Nik Cohn

Bee Gees

Ben Richards

Paul Nicholas

Arlene Phillips

Norman Wexler

Nan Knighton

Robert Stigwood

Joanne Farrell

Paramount/RSO Picture (Firm)

London Palladium (Theatre)

Saturday Night Fever is one of those movies that comes along and seems to change the cultural temperature in a flash. After the movie's release in 1977, disco ruled the dance floors, and a blow-dried member of a TV-sitcom ensemble became the hottest star in the country. For all that, the story is conventional: a 19-year-old Italian-American from Brooklyn, Tony Manero (John Travolta), works in a humble paint store and lives with his family. After dark, he becomes the polyester-clad stallion of the local nightclub; Tony's brother, a priest, observes that when Tony hits the dance floor, the crowd parts like the Red Sea before Moses. Director John Badham captures the electric connection between music and dance, and also the desperation that lies beneath Tony's ambitions to break out of his limited world. The soundtrack, which spawned a massively successful album, is dominated by the disco classics of the Bee Gees, including "Staying Alive" (Travolta's theme during the strutting opening) and "Night Fever." The Oscar-nominated Travolta, plucked from the cast of Welcome Back, Kotter, for his first starring role, is incandescent and unbelievably confident, and his dancing is terrific. Oh, and the white suit rules. (Note: Saturday Night Fever was cut from its original R-rated version after its initial release in order to obtain a PG rating. The PG version is 11 minutes shorter and is missing parts of scenes and some street talk. Both versions are available on video.).

The Original Movie Sound Track (CD).

Saturday Night Fever

Imaginative and passionate, Mel Holloway senses that there is more to life than her job, or her relationship with her ailing boyfriend, can provide. The accidental death of a man she has never met changes her life irrevocably - leading her to form a complex bond with the wife of the victim, which, for Mel at least, deepens into love. A SWEETHEART DEAL is a wholly original vision of the city, its everyday joys and terrors, and the gestures of love and commitment that illuminate it all. It is Ben Richards' most ambitious achievement to date.

A Sweetheart Deal

The Silver River

Fresia Castillo's father left Chile smuggled in the boot of a car; her mother crossed the Andes by bus with two small children. Fresia, a photographer, has lived all of her life in Britain, but following the death of her father, she has decided it is time to return. Despite one previous visit when she felt at odds with her Chilean relatives, she is drawn to a land so rich in landscapes and extremes. It is also, of course, a place of political extremes, and the aftershocks of Pinochet's regime are still reverberating. On the journey to Santiago she meets Joe, a young university lecturer. When the two of them become entangled with a wealthy and mysterious Anglo-Chilean whose son has disappeared from a bar, their journey takes some unexpected turns. Exotic and sensuous, this is beguiling novel about identity, loyalty, friendship and unrequited love set against the backdrop of a country emerging from political turmoil.

The Mermaid and the Drunks

Ben Richards

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