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‘Saturday Night Fever’ With Bill Simmons and Jimmy Kimmel
December 7, 2021 · Saturday Night Fever (1977) · Drama · Music · 1:31:46
Categories
Most Rewatchable Scene
Bill SimmonsOpening credits, first dance club sequence with Disco Inferno, first coffee scene with Tony and Stephanie▶ 30:20
Jimmy KimmelOpening credits (extensively discussed), Tony in underwear popping out of bedroom doing Al Pacino impression to grandmother▶ 30:22
Dion Waiters Award
Bill SimmonsJohn Travolta — Travolta's solo dance scene (disco 'You Should Be Dancing' scene)▶ 41:34
What's Aged the Best
Bill SimmonsMultiple picks: the soundtrack (Bee Gees songs and other disco tracks), Tony's room with classic movie posters (Serpico, Bruce Lee, Rocky, Farrah Fawcett), Donna Pescow's performance, the iconic white suit poster, Annette and Tony's relationship dynamic, Tony's friend group dynamics, mid-70s distressed New York as movie location, and the Airplane parody scene▶ 45:08
Jimmy KimmelAgreed on soundtrack (especially Bee Gees songs), Tony's room posters, the realistic friend group dynamics, mid-70s New York setting showing Brooklyn vs Manhattan separation, and added Mad Magazine's Saturday Night Fever parody▶ 45:20
What's Aged the Worst
Bill SimmonsSexual assaults, rapes, racism, homophobia, misogyny - plus issues with Karen Lynn Gorney's casting (age gap, poor dancing, bad accent) and the PG version with awkward TV edits▶ 54:54
Jimmy KimmelThe relationship with various women in the movie, the rapes, and random homophobia like the scene harassing gay men under the bridge for no reason▶ 54:42
Joey Pants Award
Bill SimmonsBarry Miller — Barry Miller (who plays the guy who dies at the end, gets his girlfriend pregnant, also in Fame)▶ 1:02:50
Jimmy KimmelRobert Costanzo — Robert Costanzo (the customer at the paint store at the beginning)▶ 1:03:21
Casting What-Ifs
Bill SimmonsCarrie Fisher — Suggests Carrie Fisher or Fran Drescher for Karen Longoria role▶ 1:05:09
Half-Assed Internet Research
Bill SimmonsShared extensive trivia including: filmed entirely in Brooklyn, 2001 Odyssey Disco was demolished during filming, production harassment by gangs/mafia, Donna Pescoe's genuine reaction to bridge scene, Travolta's ad-libbed hair line, first mainstream movie to use 'blowjob', Travolta's girlfriend Diana Hyland's influence and death, early Steadicam usage, family members in cast, Bee Gees' career revival, and Karen Gorney's career struggles▶ 1:05:48
Jimmy KimmelProvided commentary and follow-up questions throughout, confirming true/false answers, sharing personal filming experiences with union issues, asking about Bee Gees' career timing, and noting Karen Gorney's recent appearance in Clifford movie▶ 1:06:16
Apex Mountain
Bill SimmonsJohn Travolta — Travolta (Grease), Karen Lynn Gorney (yes), Old Brooklyn as pop culture location (Welcome Back Kotter), Brooklyn Bridge (tie with Woody Allen), Disco (yes), John Badham (yes), All the guys in this movie (yes)▶ 1:13:11
Jimmy KimmelJohn Travolta — Travolta (agrees with Grease, specifically one week after it opened), Dysfunctional Italian family dinners (they never go away, always apex)▶ 1:13:31
Picking Nits
Bill SimmonsThe dance contest should have been better - wanted more from it and it should have been the best scene in the movie with an incredible face-off▶ 1:17:03
Bill SimmonsNo revenge against the Barracudas - that storyline just goes away, and the police questioning after Bobby's death was unrealistic▶ 1:17:44
Bill SimmonsThe $500 dance contest prize money amount was questionable - unsure if too much or not enough▶ 1:18:47
Jimmy KimmelThey screwed up the easy part with the dance contest - Travolta can dance but there's no Rocky moment▶ 1:17:31
Jimmy KimmelThey should have lost the fight with the Barracudas - winning the fight was the mistake▶ 1:17:51
Jimmy KimmelThe $500 prize should have been more - it's only $250 split between partners and given the $4 raise was a joke, should have been $1500▶ 1:19:08
Who Won the Movie
Bill SimmonsJohn Travolta — John Travolta - acknowledges other possibilities like the Bee Gees and Robert Stigwood, but firmly concludes Travolta wins▶ 1:25:09
Jimmy KimmelJohn Travolta — John Travolta - agrees with the choice, noting the role seemed written for him and no one else could be imagined in the part▶ 1:25:51
Movies Referenced (32)
| Title (year) | Links | Mentions | Mentioned by | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Hall (1977) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 5 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 8:42 |
| Mean Streets (1973) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 4 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 12:00 |
| Carrie (1976) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 1:00:32 |
| Grease (1978) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 8:46 |
| Fargo (1996) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 53:24 |
| Inferno (2016) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 35:49 |
| The Father (2020) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 5:02 |
| All the Right Moves (1983) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 1:20:58 |
| Bright (2017) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 6:48 |
| Chinatown (1974) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 41:42 |
| Cinderella (2015) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 26:01 |
| Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021) | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 1:10:47 |
Directors Referenced (6)
| Name | Links | Mentions | Mentioned by | Known For | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woody Allen | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 5 | Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Simmons | Annie Hall | ▶ 23:48 |
| John Badham | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 4 | Bill Simmons | WarGames, Saturday Night Fever | ▶ 1:00:04 |
| Robert Hayes | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 22:27 | |
| Dead or Alive | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Bill Simmons | The A-Team | ▶ 45:44 |
| Martin Scorsese | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Bill Simmons | Taxi Driver, Killers of the Flower Moon, Mean Streets | ▶ 12:01 |
| Tony Scott | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | Unstoppable, True Romance | ▶ 1:31:47 |
Actors Referenced (45)
| Name | Links | Mentions | Mentioned by | Known For | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fran Drescher | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 9 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | Hotel Transylvania | ▶ 20:02 |
| John Travolta | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 9 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, Saturday Night Fever | ▶ 2:51 |
| Karen Lynn Gorney | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 7 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | Clifford the Big Red Dog | ▶ 7:37 |
| The Bee Gees | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 7 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | Ready Player One, Virtuosity | ▶ 3:22 |
| Al Pacino | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 6 | Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Simmons | Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather | ▶ 32:03 |
| Donna Pescow | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 5 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | Saturday Night Fever | ▶ 22:27 |
| Sammy Davis Jr. | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 5 | Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Simmons | ▶ 9:52 | |
| Carrie Fisher | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi | ▶ 1:00:32 |
| Denny Dillon | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 35:55 | |
| Ellen Travolta | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | Grease | ▶ 1:08:10 |
| Farrah Fawcett | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 18:06 | |
| Fifth Harmony | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 3 | Bill Simmons | How to Be Single | ▶ 46:06 |
Writers Referenced (4)
| Name | Links | Mentions | Mentioned by | Known For | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attica Locke | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 9 | Bill Simmons, Jimmy Kimmel | ▶ 37:01 | |
| Roger Ebert | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 2 | Bill Simmons | ▶ 14:04 | |
| David Shire | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | Zodiac | ▶ 46:18 |
| Jeffrey Katzenberg | IMDb ↗Lb ↗ | 1 | Bill Simmons | Shrek, Just Like Heaven | ▶ 1:01:48 |