Only then, with his facade completely destroyed, could he begin anew. In the five years that I’ve been writing this column, no piece has been more controversial (to put it mildly) than my argument against one of Alfonso Cuarón’s complicated single-take shots in Children Of Men. In its own way, it’s almost as spectacular as Travolta’s performance.). I heard that if you score and get in the car for 10 minutes, you’re out for the next girl. How long will the footprints on the moon last? As Curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis notes, “Badham, Travolta and Van Brandenstein did not know at the time of filming that this suit would come to define an era.”. Saturday Night Fever Dance Dress Costume. The primary rebuttal in the comments was that conventional editing would have dissipated the sense of helplessness that overwhelms the scene—that a cut, in essence, lets the viewer off the hook to some degree. Tony is at the center of the frame in both shots, but this sudden shift in angle has a galvanizing effect that moving the camera in real time from the first position to the second couldn’t possibly achieve. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Multiply. The white polyester two-button single-breasted suit with wide jacket lapels, matching waistcoat, and 28-inch waist white flared trousers is accompanied by the original black single-cuff shirt with pointed collar. Badham then cuts, right in the middle of an established right-left-right pointing bit (it goes R-L-R, R-L-R, R-cut-L-R), to a low-angle, dead-center shot of the dance floor. ... John Travolta’s celebrated solo dance routine in Saturday Night Fever is a perfect example. You will shortly receive a welcome email so please check your inbox. Could this sequence have been captured in a single three-minute take? Saturday Night Fever’s most iconic scene demonstrates the power of editing. It’s a tool. To overly simplify, mise-en-scène refers to the composition of an individual shot, while montage refers to how contiguous shots relate to one another. Senior Guest Curator of Hollywood Costume Deborah Nadoolman Landis set her sights on including the suit for the exhibition in 2008 whilst gathering together memorable costumes from a century of film-making. The white suit was a star from the outset however. With Tenor, maker of GIF Keyboard, add popular John Travolta Saturday Night Fever White Suit Dance animated GIFs to your conversations. Well, except maybe for that index-fingers-tour-my-crotch bit. Why don't libraries smell like bookstores? (For the record, I love the lengthy opening shot of Gravity, in which the weightlessness of space completely justifies Cuarón’s floating camera.) As tragic events of the finale unfold his suit becomes ever grubbier; deconstructing further and further until the haunting image of Tony slumped in the subway train smoking becomes as iconic as him gyrating on the dance floor. So for me, white was the only choice for the suit. Here’s the thing, though. Avoid that movie at all costs when it comes out—it was the worst thing I saw at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, by far—but do eventually seek out the inevitable YouTube clip of a little Chechen kid dancing to the Bee Gees hit. Visually the suit works better this way, more representative of the anti-hero (which Tony most definitely is). For what is certainly the best remembered costume in Saturday Night Fever (1977), John Travolta as Tony Manero wears a brilliant white 3-piece suit to dazzle the disco dance floor. Here’s something cool. Sure. The most electrifying moment in Travolta’s dance, to my mind, occurs on the cut from shot seven to shot eight. We will never give your details to anyone else without your consent. His look defined an era: smart, yet somehow scruffy; classy yet somehow cheap. I noticed 'Saturday Night Fever' was on Netflix and decided to give it a watch. (“You Should Be Dancing” figures prominently in The Search, Michel Hazanavicius’ dismal follow-up to The Artist. We can agree to disagree about this. The spread-eagle shirt collar however is derived entirely from the street. I want to share with you that I only wear clothes from the 70s. From the waist down it has a military look of sailors’ bell bottoms. Unless you’re looking for the edits (as you likely were just watching that clip, because I’d raised the subject), most of them likely escape conscious notice. Most of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers routines were shot from a fixed distance, without cuts, and they’re all glorious. Patrizia Von Brandenstein commented: “When choosing what goes in to such a major dance costume, I paid attention to the usual factors of cut, “danceability” and maintenance and I thought about the character of Tony Manero. They’re all very fluid. Here's some more information from the V&A: V&A to display unforgettable white Travolta suit this autumn in Hollywood Costume 20 October 2012 – 27 January 2012. The suit can be seen this autumn alongside more than 100 of the most iconic costumes designed for unforgettable cinema characters over a century of film-making. Other songs playing when Travolta is on-screen: Adult Deluxe Saturday Night Fever Costume Men. For more details, please see our privacy notice. It is clear in that last scene that she is calling the shots, and that Tony’s only hope is not only to refrain from violating her, but to emulate her. I am grateful that our hero, John Travolta, and our producers also came to see it in this way. Unlike, say, the bone-to-spaceship cut in 2001: A Space Odyssey (which I’d also use), it’s not creating an idea by juxtaposing two different things. Hollywood Costume, sponsored by Harry Winston, opens at the V&A on 20 October 2012. had already become parody. She discovered that Paramount Pictures had auctioned the suit for charity in 1979 where famous US film critic Gene Siskel had purchased it. Until I revisited it just now, however, I’d forgotten that the early dance routine is bracketed by Bobby C. (Barry Miller) pestering Tony’s older brother, Frank (Martin Shakar), who’s a priest, about getting a papal dispensation for his girlfriend’s abortion. … Everyone remembers the picture of Tony alone on the dance floor, in his white polyester suit. Cutting is frequently perceived as lazy at best, crass and obnoxious at worst—and it can be, just as any other technique can be when poorly applied. "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees (disco line dance at the, What was the song John Travolta danced to in his white suit in Saturday Night Fever. Now remembered as one of the most classic costumes in cinema history, Badham and Travolta originally assumed that the suit would be black for the final dance scene, only to be convinced by Von Brandenstein to use white. It’s Ben Mason. I think it’s time that we begin waking up from too much ecstasy pills and wake up with a good snot of cocaine and tie up those laces on those platforms cause we’re gonna Get Up And Boogie! 3.7 out of 5 stars 80. Interestingly despite the pristine first appearance of Tony’s suit it never really looks clean. Finally, after a high profile media launch for Hollywood Costume at the V&A in January 2012, Assistant Curator Keith Lodwick received a phone call from the current owner revealing the white suit’s London location and offering it for the exhibition. Beaded Mardi Gras costumes by Big Chief Demond Melancon on ... V&A promotes degrowth with a pavilion that's nothing but ... Visit our comments page | Read our comments policy, John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever suit rediscovered. In every other instance, however, the cut is seamless, occurring in the middle of a particular move that’s still in progress when the angle changes. Quite ironic that if you blame that period for being full of self-indulgence, then shouldn’t you blame today’s environment for being technologically self-indulgent, with warped politically incorrect mentalities and self-indilgence in making disgusting amounts of money derived from robots that keep feeding the corporate rat? Hiding alone in the carriage he is trapped at the bottom of the heap; his only choice now is to crawl out and start again. Black with white broken line stripe shirt, single cuff, pointed collar, no necktie. 86 $83.00 $83.00. Just like the disco scene itself his costume is sullied from the sweaty self-indulgence of its environment: White polyester two-button single breasted suit with matching waistcoat; wide jacket lapels and flared trousers. It has now been confirmed to go on display as part of Hollywood Costume, the V&A’s major autumn exhibition. It would be cool if there was an article on the T-birds including Danny Zuko. Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed. His look defined an era: smart, yet somehow scruffy; classy yet somehow cheap. I love Saturday Night Fever! By virtue of his style, panache, and above all his lithe grace on the dance floor, he is a hero to his local gang, and by extension, to all of us. It’s a potent reminder—just one of many—that these characters use the disco as a means of escaping their otherwise frustrating existence, and the fact that “You Should Be Dancing” can still be clearly heard in the background, as Frank tells Bobby that the Pope isn’t going to rescue him from his problem, is no mere happenstance.