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Visitors Review

dr_summer_rae_iii 2013-05-22 10:45:39

Hey, I Liked It...

He's a young, eager dancer looking for a break into the big-time.Meeting a fellow, more established female dancer, naturally he developsa crush, thereby screwing-over his sometimes-girlfriend. Tony may notbe the sharpest crayon in the box, but this character has a goofy,idiot-charm to him... and it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes.As far as well thought out, award-winning-quality plots go, this isn'tthat film. But, if you're looking for some hot, scantily-clad close-upsof young John Travolta, this is most definitely the flick you need tosee.You've got your dancing, your sweating, cheesy music, memorable badlines, and a climactic ending. Hot. -the end

rondine 2013-05-21 20:51:22

I liked it, but then I don't believe every movie has to be a masterpiece to be enjoyed.

I guess I liked this movie for 3 reasons. I liked the soundtrack. I liketheBee Gee's songs as well as Frank Stallone's (yes, his brother Sly directedthis movie) and Cynthia Rhoads singing. Reason #2: John Travolta andCynthiaRhoads acting ( I just can't imagine what happened to her. She sings, shedances, she's pretty and she can act!) Reason #3: I enjoyed the story.Beingan artist myself, it was fun to indulge in the fantasy that while being inthe chorus of a production that the lead will somehow miraculously fallintoyour lap (because you were right for it all along!) This movie should notbe looked at as a sequel. In this movie he's not out trying to get high &laid while having a bit of fun dancing. I guess I liked it more becausehischaracter was more serious- both with his relationships and his career. Iliked this movie better than Saturday Night Fever. So sue me. I swear, Ihave taste, check the other movies I've reviewed!

jonpd 2013-05-20 18:45:23

OH NICE, LIKE SOMETHING YOU DO EVERYDAY LIKE HAVING BREAKFAST

Sure, it is completely different from the original and the finale issomewhat unnecessary. It plays like the final fight sequence for the ROCKYmovies. Character study is not present for this film, but Travolta doesrecreate his classic character of Tony Manero (to an extent, anyhow) and heholds my attention for the 90 minutes of the film. Pretty decent songs fromthe Bee Gees and Frank Stallone, a pleasant performance from the lovely Mrs.Richard Marx (Cynthia Rhodes), and bits of good humor from Travolta(althought the script is somewhat wooden) keep this movie "alive". Not aspowerful or dramatic as SNF but it still entertains me and is worthy enoughto own. Watch for Sly as a guy on the street that Travolta bumps into. Andlook for Patrick Swayze as an extra dancer.

crukeg 2013-05-20 07:14:40

well, it wasn't completely terrible....but it is bad

Staying alive is the 1983 sequel to the smash 1977 hit Saturday nightfever. The original was an effective and gritty film about learninglife's lessons, and the effect of popular culture on society. It was agreat film, a touching film that featured John Travolta's strongestperformance to date (i'm including pulp fiction).Staying alive, however is poor. It is a fairy tale movie about a mantrying to make it with his talent (in,wherelse Broadway), and what asurprise Tony manero (main character) makes his show a huge success.It's so predictable it's a joke.Tony is now dating a girl named Jackie, who truly loves him. He showsher little respect and cheats on her for a pompous snob named Laura.Laura dumps him, he realises he's is wrong and Jackie forgives him.There is some good. The dance montages (except the horrible finale) arewell choreographed, and the style is somewhat appealing. John Travoltadoes his best with weak material.What I missed with this movie was a sense of realism. In the originalTony was a man with a passion and a man who learnt right from wrong.The original was about Tony, not dancing. This movie is predictable, weget very little character interaction and it is all about dancing.As i've said before, it isn't completely worthless, but it is boring,and it doesn't have the bravery of the original. It's just schlock,tedious, harmless schlock.

mikeyengland2003 2013-05-16 22:16:16

Great classic film

This film is a simple classic and should be enjoyed for the energy andromance it portrays. Forget any hi brow Shakespeare it just a greatfilm. John Travolta is an amazing dancer whilst Cynthia Rhodes is abeautiful singer dancer. The film is a simple romantic piece and shouldnot be taken seriously.I don't think that the film should be taken too seriously and the songsin the film are of course classics from the Bee gees who were always agreat group.Cynthia Rhodes has a fantastic soulful voice and her singing fills muchof the film where the storyline thins out. Enjoy it. It is romantic,clean and a great family film.

2013-05-16 10:13:33

Good product - unclear description

This review is from: Staying Alive (Amazon Instant Video) (It was some time ago when I bought this instant video from Amazon but I'll try to remember)I wanted to watch Saturday Night Fever and looked for it on Amazon. They didn't have it but had the pack Saturday Night Fever AND Staying Alive. On the same page they had the button to buy the instant video of one of those or both - I wasn't entirely sure. I bought the instant video somehow assuming I would get Saturday Night Fever AND Staying Alive.BUT I only got Staying Alive. Not what I wanted but I enjoyed it.

2013-05-12 07:30:51

great

This review is from: Staying Alive-Dvd (DVD) dvd came as expected on time and in good condition. movie is one for my collection. have to have saturday night fever all time great.

2013-05-12 01:17:37

Have always loved it. I guess that shows my age

This review is from: Staying Alive (Amazon Instant Video) Watched it back in the day...always loved it and can't find it anywhere in town. Any hints on where to buy it?

ShadowChild 2013-05-10 23:12:48

Fascinating, amazing Dance Show!

First of all, I, personally, liked this movie much more than SaturdayNightFever. Both of these movies have casual story, just to spend time (andenjoy.. ) but "Staying Alive" has great, FASCINATING DANCE SHOW in the endof it. And the story itself is more interesting than "Saturday NightFever"'s, and you know, just watching JOHN TRAVOLTA in this movie makesyoufeel good! (and fall in love with him). He's just amazing there, he looksPERFECT, and you can't believe a guy can be SO TALENTED. It's a very goodmovie for John's fans (but I recommend them not to watch his movies fromthe90's right after this one, cuz they might get shocked that this is thesameperson...:) kiddin)But it's really a very enjoyable movie to spend your freetime.

2013-05-10 12:55:23

Wow....wow

Co-writen and directed by Sir Sylvester Stalone, must I say more.

SeaHorseMafia 2013-05-07 17:49:37

Holy sh*t is this bad!

I have seen a lot of stinkers in my days, but this pile of dog Cr*pbeats them all. For god sake, this is so bad that Twilight looksactually pretty good.I have seen Saturday Night Live and liked it okay, not amazing, butstill a well-made film. People who will defend this film will say that"don't compare this to the original..", but you will have to comparethis to the original. Its like saying that "don't judge Rocky 3, 4 or 5because they are a different movie", well they are the goddamn sequels.And I will compare this to the original, but not too much, I will tryto stay objective. But the biggest thing to compare to the original is,that SNL was made by talent and actually was a well-made film, this ishorrible rape to the cinema made by talentless dummies. Lets start withthe performances...John Travolta plays the leading role of Tony Something... Odly Tonycharacter is nothing like in the original. In SNL he was a hungry youngdancer, but an anti-hero. He was a very good character with a realpersonality, in this hes very, very bland. It even doesn't make anysense, you already had the character, so why didn't you use it? Its amovie about him, you cant really chance him! Thats a really big problemin a sequel, I mean think if Godfather part 2 all the characters weredifferent. I wouldn't mind much, but he is bland. I don't know what tofeel about the character, he doesn't have a personality and is notinteresting. And a horrible god awful performance by Travolta.The other characters are... Just read what I said about Travoltascharacter, they are BLAND! Now for the directing and writing..Its directed by Sylvester Stallone, but it could have been directed bya brain-dead rat, and it would have been the same. The main problem is,he "creates" a lot of characters and doesn't take those any where. Foran example, the dance teacher or director guy.. We see him listening tothe argument by Tony and that other bland actor, but it doesn't go anywhere. They don't address it, they don't talk about it, nothinghappens! And this has a lot of pointless scenes, like maybe they havean argument, and in the next scene its like nothing happened. And a lotof the scenes could have just cut off, their pointless(especially thelast 30 minutes). And the dialog is absolutely horrible, tons of linesare complete pointless, like "I don't eat breakfast", that line didn'tmake any sense. The story isn't focused at all, I known in SNL thestory wasn't focused, but at least the characters were reallyinteresting and they had stories, this isn't just focused at all. SNLwas to a level focused, it had stories that Tony went to through,building up to the dance thing. In this its really not building up tothe dance show, or really anything. They are just events, not storieshappening to these people, who are really boring. And the last camerashots are Travoltas ballshack and ass (I wish I would be kidding). Andoh yeah the last "line" is just terrible, the rich character asks Tonysomething about them, Travolta doesn't answer and starts walking. Itslike Stallone wanted to make a film that doesn't answer any questionswe had, even the little thing I would like to know, the film doenstwant to say anything. Imagine if in Rocky, the film would end whenRocky and Apollo both go down. Horrible directing writing and adisgusting ending.To sum it up, this is horrible, in every aspect, the last 30 minutesare just dancing randomly (I could talk about that, but I will run outof space) and it is boring. The characters are just terrible, there isno real story, its not interesting in any way, the pacing is sh*t andthe dialog is terrible. There's movies like Batman and Robin that arethat bad, that you can laugh at them. This is that bad, its not funny.I actually get angry when talking about this film. If you decide towatch this, remember I have warned you.

2013-05-07 00:20:07

Cheese, But Not Tasty Cheese

There's a fine line between brilliance and cheese. Saturday Night Fever (30th Anniversary Special Collector's Edition) was on one side; Staying Alive is on the other. Fast forward through the first half of this movie and then watch the dancing.

James Hitchcock 2013-05-05 11:14:08

Fails to stay alive for very long

Although the traditional cinema musical, generally based upon asuccessful Broadway show, went into something of a decline in the lateseventies and eighties, this period saw the rise of a new musical genrebased around dance and pop music. Like "Saturday Night Fever", to whichit is a sequel, "Flashdance", which also came out in 1983, "Grease",which also starred John Travolta, and "Dirty Dancing", Staying Alive isan example of this trend. The title comes from the Bee Gees song whichwas used as the theme song to Saturday Night Fever and is also playedduring the final scene here, although the name of song is always speltas "Stayin' Alive". Doubtless that apostrophe looked a bit too slangyand colloquial for someone's liking.The story takes place six years after the events of "Saturday NightFever". The hero of that film, Tony Manero, is still an aspiringdancer, although now his aspirations are focused less on the discodance floor than on Broadway. After working as a dance instructor hewins a part in a Broadway dance show with the unpromising title of"Satan's Alley". (Think of something like "Goddess" from the film"Showgirl", but without the restraint and good taste). The plot isessentially a love-triangle in which Tony cheats on his girlfriendJackie with the show's English leading lady Laura and then has to tryand win Jackie back when Laura dumps him after a one-night stand.My main problems with this film are that the characters are all so damnunsympathetic and that the acting is so poor. John Travolta's boyishcharm and rueful grins cannot hide the fact that his character is acheating rat. For all her good looks and undoubted dance skills, FinolaHughes gives a woeful performance as Laura, a character who is soobviously a complete bitch that I cannot fathom why Tony ever gave hera second glance; he must have been seduced by those cut-glass Englishvowels. Both Travolta and Hughes earned well-deserved Razzienominations (he for Worst Actor, she for Worst New Star). Rathersurprisingly, neither won, Travolta losing to Christopher Atkins for "ANight in Heaven" and Hughes to Lou Ferrigno in "Hercules". I have neverseen either of those films, but if they contain worse acting than"Staying Alive" I can't say I'm in a hurry to do so.Cynthia Rhodes as Jackie is, technically, not quite as deficient asHughes in the acting department, but she makes a rather colourlessheroine and never makes us understand why Jackie is so forgivingtowards her faithless boyfriend. Rhodes does come to life in the dancescenes, where she shows a liveliness and charisma lacking elsewhere,but as Jackie is a lowly chorus girl she does not get as much chance toshow this side to her talents as does Hughes, who plays the star of theshow."Staying Alive" is frequently regarded as an inferior sequel to itspredecessor, a verdict from which I would not dissent, even though"Saturday Night Fever" is far from being my favourite movie. It hassome energetic and well-choreographed dance sequences and those who areinto eighties disco music will enjoy the songs, although I must admitthat I don't really like that style of music, and certainly not thefalsetto warblings of the Bee Gees, who provide much of the soundtrack.("You can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, althoughthe way I use my voice might give rise to some doubt on that point").Despite its name, "Staying Alive" never stays alive for long enough toarouse much interest. 4/10

2013-05-04 20:54:14

Misfire sequel to Saturday Night Fever

Staying Alive needed more flare, a better supporting cast, more people, more connections to Saturday Night Fever (1977), and less dancing. It sounds funny to say less dancing but you'll see. Rumor has it that Travolta didn't have an interest in playing Tony Manero again, since many fans of the original probably weren't going to flock to this film six years later (in 1983.) However, Sylvester Stallone recharged some interest by agreeing to direct this picture. John Badham, who directed SNF, must have been busy with "Wargames" (also from 1983.)The "Rocky" style of character that Travolta was playing wasn't bad, but the storyline and direction was lacking big time. Much of the supporting cast were terrible actors, except for the chain smoking bearded Broadway director and Travolta. If I have to hear that silly tune from Satan's Alley (the show in the movie) I'm going to lose it!"Dance....da da......Dance....da da....." Yeesh. A sub-par movie on it's own. Not even close to a great sequel.

ahmed elshikh 2013-05-04 10:32:55

The Destroyer Passion for The Superlative Adjective !

We all love the superlative adjectives, but sure some hypercriticalreviewers love them more! And sometimes they use them unfairly toastonish, to be nasty, or to be reviewers ! OK, I admire the Razzies. It's undoubtedly Hollywood conscience infront of the Oscars or the box office records. But still its organizershave not their flaws but their own taste, which by all means not has tobe OURS too. In fact (John Wilson), the founder of The Golden RaspberryAwards, dreamed up the "Razzies" while sitting through a double bill of(Xanadu) and (Can't Stop the Music) in (1980). So it's more than clearthat the man hates the Disco movies or at least the Disco music. Hencewhen he listed (Staying alive) among the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad MoviesEver in his book (THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE) he was speaking hisvery mind. But this using for the superlative adjectives such as (theworst ever..) could be hurtful, erroneous, or misleading sometimes. Iknow that it was historically misleading this time!I sat to watch what was nominated once for the Worst Actor (JohnTravolta), the Worst Supporting Actress (Finola Hughes), and the WorstNew Star (Finola Hughes again !). I've heard that : it destroyed(Travolta)'s career for more than a decade, he looked here as thegayest he could ever be (!), and that it's one of the worst sequelsever made !!!!!!!!!!!!Ah.. Where do I begin ?! First of all, it's not Enjoyably Bad or Bad.(Travolta) did a great job as a dancer to the extent that the firstmovie is not even comparative to this one's meaningful dances. He evenwas better as an actor more than many roles he performed in many"later" movies and "celebrated" ones. And I think the downfall of hiscareer came from many not smart choices during the whole 1980s, notbecause one role in one movie (remember well how he turned down thelead role in movies like American Gigolo, Splash, and An Officer and aGentleman). Speaking about being a worse sequel then let me gird up myloins, flare up, and explode : this is a sequel which's a better thanits original you MORONS !! I can't believe that there are dumb peopleto this level ?! But there are, and if you don't believe me then surelyyou didn't read a review about (Staying Alive) in which the reviewersaw it as good sexploitation movie !????I'm not a Stallone big fan, but he made here as a director a very goodmovie. Originally the idea of a musical directed by Stallone looks kindof unacceptable, but he pulled it off. There is high aesthetic feel allover it. I've never thought that Stallone got a very sensitive sense tomake one of the most romantic, or rather purest, sex scenes as the onein which Travolta and Rhodes dance in slow-motion dreamy photomontage.True that the last stage musical wasn't the best, but when it comes toscenes like the one of Tony and his mother.. it's flawless. You've gotto notice the bound between Stallone's previous character (as a writerand actor) Rocky Balboa and this movie's Tony Manero, because both aredull kind ambitious Italian-Americans who have a coarse persona AND abrilliant talent that nearly no body wants to see. Casting (Finola Hughes) was a masterstroke; uniquely her face can becharming and detestable in the same time. (Cynthia Rhodes) is one ofthe 1980s finest beauties who delivered underrated delicate performancetoo. The dialog was totally clever, I liked some witty lines. And Ireally feel crazy about this soundtrack; it's matchless, trying to be adie-hard collector for the period's hits and marks. It's very rare tofind a soundtrack as perfect as this.For the bad areas; I think that the reaction of some characters at somesituations wasn't right all along. As much as I love the soundtrack Ihave to admit it was too crowded at times. The matter of Manero makes anew climax for the stage play and no one seems to bother isincomprehensible ! AND the ending scene.. Sorry, but that was too idiotor too embarrassing or both !I found myself asking after the movie; maybe according to the Razzienominations and the old shameful reputation, the rest of 1983 movieswas THAT GOOD in comparison ??! Or maybe the viewers weren't in for amusical or dancing movie after the infamous golden age of the Discomovies (Sgt_ Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Thank God It's Friday,Roller Boogie, The Apple, Xanadu..) especially after the end of the1970s itself and the beginning of the MTV. But definitely (John Wilson)and his likes were the ones who hated it with passion, using thesuperlative adjective yet in unjust delusive way. It's not a great movie but it's not as a lot of people used to call :very bad! Suffice it to say that it didn't win any Razzie Awardnonetheless. Sometimes people need something, anything, to bash. So(Staying Alive) was the ultimate boxing bag of 1983, and not even forfair reasons. Obviously the same year got horrible movies, or rathersequels, such as (Psycho II), (Smokey and the Bandit III), or (Curse ofthe Pink Panther) that nobody tried to play "the worst" with or caredto torture instead!

2013-05-03 12:38:55

ugrant1865

I thought I was the only one who loved this movie..the dance scenes were fabulous as well as the music..it does of course leave you wondering about his friends from the past but I think we realize that he is trying to break away from his past...The ending I have to say is the best part!!!!

2013-04-30 00:56:04

Service with a smile

This review is from: Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) I have searched for this movie for months and never found it until i came to amazon.com, I ordered this movie and it was in my mailbox within 4-5 days. It was in EXCELLENT condition!! I definetly plan to do business with this dealer again and I recommend that you do too!

2013-04-29 13:11:46

Good guilty pleasure!

Staying Alive is definitely not the best movie ever made but one I continually go back to - mainly for the music. The soundtrack was understandably ignored because Saturday Night Fever was such a masterpiece but the new Bee Gees songs are terrific, Frank Stallone's songs are good and Cynthia Rhodes is wonderful as well. I don't understand why she didn't have a bigger career. She's a great dancer and singer. Finola Hughes has some terrific dance scenes too - especially the one in which John Travolta first sees her. I agree with critics that the storyline is not that great and you do wonder what happened to all of Tony's family and friends. But the movie is worth seeing - just not to be taken too seriously. Definately worth buying the soundtrack. Pay special attention to "Moody Girl" - "Life Goes On" - and "Finding Out the Hard Way"

scott Gemmell 2013-04-25 16:26:56

Extend Butler Extend!

For those of you who think this movie is a let down, then I am afraidyou are let down.This 80's classic has more fever in its final scene than the whole ofthe first movie put together.Okay the first one rocked, get over it, its a story about life andhaving the confidence to go for it. There is not a part in this moviethat is I personally don't like, in fact I could probably read thescript start to finish. I ain't no freak but this movie is quite simplya master piece, It is the Rocky IV of dance movies and twice the filmat that. Its a progression of his life, the disco days are gone and heneeds to get something going to quench his thirst for life. It ifanything teaches you to reach for the the unattainable, the onlybarriers in life are the ones we put up our selves, Manero teaches uswe can go all the way and not sell ourselves short. Read between thelines 80's Edam and I love it!I GIVE YOU THE LEAD IN A Broadway SHOW AND YOU WALK OUT THE DOOR!Count it Down! and 5678.

2013-04-25 03:57:49

Movie and Music deserved better

I know the critics tore this movie up but they were WRONG! The dancing is intense as is the music! The moves fit the music perfectly! Hats off not only to the cast but the choreographers as well!What is equally as great (but does not get lost behind the dancing) is the story...Tony Manero not only comes of age as a dancer but as a man and a human. Even though everyone else loved Saturday Night Fever I can say with certainty that I would much rather watch this one over and over. Do not believe the critics ....this is definetely a must have movie!!!!