Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition)

Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition)

Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition)
List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $3.91
You Save: $5.08 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.15 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Jesse Doran, John Travolta, Norma Donaldson, Patrick Brady, Steve Bickford
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-08
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount

DVD Reviews of Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition)

DVD Review: Does fall short as a Sequel, but it's still Tony Manero
Summary: 4 Stars

Sometimes timing is everything for a movie. One would think if you make a sequel to one of the most successful movies ever, "Saturday Night Fever" (complete with its original star John Travolta) and bring in a superstar like Sylvester Stallone to write and direct - it should be primed for an instant hit. However, this 1983 sequel "Staying Alive" was not a commercial success. Some may even deem it a failure. Like most sequels, it does fall short of the original movie. But "Staying Alive" isn't that bad a movie. The problem with "Staying Alive" is it came out on the coattails of the anti-Disco movement. "Saturday Night Fever" epitomized everything about the Disco movement. While "Staying Alive" isn't a movie about the Disco era, it still is associated with it. But I think it still was never given the chance it should have had.

"Staying Alive" continues the story of Tony Manero. In "Saturday Night Fever", John Travolta played Tony, a 19 year old from Bay Ridge Brooklyn - he was in a dead end job going nowhere while dealing with never meeting his family's expectations. However, when Tony went to the local Disco - he was instantly transformed into an icon because of his talent on the dance floor. This talent, combined with Tony's personality gave him almost a royalty status. By the end of "Saturday Night Fever", Tony realizes he needs to take control of his life - thus this sets the stage for "Staying Alive". "Staying Alive" takes place six years later. In this, Tony is now trying to make it as a Professional Dancer in Manhattan. In order to make ends meet, he waits tables and teaches dance class. Tony then gets an opportunity to be a dancer in a Broadway Musical - this eventually turns into a lead opportunity.

In "Saturday Night Fever", there were two women in Tony's life - Annette and Stephanie. Annette was a girl who worshipped Tony, but Tony wanted nothing to do with her. Stephanie - was an upcoming career girl who was a fabulous dancer. Although Stephanie came from a similar background from Tony, she had gotten out of the Bay Ridge scene - and would unintentionally become a catalyst for Tony to do the same. In "Staying Alive", there are two women as well: Jackie - a dancer/singer played by Cynthia Rhodes who was Tony's on again/off again girlfriend. The other woman is Laura - an established and famous Dancer, whom like Stephanie - Tony will get infatuated with. Both are going to be in the Broadway Show that Tony is in - with Laura as the female lead.

One thing that made "Saturday Night Fever" great was the humor. "Staying Alive" does a very good job in this department. In a lot of ways, Stallone uses the humor to soften up Tony Manero's personality. As a result, it really is Tony's humor that is the main source of the humor throughout the movie. The scenes in Tony's boarding house are very funny - particularly how Tony deals with the less than dynanic neighbors in which he has nothing in common. The other source of humor comes from Flo Manero - Tony's mother. Flo is played by Julie Bovasso - the only other character to return to the sequel from the original movie.

The one thing that is disappointing is that it is only Tony and Flo who are the returning characters from "Saturday Night Fever". One thing that made "Saturday Night Fever" so great were that there were some great characters that surrounded Tony - in particular Tony's friends (Double J, Joey, Gus, Bobby C) and Tony's family (Frank Manero, Father Frank, Tony's Grandmother, and Tony's younger sister). While I don't think you could have brought back all of the characters (in particular Bobby C dies in "Saturday Night Fever"), some of the characters would have been nice. I would have also liked to have seen Tony's new maturity and how it reflected on his friends.

One of the strong performances of "Staying Alive" comes from Steve Inwood. Inwood plays Jesse - he is the Director of the Musical that Tony is in. Inwood delivers the role with a lot of intensity and makes you really think he is a director. I was surprised that such a performance did not lead to more opportunities for Inwood because it was such a good performance.

There are some interesting appearances and cameos in the movie. Director Sylvester Stallone makes an uncredited cameo as someone whom Tony bumps into on the street. Patrick Swayze also has a uncredited cameo as a dancer (kind of ironic because Cynthia Rhodes would go on to star in his big "dance" movie - "Dirty Dancing"). Sylvester Stallone's brother Frank plays Carl - a singer in the band whom Jackie is in. There are also some humorous scenes with Tony and Carl.

The music in "Staying Alive" isn't as strong as "Saturday Night Fever". The BeeGees are back for some new songs, but these songs are not Disco Dance songs - they are more reflective of the Adult Contemporary style they adopted in the 80s. Frank Stallone, Tommy Faragher, and Cynthia Rhodes also contribute songs to the soundtrack. These songs are definitely reflective of the Synth Pop style of 1983. They are decent songs, but it would be a great injustice to compare this soundtrack to the landmark soundtrack of "Saturday Night Fever".

Overall, this is still a very good movie. The ending is a little weak - namely because finale deals with the opening of the show and I think Stallone over engineered the finale to try to build some excitement. In particular, I didn't think dirty laundry needed to be aired on the dance floor. I think if this was released a few years earlier or a few years later, it would have done better at the box office. I'd still recommend checking it out.
More Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition) reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Description of Staying Alive (Widescreen Edition)

THE DANCING HERO OF "SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER" IS SIX YEARS OLDER,BEYOND DISCO, READY FOR BROADWAY.
Bestsellers in DVD
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] ImageThe Story of Jeremiah [VHS]
Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS] ImageWresting With God [VHS]
by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $19.99
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS] ImageStudy Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]
Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $44.00
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS] ImageTempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/Party Video [VHS] ImageTempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Strike the Original Match [VHS] ImageStrike the Original Match [VHS]
New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.95
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] ImageMedjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]
JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008 ImageMayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008
by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User ImagePediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User
by Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Cost Accounting [VHS] ImageCost Accounting [VHS]
by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead ImageDon't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
HBO Home Video; Release date: 2009-12-15; DVD
Best price: $2.81
Price in other shops: $5.98
Michael (Keep Case Packaging) ImageMichael (Keep Case Packaging)
NEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2009-09-08; DVD
Best price: $5.10
Price in other shops: $12.97
Grease 2 ImageGrease 2
Paramount; Release date: 2003-06-10; DVD
Best price: $2.80
Price in other shops: $8.99
Footloose (Deluxe Edition) ImageFootloose (Deluxe Edition)
PAR; Release date: 2011-09-27; DVD
Best price: $7.08
Price in other shops: $14.99
Dirty Dancing (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition) ImageDirty Dancing (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Lions Gate; Release date: 2003-12-09; DVD
Best price: $5.46
Price in other shops: $14.98
Phenomenon ImagePhenomenon
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1997-12-03; DVD
Best price: $2.23
Price in other shops: $9.99
Xanadu (Magical Edition) ImageXanadu (Magical Edition)
Universal Studios; Release date: 2009-02-03; DVD
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops: $14.98
Urban Cowboy ImageUrban Cowboy
TRAVOLTA,JOHN; Release date: 2002-10-08; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $12.99
Grease (Rockin' Rydell Edition) ImageGrease (Rockin' Rydell Edition)
PARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2006-09-19; DVD
Best price: $6.37
Price in other shops: $14.98
Two of a Kind ImageTwo of a Kind
Fox; Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $4.26
Price in other shops: $9.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners