flicks made it difficult for Karen Lynn Gorney.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11I don't know how he dances it. That is really hard.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15You had to take a step, then kick...
0:37:16 > 0:37:19- And walk. - ..in the middle of the beat,
0:37:19 > 0:37:25step kick, and you were balancing on one leg, doing this kick in the air.
0:37:25 > 0:37:26One, two. The kick is one, two.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Yeah, but my leg just can't get there.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Five, six, seven, eight.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35And you had to do it in sync with your partner.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37That was not easy.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42What's difficult is that their phrasing is really strange.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50We were weaving within the beat that was set up
0:37:50 > 0:37:53and we weren't always stepping on the downbeat.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55One, two, three and four.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Walk, five, six. Kick, seven, back, eight.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01That particular dance is not easy. Let them find that out.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04And one and two, move three, four.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08- It's not really a proper tango. - No, it's not a classic tango.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11It's what you thought, in Brooklyn,
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- a tango would look like, do you know what I mean?- Yeah.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Millions of turns,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20people lifting people up with their legs spread wide.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25One, two, up, three. Take it slowly, six, seven and down.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Because there's such a difference in our height,
0:38:28 > 0:38:33he had to pull his steps and I had to elongate my steps
0:38:33 > 0:38:36so that it looked like partner dancing. Very difficult.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41One and two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43Turn. One, two, three, four,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45five and six, seven, eight.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50The tango hustle sequence became film legend
0:38:50 > 0:38:53and so did the white suit Travolta danced in.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Amazingly, it was just an off-the-peg item.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00The decision was to only buy things that we could find on the rack.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03We wanted to give it that kind of authenticity.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein had a tiny budget,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12just like the characters themselves.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17These kids saved in increments of a quarter
0:39:17 > 0:39:20to buy a shirt to wear on Saturday night.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23It was not going to be Armani!
0:39:23 > 0:39:27- It was going to be another kind of way of looking at it.- Yeah.
0:39:27 > 0:39:33She had such a clear vision of what people had to look like.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37They brought in things, we chose things from their wardrobes
0:39:37 > 0:39:39and we added to those things.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41Things just would appear that were wonderful.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Patrizia, who's gone on to win many Academy Awards,
0:39:45 > 0:39:50found a shop in the Village in New York that we went to together
0:39:50 > 0:39:54and this guy said, "We haven't had that kind of clothing
0:39:54 > 0:39:59"in three years, but I have boxes in the back of our store
0:39:59 > 0:40:02"that are filled with it, if you want to look at it."
0:40:02 > 0:40:03I said, "Bring it out,"
0:40:03 > 0:40:09so he brought the mother lode of disco clothes out.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12I mean, everything we wore in that movie came out of those boxes.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14It was the perfect floral shirt,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17it was the perfect pink pants,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21it was the perfect short, green, mint-coloured vest
0:40:21 > 0:40:25and leisure suit and, oh, my gosh, it was a mother lode.
0:40:25 > 0:40:31John wore double pleats, a pair of high-waisted gabardine pants.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35He happened to have very good legs and very good bottom
0:40:35 > 0:40:37and he looked great in pants,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40but they were tailored to his every curve.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46- What's up?- I like colour. He looks good in strong colour.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48He can carry it off.
0:40:48 > 0:40:54The other members of his gang were like mirrors of him, wannabes.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57They did wear the same kind of clothes,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00but they're softer colours because he is the king.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03- KEVIN MCCORMICK:- Patrizia was going out
0:41:03 > 0:41:08and finding these incredible shirts that were made of no natural fibre.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13Polyesters were just coming to the fore and that's what we wanted.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15We wanted that shine.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19And she really brought this kind of vividness to all of the clothes.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22They were just electric and yet affordable.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25I had this polyester shirt with the light bulbs on it.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27In a way, I was dressed like a pimp.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29I remember one thing I ended up wearing
0:41:29 > 0:41:32was this peach-coloured suit and rust-coloured shirt
0:41:32 > 0:41:37and she just thought it was perfect and I was horrified.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42I gave them all platformed shoes.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47This kind of height forces a man to walk a certain way.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50It made you look absolutely remarkable.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53To give Bobby those white platform shoes in that one scene,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56when he's walking away after John borrows his car, it's just...
0:41:56 > 0:42:01He looks so pathetic that it is just so beautifully done.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04That was a stroke of genius on her part. The white suit was too.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09MUSIC: More Than A Woman by Bee Gees
0:42:09 > 0:42:11Originally, John wanted a black suit.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15I had seen a Latin guy dance with this girl
0:42:15 > 0:42:19and he looked so cool in this black suit with a white shirt,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23I just said to Patrizia, "Only one request.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26"I have to have the black suit with the white shirt,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29"because this guy looks so cool, spinning her and dipping her."
0:42:29 > 0:42:31I said, "I just have to have that look.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34"It was just really sexy so, can we do that?"
0:42:34 > 0:42:39She said, "We can but, John, could I tell you my thoughts on it?"
0:42:39 > 0:42:41And I started to get upset
0:42:41 > 0:42:44because I thought she was going to try and talk me out of this
0:42:44 > 0:42:47and I want that black suit I want that white shirt.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49And she said, "It's a dark club
0:42:49 > 0:42:52"and even though you're on a colourful floor
0:42:52 > 0:42:56"that's going to blink and do whatever, it won't show up as well.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59"Your black suit will disappear into the night."
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Two hours later, they came back with two white suits.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04She created a bit of history
0:43:04 > 0:43:06in that one little talking me out of something.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09As I've said often, heroes wear white.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14The famous suit was taken apart, seam by seam,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17and put back together in such a way
0:43:17 > 0:43:22- that it absolutely fit like a glove.- Like a glove.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29Finally, shooting began on March 11th, 1977.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32Cast and crew knew they faced two huge problems -
0:43:32 > 0:43:35very little money, hardly enough time.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41We were really a low-budge kind of consciousness,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44which didn't match the appetite of the picture.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46You have this fantasy you're starring in a movie
0:43:46 > 0:43:48and they'll pick you up in a car and they take you there.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52No, the only way we're going to get to the set is to take the subway.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55My grandfather dropped me off at the location.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59I was making minimum per week, but it was a long enough job.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02This was my first film and I didn't know
0:44:02 > 0:44:05you could get another take if it didn't feel good.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08I didn't know about much of what was going on around me.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13The producers were also learning on the job.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17They were not ready for the problems of filming in a real community.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22We opened up at seven o'clock in the morning on 86th Street
0:44:22 > 0:44:24at a shirt shop.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Five or six little girls start calling, "Hey, Barbarino,"
0:44:28 > 0:44:30this and that.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32And John waves to them nicely.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37Well, within minutes, those 8 or 10 little girls became 20
0:44:37 > 0:44:39and then 50 and then 100.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44Next thing you know, we had 1,500, 2,000 people crowded around
0:44:44 > 0:44:46and you couldn't get them to move.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50There was 40 million people a week that watched Welcome Back, Kotter,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53and I was already a favourite in New York,
0:44:53 > 0:44:55so now you're going to shoot outside in Brooklyn
0:44:55 > 0:44:57where the character is supposed to be from?
0:45:00 > 0:45:03It's a low-budget movie. We have no budget for anything,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05certainly not the budget for security.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07We might have had a cop, but only because we were required
0:45:07 > 0:45:10to have it with your permit. It's a little disco movie.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Here's this guy and he's only done a couple of things
0:45:13 > 0:45:16and there's like 10,000 kids outside of the disco.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19From that moment on, we had to adjust our sights.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21This was a different kind of picture.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25We could not pan the camera to the right or to the left.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29We couldn't even look up because people were hanging over buildings.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33So, we could barely get a take in.
0:45:33 > 0:45:39They'd say, "Action", and, boom, there'd be screams.
0:45:39 > 0:45:44I had an audience walking down the street so, if someone thought,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48"How could you be so confident walking down the street?"
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Because I had 30,000 people going, "Yeah!"
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Why wouldn't that give you confidence, you know?
0:45:59 > 0:46:01Day one, we're in that car.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04- Do you want some?- No, we ain't dropping nothing till I say so.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06We shoot that opening scene
0:46:06 > 0:46:11and there are 3,000 kids waiting for John.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14We come around this corner and they break through
0:46:14 > 0:46:18whatever barricade there was and go to attack the car.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21I thought I was in Cuba during the revolution, I swear to God.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22And they're beating on the car.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Barry's driving and John yells, "Get out of here!"
0:46:25 > 0:46:30And he floors it and we take off. I mean, they don't know where we are.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35It was exciting. I remember every minute of it was crazy.
0:46:37 > 0:46:42And then, another kind of heavy mob started getting in on the action.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45The Mafia placed the whole shoot in jeopardy.
0:46:46 > 0:46:48We got into some trouble in the neighbourhood.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52We wanted to run some lights on a bowling alley across the street
0:46:52 > 0:46:54and that was going to be X amount of dollars
0:46:54 > 0:46:57and then there was a firebomb.
0:46:57 > 0:47:03And this big old Cadillac with the tall fins came driving up
0:47:03 > 0:47:07in the mid-morning and a guy who must have weighed 300 pounds
0:47:07 > 0:47:10came out of there and said,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13"I hear you boys had a little barbecue here last night."
0:47:13 > 0:47:15It was my first and only brush with the Mafia,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19which was enough for me to never hope to have to do it again.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21We were going to be here for the rest of the movie
0:47:21 > 0:47:23and if we had got shut down in any way,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26it would have been a catastrophe. So, the stakes were very high.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28I had to figure out a way to pay these guys off.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31A day later, I'm in the bowling alley and the phone rings,
0:47:31 > 0:47:34the payphone, and it's the district attorney,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36will I wear a wire and talk to these people?
0:47:36 > 0:47:39And I said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
0:47:39 > 0:47:41I didn't need to be Serpico.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43I'm just trying to get my movie made.
0:47:43 > 0:47:44What's the matter? What's going on?
0:47:44 > 0:47:47It's Gus, man. He's in the hospital. The Spics got in.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50For most of the cast, this was their first film.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54By comparison, John Travolta was a veteran. This was his second.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56He became a vital resource.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00I don't think John ever looked at it as anything but a team effort
0:48:00 > 0:48:03among all of us to get us somewhere good with this movie.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05He was always concerned about the overall scene
0:48:05 > 0:48:08and how the actor who he was working with felt.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10He would always say, "Are you OK? Are you happy?
0:48:10 > 0:48:13"Do you want to do it again?" And that made me braver.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16John Travolta was the lead, the star and the glue
0:48:16 > 0:48:17that bound the team together.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21So, when a few weeks into the shoot, he suddenly left the set,
0:48:21 > 0:48:23everyone was stunned.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27In California, his partner, Diana Hyland, was dying.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31When I left to do the movie, it was six days a week,
0:48:31 > 0:48:3516-hour days, and it was all-consuming.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38So, when I got the news that it was going to happen...
0:48:38 > 0:48:42I would talk to her often, but some days I couldn't talk to her.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44And when I got the news, that she didn't want to tell me,
0:48:44 > 0:48:46that it was going to happen...
0:48:46 > 0:48:49So my lawyer called me to say, "You have to come out."
0:48:49 > 0:48:52And I knew when he told me that, and I just sat on the edge of my bed
0:48:52 > 0:48:56and sobbed and then I got on a jet and went out
0:48:56 > 0:48:59and spent the last two days with her.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01When he came back, he was a little bit more internal.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04He would be in his trailer little bit more.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06- DONNA PESCOW:- He went through a lot of difficulty
0:49:06 > 0:49:11and he never let it hurt the film in any way. He took some time off.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15He really became focused on the part.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20I had this distraction of the film to get me through,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23but I can remember, at times, coming into the trailer,
0:49:23 > 0:49:25crying in between takes and all that stuff.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31So, I think, at least for half of the movie,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35that was on my shoulders, for sure.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37- DONNA PESCOW:- When I watch the film,
0:49:37 > 0:49:41I see little teeny moments occasionally where I'll think,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43"Is that John being emotional
0:49:43 > 0:49:46"because of what's going on in his real life,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48"as well as what's going on for Tony?"
0:49:48 > 0:49:54I was such a sensitive young man, more so then
0:49:54 > 0:49:59because I didn't edit my sensitivities. I was just raw.
0:49:59 > 0:50:00Hey, look who's sharp, huh?
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Tough scenes lay ahead.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04This was the era of realism in film
0:50:04 > 0:50:07and Wexler's script reflected the abuse
0:50:07 > 0:50:10he had seen dealt out to women.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13- Ain't you going to ask me to sit down?- No, you'd do it.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17- Bet you'd asked me to lay down. - No, you would not do it.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19We didn't treat Donna very well, even though we loved Donna,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22but we had to start getting into that mind-set.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24You've got a stripper in the front of the club.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26I mean, that's really their attitude.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30That women were not to be taken all that seriously,
0:50:30 > 0:50:32except for certain activities.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34You've been in there 20 minutes! Come on!
0:50:34 > 0:50:3625 in the car, 20 in the chick.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Two minutes in the car and now it's my turn, you know.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41Hey, like who cares?
0:50:41 > 0:50:43They were going for raw, real, authentic,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45so it was very visceral in that way.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48It was really a sense of who they were. It was a tough movie.
0:50:48 > 0:50:53The script built the violence towards a gang rape of Annette.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57John Badham thought it would be too challenging for his cast
0:50:57 > 0:50:59and for the audiences.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02- She's going to give everybody a piece of snatch pie.- Yeah!
0:51:02 > 0:51:06The raping of Annette, I was worried about that scene and I asked Robert.
0:51:06 > 0:51:11I said, "Are you sure you want to do it the way it's written here,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13"because I can do it much softer?"
0:51:13 > 0:51:15And he said, "No, no, we have to do it."
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- You can fuck all night on speed. - Oh, yeah?- Yeah, you will.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22She initiates it to get back at John,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25not understanding what was about to happen.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27We're in more or less like a garage
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and they've got a mock-up of the back of the car.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Closed sets, as few people as possible,
0:51:33 > 0:51:38so you wouldn't feel as embarrassed and you wouldn't be as inhibited.
0:51:38 > 0:51:39Joey, what you doing back there?
0:51:39 > 0:51:42- Hey, you fuck, the first is always the best.- That's right.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46It was very hard for the boys to do that scene.
0:51:46 > 0:51:47It was awkward, definitely,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50cos we'd become friends and now you're on top of somebody
0:51:50 > 0:51:53who was a friend and you're doing your first sex scene.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55It was very, very uncomfortable.
0:51:55 > 0:51:56It's a very rough scene.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59I don't know if I've ever seen an American movie
0:51:59 > 0:52:01with that kind of crudeness,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04where, basically, they're gang-banging a girl
0:52:04 > 0:52:06with detail, with graphicness.
0:52:06 > 0:52:12And, you know, I remember not wanting to look at her
0:52:12 > 0:52:17and John allowing me to just play it forward
0:52:17 > 0:52:21because I said, "If I look at her, it's too connected."
0:52:21 > 0:52:23- Hey! - JOEY LAUGHS
0:52:23 > 0:52:28The director, the crew, everybody felt horrible.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30I mean, I could feel it.
0:52:30 > 0:52:31People looked away.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35They were upset because we all had a nice camaraderie.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37I give Donna a lot of credit.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40She was brilliant in those scenes and she was able to go with it
0:52:40 > 0:52:43and disassociate from it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The rape of Annette was followed by another harrowing scene,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49one that actually risked the lives of the performers,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52hundreds of feet above the Hudson River.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55It's the biggest moment of scale in the entire picture.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Literally, all of the drama coalesces around this single act.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03We would close the bridge, create traffic jams. They hated us.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05They closed the upper roadway,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08so nobody could drive on the upper roadway from five o'clock on.
0:53:08 > 0:53:09That's during rush hour.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12It was complicated and it was freezing and, in fact,
0:53:12 > 0:53:14the night when we were actually going to do the stunt,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16it started snowing in April.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20The clock was ticking and the traffic police were fuming.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24Producer McCormick now pushed his exhausted team
0:53:24 > 0:53:28into a scene that might make his career or end it.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30At first, they wanted to attach guy wires to us
0:53:30 > 0:53:32cos we were 300 feet above the water, but it kept showing.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35I was an idiot, I had a lot of fool's courage.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37I jumped on and said, "Let's just go for it."
0:53:37 > 0:53:40I mean, literally, we're near the edge of the bridge.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43The stuntman who did Bobby's scene,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47that guy's hanging from the wiring on the bridge.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49- JOHN BADHAM:- Nowadays, if I went to do it,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52I would have more safety people out there
0:53:52 > 0:53:54than you could shake a stick at.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56You would not be allowed to film on the bridge,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58you would not be allowed to show somebody jumping off the bridge,
0:53:58 > 0:54:00but we got to do all of these things.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02- BOBBY:- I did it.- What did you do?
0:54:02 > 0:54:04I was out there climbing around on the lights,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07300 feet above the water, freezing cold, a lot of wind blowing.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Bob, come on. We'll talk, all right.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12I didn't want to fuck up this time.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14SCREAMING
0:54:14 > 0:54:15The stuntman, he jumped.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20This guy goes, and that was crazy, man, to see that,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22to see him jump off the edge of the bridge
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and land 50 feet down on this padded platform that they had built,
0:54:25 > 0:54:31cos if he misses that, forget it, the guy's in the Hudson.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36After every imaginable challenge, the film was safely in the can.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Now came an unimaginable technical nightmare
0:54:39 > 0:54:42that put its release in jeopardy.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45One, two, three, good. Two, two, three, good.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48The problem first surfaced in this scene.
0:54:48 > 0:54:49In the finished film,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Tony and Annette dance to a piece of music,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55specially written by composer David Shire.
0:54:55 > 0:54:56When it was actually filmed,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59they were dancing to a different song by Boz Scaggs.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01One, two, three, two, two, three.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03One, two, one, two, three.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06That was a song that we loved,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10so we shoot the scene, which took us most of the afternoon.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13MUSIC: Lowdown by Boz Scaggs
0:55:13 > 0:55:17And I get a call from Kevin McCormick telling me
0:55:17 > 0:55:19that we cannot have the rights
0:55:19 > 0:55:23to Boz Scaggs' Lowdown, so I'm like that.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26I remember the music getting changed several times,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28often after it was shot.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31There were quite a few names that we'd already shot scenes to
0:55:31 > 0:55:34and we had to withdraw the track, notably Boz Scaggs.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37It was such a cool song at the time
0:55:37 > 0:55:41and it was so beautifully popular, timelessly popular, you know.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44It wasn't going anywhere, that song, the Boz Scaggs song,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47so I wanted to use it in the movie but we couldn't.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50His manager acknowledged he had lost out on about 5 million right there
0:55:50 > 0:55:53because that's how much he'd have made from one song on the album.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56MUSIC: Lowdown by Boz Scaggs
0:55:56 > 0:56:01Composer David Shire quickly wrote a tune that exactly matched
0:56:01 > 0:56:06the Lowdown beat and, in editing, it fitted perfectly.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09# What you doin' on your back, ahh? #
0:56:09 > 0:56:14Then, the problem of a mismatch between pictures and music
0:56:14 > 0:56:18became much more worrying, with tracks that couldn't be replaced.
0:56:18 > 0:56:24The Bee Gees music, we heard a lot of that during the filming
0:56:24 > 0:56:27for the first time, which was really exciting.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29We could all listen to the Bee Gees music,
0:56:29 > 0:56:31all the rough demos on a tape deck,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and it was, like, unbelievable to hear those songs,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37with just them singing with grand piano or guitar,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39without the full production.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42I had that demo tape and that's what we used
0:56:42 > 0:56:46for playback for the entire shooting of the movie.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51But when the finished master tracks arrived, they were slightly slower.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54MUSIC: You Should Be Dancing by Bee Gees
0:56:54 > 0:56:59When my editor, David Rawlins, goes to cut the musical numbers,
0:56:59 > 0:57:05he finds that he can't use the good tracks.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08The only things that will sync up are these playback tracks
0:57:08 > 0:57:13which are all kind of echoey and like this and they sound terrible.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17What we would have is dancers out of sync with the music
0:57:17 > 0:57:21and stepping at the wrong time, and it would have been a mess.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23In fact, it was a disaster.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27Cast and crew were gone, John Travolta was back making TV,
0:57:27 > 0:57:32the Odyssey scenes were unusable, and so was the new Bee Gees music.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35It was an effort of several months
0:57:35 > 0:57:39to find some kind of technology
0:57:39 > 0:57:41that would get these things to sync up.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44# Night fever, night fever... #
0:57:44 > 0:57:47But even when the music problem was solved,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50a new issue arose with the way the music was mixed -
0:57:50 > 0:57:53one spotted by John Travolta and Barry Gibb.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55I'm standing at the back of the theatre with John Travolta
0:57:55 > 0:57:58and we're watching this movie.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01The people dancing were louder than the music.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04And he would look at me and I would look at him.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06The music should be louder than the feet.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08You don't hear people dancing in a club.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10I said, "I think they're wrong."
0:58:10 > 0:58:12And John said, "I think they're wrong too."
0:58:12 > 0:58:14And if you see the film now, it's the music that dominates.
0:58:16 > 0:58:17There was one final problem.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20The star and director couldn't agree
0:58:20 > 0:58:24on how the film's iconic solo dance sequence should be edited.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26"I worked ten months for that," I said,
0:58:26 > 0:58:29"and now it's all in close-ups. Why?"
0:58:29 > 0:58:34I know that Fred Astaire had in his contract that, you shot him dancing,
0:58:34 > 0:58:36you always had to see him head to toe,
0:58:36 > 0:58:38and there was a good reason for that.
0:58:38 > 0:58:43Too many close-ups of feet dancing might make audiences think
0:58:43 > 0:58:45the star had a dance double.
0:58:45 > 0:58:47That's the first thing people want to assume
0:58:47 > 0:58:50is that no actor could be doing that level of fighting,
0:58:50 > 0:58:53that level of dancing, that level of martial arts.
0:58:53 > 0:58:57It has to be somebody else. So, there's an assumption there.
0:58:57 > 0:59:00I went to the editing room and I said, "Show me the master.
0:59:00 > 0:59:04"I did two masters. Show me those." I said, "OK, good.
0:59:06 > 0:59:07"Keep it in the master."
0:59:07 > 0:59:11At that point, I think we were mixing the sound on the picture,
0:59:11 > 0:59:13when he looked at it.
0:59:13 > 0:59:18I looked at David Rawlins, the editor, and said,
0:59:18 > 0:59:21"He's absolutely right. We have to do this."
0:59:21 > 0:59:24"Only do the close-up when I'm pointing at the audience,
0:59:24 > 0:59:27"when I come across the audience,
0:59:27 > 0:59:31"because I'm not dancing, I'm pointing," I said,
0:59:31 > 0:59:35"so I don't care if you see my whole body.
0:59:35 > 0:59:38"But, other than that, keep it in the master."
0:59:38 > 0:59:42He took the film from the mixing room over to his cutting room
0:59:42 > 0:59:46and worked on it for a couple or three hours.
0:59:46 > 0:59:50It didn't take too long. Brought it back and that's what you have.
0:59:50 > 0:59:52Movies is a collaborative effort
0:59:52 > 0:59:58and that movie was certainly a mix of collaboration between Robert,
0:59:58 > 1:00:02myself, the set designers, the wardrobe designers,
1:00:02 > 1:00:07the dance instructors... and the director and myself.
1:00:07 > 1:00:11Compromises all over the place, but good ones, ones that made sense.
1:00:12 > 1:00:14With these problems resolved,
1:00:14 > 1:00:17next Robert Stigwood faced showing the film to the studio.
1:00:17 > 1:00:23It was riddled with bad language and Stigwood anticipated trouble.
1:00:23 > 1:00:25I don't give a fuck about this.
1:00:25 > 1:00:30No film that I know of had ever used language as strongly.
1:00:30 > 1:00:32Hey, Tone, did you fuck her yet?
1:00:32 > 1:00:35The vulgarity of it was just all over the place.
1:00:35 > 1:00:37Oh, you ate pussy, man!
1:00:37 > 1:00:40And, of course, the minute my actors found out that they could say
1:00:40 > 1:00:44all of that stuff, it started to proliferate on its own.
1:00:44 > 1:00:46You got nothing but three shit children now.
1:00:46 > 1:00:49It wouldn't have been authentic to do it any other way.
1:00:49 > 1:00:50Stupid fucking bastard.
1:00:50 > 1:00:52The script broke new ground.
1:00:52 > 1:00:56Certain practices were mentioned on film for the first time.
1:00:56 > 1:00:58Just give me a blow job, right?
1:00:58 > 1:01:03Studio bosses Michael Eisner and Barry Diller were dismayed.
1:01:03 > 1:01:05They saw the film.
1:01:05 > 1:01:09I knew Barry was disturbed because he would get up
1:01:09 > 1:01:11and walk out of the theatre occasionally.
1:01:11 > 1:01:14Do you know how many times somebody told me I was good in my life?
1:01:14 > 1:01:16Two. Twice. Two fucking times.
1:01:16 > 1:01:18Michael Eisner called me up afterwards and said...
1:01:18 > 1:01:20You sure as fuck never did.
1:01:20 > 1:01:22.."You've got to get rid of a lot of this profanity."
1:01:22 > 1:01:24- Arsehole. - Michael Eisner, I think, believed
1:01:24 > 1:01:27that the language was just too rough.
1:01:27 > 1:01:30At the same time, Robert Stigwood is saying to me,
1:01:30 > 1:01:32"Do not cut a word."
1:01:32 > 1:01:35I'm kind of caught between a rock and a hard place here.
1:01:35 > 1:01:36It's agreed by Stigwood
1:01:36 > 1:01:39that he'll take two swear words out of the picture.
1:01:40 > 1:01:43Badham takes two "fucks" out of the movie.
1:01:43 > 1:01:47Michael Eisner takes a look at it and he starts screaming at me.
1:01:47 > 1:01:49Apparently, he didn't think anything had been changed at all.
1:01:49 > 1:01:52When I told Stigwood of my encounter,
1:01:52 > 1:01:54which was terrifying to me, he just started laughing.
1:01:54 > 1:01:58John Badham knew that, even now, the studio might refuse
1:01:58 > 1:01:59to release the film.
1:01:59 > 1:02:03Behind Stigwood's back, he desperately tried to save it.
1:02:03 > 1:02:05And so, I called Michael and said,
1:02:05 > 1:02:09"Michael, we have cut 35% of the language."
1:02:09 > 1:02:11And I just was saying to myself,
1:02:11 > 1:02:15"I hope Robert doesn't notice that we've done this."
1:02:15 > 1:02:18Well, we got by with it.
1:02:18 > 1:02:22There was no way it was ever going to get to be a PG.
1:02:23 > 1:02:26The studio accepted the new edit but they were still worried.
1:02:26 > 1:02:31It was due for a Christmas release, a time for a family-friendly film.
1:02:31 > 1:02:35Once he'd made the deal with Paramount,
1:02:35 > 1:02:37the next movie was going to be Grease,
1:02:37 > 1:02:39and Grease was going to be the 100 million film,
1:02:39 > 1:02:40and so we were just this little disco movie
1:02:40 > 1:02:43and we were a little disco movie that was an R-rated disco movie
1:02:43 > 1:02:46and it was too long and had some violence in it.
1:02:46 > 1:02:48There was no expectation.
1:02:48 > 1:02:51I never detected that they were following the progress much.
1:02:51 > 1:02:53It was, after all, not a studio picture.
1:02:53 > 1:02:55Robert Stigwood had produced it and they were distributing it
1:02:55 > 1:02:59and you're always second in the pecking order in the studio system.
1:02:59 > 1:03:02They had no idea how to put a marketing hook on this.
1:03:02 > 1:03:06It fell somewhere between an R-rated street picture
1:03:06 > 1:03:08and a musical, so what you do with that?
1:03:08 > 1:03:13Robert Stigwood now played a marketing masterstroke that he hoped
1:03:13 > 1:03:16would have the public loving the film, even before they'd seen it.
1:03:16 > 1:03:19Because he controlled the record label and the music publishing,
1:03:19 > 1:03:22he was able to sort of make the commitment
1:03:22 > 1:03:25that "I'm going to put all the muscle I've got behind this album."
1:03:25 > 1:03:28MUSIC: Night Fever by Bee Gees
1:03:28 > 1:03:30The movie soundtrack was released before the movie
1:03:30 > 1:03:32and it went platinum.
1:03:32 > 1:03:34The album was huge.
1:03:35 > 1:03:39It was only when the records started flying out into the charts
1:03:39 > 1:03:42and we got one hit after another, that took them aback, I think.
1:03:42 > 1:03:44Robert said, "I'm selling the record everywhere.
1:03:44 > 1:03:45"I want the movie on everywhere."
1:03:45 > 1:03:48Start here, moving...
1:03:48 > 1:03:52The producers dared to dream
1:03:52 > 1:03:55that the fans of the record might also watch the film.
1:03:55 > 1:03:58Could they cover the 3.5 million costs?
1:03:58 > 1:04:03Even before the family-friendly version came out,
1:04:03 > 1:04:06the film made over 85 million.
1:04:06 > 1:04:08There was a line going all the way
1:04:08 > 1:04:12around the block for the midnight show.
1:04:13 > 1:04:16The ten o'clock show had sold out.
1:04:16 > 1:04:19I was in New York and I'd go out just to watch people
1:04:19 > 1:04:21stand in line, and it was crazy.
1:04:21 > 1:04:26- We should have a guard behind. - One guard in front, one behind.
1:04:26 > 1:04:30I saw Robert after the film had been out for about three or four days.
1:04:30 > 1:04:32He told me it had taken 40 million,
1:04:32 > 1:04:36and I took it for granted he was just having me on.
1:04:38 > 1:04:43This was a hit, not just in New York and Brooklyn
1:04:43 > 1:04:45and LA and Chicago,
1:04:45 > 1:04:48but places like where the Campus Crusade for Christ
1:04:48 > 1:04:51drew 50,000 people, we were selling out.
1:04:51 > 1:04:53In the theatre near my neighbourhood,
1:04:53 > 1:04:56it ran for six months.
1:04:56 > 1:04:59It never occurred to me what was about to happen.
1:04:59 > 1:05:02Cops coming up to you, going, "Hey, Joey, how's it going?"
1:05:02 > 1:05:05It's like, "What?!"
1:05:05 > 1:05:07"Aren't you...?" "Isn't that...?"
1:05:07 > 1:05:09"Was that you...?" And it was just terrifying.
1:05:11 > 1:05:15The next thing I know, I'm being sat at a couch with Bianca Jagger
1:05:15 > 1:05:17and Grace Jones.
1:05:17 > 1:05:20Three weeks before that, I was completely unknown.
1:05:20 > 1:05:23When Robert Stigwood first read the story
1:05:23 > 1:05:25that became Saturday Night Fever,
1:05:25 > 1:05:29even he could not have seen what the movie would become.
1:05:30 > 1:05:32# My woman take me higher... #
1:05:32 > 1:05:36Made on a shoestring, Saturday Night Fever is believed
1:05:36 > 1:05:39to have made nearly 300 million since its release.
1:05:39 > 1:05:45But the significance of this movie isn't just its blockbuster takings.
1:05:45 > 1:05:49# Ahh, you should be dancing, yeah... #
1:05:49 > 1:05:51It was a cultural phenomenon,
1:05:51 > 1:05:56one of the genuine things that defines its time.
1:05:56 > 1:05:59My manager cried when he read the review in the New Yorker
1:05:59 > 1:06:01of the movie and my performance,
1:06:01 > 1:06:03because it was everything he'd dreamed about having for me.
1:06:03 > 1:06:07So, I knew we had a movie with gravitas.
1:06:07 > 1:06:12But did I know it was a pop culture phenomenon? No.
1:06:12 > 1:06:15The downside is that, you know, when I die,
1:06:15 > 1:06:18the obituary will be, "Fever man kicks bucket."
1:06:18 > 1:06:23I know that on my gravestone that they're going to engrave,
1:06:23 > 1:06:25"Staying alive."
1:06:25 > 1:06:28And then, underneath, it'll go, "Not!"
1:06:28 > 1:06:31What came out of it was spun gold, actually.
1:06:31 > 1:06:33I don't get emotional about it.
1:06:33 > 1:06:37I get a smile on my face when I hear those songs. It was a good time.
1:06:37 > 1:06:41It was a dark time in New York but out of the darkness came this movie.
1:06:41 > 1:06:45Saturday Night Fever, under today's scrutiny, shouldn't succeed.
1:06:45 > 1:06:49You know, it's racist, it's sexist, it's full of violence,
1:06:49 > 1:06:53bad language and, yet, there is something so compelling
1:06:53 > 1:06:56and so honest and so exciting about it.
1:06:56 > 1:06:58And, at the centre of it,
1:06:58 > 1:07:02you have this incandescent star in John Travolta.
1:07:02 > 1:07:07And very few times in one's life do you see somebody arrive
1:07:07 > 1:07:11and just take over, take hold, and be in everybody's imagination
1:07:11 > 1:07:13from that point on, and he certainly did it.
1:07:14 > 1:07:17I'm more of an actor that says, "Ooh, I have to dance now."
1:07:17 > 1:07:20I have a natural ability, I don't have a style.
1:07:20 > 1:07:24Because I have a happiness about it, an excitement about it,
1:07:24 > 1:07:27it ignites people, do you know?
1:07:27 > 1:07:30MUSIC: You Should Be Dancing by Bee Gees
1:07:32 > 1:07:36When John Travolta signed his million-dollar contract,
1:07:36 > 1:07:40Grease was the word. The little disco film was just a diversion.
1:07:43 > 1:07:48He didn't know it would make him the biggest star in Hollywood.
1:07:48 > 1:07:52As for the rest of us, as soon as we saw the fantastic dancing
1:07:52 > 1:07:54on the illuminated disco floor,
1:07:54 > 1:07:58we just had to get up and try the moves for ourselves.
1:07:59 > 1:08:03# My woman take me higher... #
1:08:03 > 1:08:08Saturday Night Fever became much bigger than the sum of its parts -
1:08:08 > 1:08:12an intoxicating cocktail of music, storytelling and dance.
1:08:12 > 1:08:16It became one of the most significant cultural events
1:08:16 > 1:08:18of the 20th century.
1:08:18 > 1:08:2140 years later, it's lost none of its power.
1:08:23 > 1:08:27# What you doin' on your back, aah?
1:08:27 > 1:08:31# What you doin' on your back, ah, ah, ah?
1:08:31 > 1:08:34# You should be dancing, yeah
1:08:34 > 1:08:38# Dancing, yeah
1:08:45 > 1:08:50# You should be dancing, yeah
1:08:50 > 1:08:52# Yeah
1:08:52 > 1:08:53# Yeah
1:08:53 > 1:08:57# You should be dancing, yeah... #