|
| |
Spidey Catches Saturday Night Fever
by Richard Horgan |
|
4/27/2007 at 4:08:16 PM |
 Email
|
 Print
|
|
When Saturday Night Fever hit theaters December 16th, 1977, future comic book movie star Tobey Maguire was just two and a half years old. Barring a Bee Gees lullaby, the seminal John Travolta drama and accompanying mega-soundtrack surely left no cultural imprint on the yoga-loving vegetarian.
But that hasn’t stopped Maguire from delivering an absolutely hilarious collection of scenes halfway through Spider-Man 3, after some hijinks involving Peter Parker’s alter-ego temporarily transform Pete into a sidewalk strutting bad boy. I doubt even Christopher Reeve, had he been given the chance to run Clark Kent through say the Midnight Cowboy filter, could have pulled it off as ably as Maguire does here. Along with a hysterical Maitre d’ cameo by Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead stalwart Bruce Campbell, the backhanded homage to TM (Tony Manero) by TM (Tobey Maguire) provides the freshest moment of this summer’s first inevitable blockbuster.
It’s easy to forget that Maguire can do comedy. In fact, had the Spider-Man franchise not come along, perhaps he would have continued on from hosting Saturday Night Live and starring in Wonder Boys to commingle some funny with the serious. Sure enough, up next potentially for the actor is his first romantic comedy, Quiet Type, about a mute who heads to New York to pursue his dream of conducting a symphonic orchestra.
If you doubt how Maguire’s generation views Travolta’s disco classic, go check out some of the 152 current comments left on the YouTube page featuring the main dance scene from the film. To them, it already is comedy. “I laughed like five minutes when I saw him ‘shake,’” writes Nevanlinna. And mxmikol chimes in with, "Seems so funny, but back in the day this was da bomb! When was the last time you saw a white boi clear the dance floor!!! LOL”
Today, the realm explored by Saturday Night Fever and later Dirty Dancing has transgressed into reality TV. Not just Dancing with the Stars, where were it not for Wild Hogs, Travolta himself might have soon been doing the skyward point, but also everything from So You Think You Can Dance? to America’s Got Talent.
Spider-Man 3 co-writer Ivan Raimi was 21 when Saturday Night Fever came out, while younger brother Sam was 18. In other words, each right on the precipice of the must-hit-the-dance-clubs hormone rush. While their perhaps subliminal sourcing of a classic movie vibe proves that not all 21st century superhero movie glory comes from a computer, it’s kind of funny to think that co-star Topher Grace wound up leaving That ‘70s Show for this ’70s show (and later on, per a Tobey Maguire nightclub number, that ’50s show).
|
|
|
<< Prev Blog Entry |
Return to Main Index |
Next Blog Entry >> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|