a lot of terrible in this, and the first half or 2/3rds will make you roll your eyes at the amount of terrible bs that tony and his friends do that the film glorifies, but the point of the film, to me, is that a) people who seem like they have it all together are experiencing their own problems that you may not be aware of, and b) we watch tony grow up, which, in order to properly show his growth, we need to see all of that terrible bs. it's still hard to sit through, but at least there's a purpose. tony's friend muttering "stupid bitch" is totally unnecessary, though. 70s filmmaking, man.

more than anything, though, the discotheque scenes are INCREDIBLE. somehow you don't see how lame this white nonsense must've been and you are transported to this world, and you get to see tony's bad family life contrasted to his life in the disco where he is a god. interesting stuff, and they shoot the disco scenes so well.

definitely worth a watch, keeping in mind this is 1977 and you're watching a time capsule. if you're the type who is passionate about this sort of thing, and find a lot of the things occurring in this film to be unsettling, i think it's important to watch films like this so that you can appreciate the progress that's been made. few films can top the contest-winning dance, and, especially, tony and stephanie's kiss, tony's dumb look on his face immediately afterwards, and then that huge smile. i mean, what beats that?

john travolta's dancing saves this whole film, and that's coming from someone who does not give a shit about dancing. the non-dancing scenes are subpar at best, but the discotheque scenes pull you right back in.