Celebrate ‘Saturday Night Fever”s 40th with new director’s cut

Kick off your dancing shoes! Why? It’s time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, as Paramount Pictures releases a new director’s cut edition of John Badham’s highly influential classic.

The film – which holds up incredibly well today – is set in 1970s Brooklyn and follows Tony Manero, a roughneck with few prospects. His only escape from an otherwise dreary life is the weekend.

John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Grease, Face/Off) was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and a BAFTA for his lead performance in the film. Though snubbed at the time, Saturday Night Fever was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2010, forever cementing it as a seminal piece of film history.

Travolta’s fellow cast in Saturday Night Fever included Karen Lynn Gorney (All My Children), Barry Miller (Peggy Sue Got Married), Joseph Cali (The Lonely Lady), Donna Pescow (Out of This World), Sam Coppola (Fatal Attraction) and Robert Costanzo (Total Recall).

Bradham worked directly with Paramount to restore the film in 4K using the original negative, to which he has included additional scenes to round out plot and character development.

The legendary soundtrack supplied by The Bee Gees has also been enhanced for the release, which is being dubbed as the “definitive representation” of the director’s original vision.

Those planning to purchase the Blu-ray release will be treated to a host of additional goodies, including both the director’s cut and theatrical versions of the film, commentary by Bradham himself, as well as Catching the Fever, a five-part documentary about the film.

The new director’s cut of Saturday Night Fever is available now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD.