Book Review: Fever by Margo Donohue

About:

Fever: The Complete History of Saturday Night Fever by Margo Donohue is a loving history of the 1970s surprise hit movie, Ms. Donohue is an accomplished writer for the lifestyle and entertainment genres, as well as producing several podcasts.
  • 272 pages
  • Publisher ‏ : Citadel
  • Language ‏ : English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : 0806543922

Book Review: Fever by Margo Donohue
My rat­ing for Fever4
Buy Fever from Amazon.com*
More Books by Margo Donohue*

Thoughts:

A few years ago, my wife, daughter and I sat to watch Saturday Night Fever, one of my wife’s favorites. I realized that I never saw the whole movie (I was about eight when it came out and Superman was all the rage for me). The big revelation to me was that there are at least three versions of the movie – R, PG and a TV version. So, it’s quite possible that many of us have never seen the R rated version, the one that’s considered to be the classic. The story, grime, darkness, ugliness, but also relevant themes then and now told me all I need to know about why it’s as beloved as it is.

Fever by Margo Donohue traces the making of the movie from Nik Cohn’s New York magazine article which the movie is based on, to taking John Travolta from a “Sweathog” to a movie stardom, the reception and, of course, legacy. Along the way she dispels myths, such as who taught Travolta to dance, and others.

Robert Stigwood, the producer, gets much of the credit for the movie. Originally it was conceived as a vehicle to showcase Stigwood’s clients, the Bee Gees and he brought along screenwriter Norman Wexler, director John Badham, and that kid from the sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, which just had the elusive “it”.

The book covers a lot of areas, the iconic dancing at Brooklyn’s 2001 Odyssey disco, the disco floor, excellent choreography, best-selling soundtrack and the effect it had, and still has, on pop culture. It is divided into sections which really don’t flow into one another, but on the positive side if you don’t find a particular section interesting you can simply skip it to the next one without missing a beat.

The work, I thought, was well researched and is an enjoyable and informative read whether you like disco. If you’re a movie and trivia fan like me, or enjoy reading about movies, you’ll enjoy this book no matter what.

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer:I bought this book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books
--- Please like and follow ManOfLaBook.com ---

Related Posts

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial
RSS
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon