Staying Alive
Short description
Staying Alive continues the story of Tony Manero, the Brooklyn dancer John Travolta first played in Saturday Night Fever. Some years on, Tony has moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where he juggles waiting tables and teaching dance while chasing a place in a Broadway production. His girlfriend Jackie, a dancer herself, gets into a Broadway company, and Tony follows her world, becoming involved with Laura, the show's leading dancer. The film follows his effort to break into the professional stage as his personal relationships and his ambition pull against each other.
Sylvester Stallone directed, taking the helm for the fourth time after Paradise Alley, Rocky II and Rocky III, and he wrote the screenplay with Norman Wexler; Stallone also produced alongside Robert Stigwood. Travolta leads a cast that includes Cynthia Rhodes as Jackie, Finola Hughes as Laura, Steve Inwood, Julie Bovasso and Charles Ward, with 77 credited performers in all. The film was released in July 1983 and runs 96 minutes.
Made for a reported 22 million dollars, it took about 126 million dollars worldwide, a strong return that contrasts with its reception: 4.8 out of 10 on IMDb from around 19,000 votes and 5.8 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 523 votes, against a critics' rating of 3.2 out of 10 from 31 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- In one interview, the film’s director Sylvester Stallone stated that if he had the chance to remake "Staying Alive," he would make it much darker and more realistic, and the characters "wouldn't be dressed like parrots."
- For this role, John Travolta trained almost 5 months under Stallone's guidance, 6 days a week for 14 to 16 hours a day. He lost about 10 kg.
- Initially, Paramount Pictures wanted Sylvester Stallone himself to play the Broadway director (he acted as director on this project), but he declined, partly because the studio couldn't pay him his usual $2 million fee, and partly to avoid overshadowing the lead actor John Travolta.
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