Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Saturday Night Fever catapulted John Travolta to fame and inspired a generation of disco dancers.

John Travolta is strutting his stuff on the disco dancefloor as Tony Manero, a 19-year-old Italian American with almost no ambition in life, until he goes clubbing and starts dancing. It’s magic as he sashays his way across club 2001 Odyssey and forgets the world.

It’s also the film that turned John Travolta into a household name, not just as an actor, but as the man with hips that move to the beat. The way characters speak feels dated, and its handling of racism, homophobia and sexism and sexual assault is certainly out of step with the 21st century – but it is 44 years old, after all. If you can overlook that, you’ll love this escapism from lockdown, because it’s exactly how Tony feels at home – locked down.

Iconic late movie critic Roger Ebert summed it up perfectly: “Why did this mean so much to (critic) Gene Siskel? Because he saw it at a certain time. Because Tony’s dreams touched him. Because while Tony was on the dancefloor, his problems were forgotten and his limitations were transcended.”