Courtesy HBO Documentary Films
HBO’s ongoing Music Box series of feature-length documentaries dedicated to the highs and lows of big music moments has thus far included deeper looks into subjects like Kenny G., DMX and Alanis Morissette. But these are well-known commodities; interesting in their own ways, sure, but not hidden figures. Its newest episode, however, paints a fascinating portrait of Australian/British media tycoon Roger Stigwood and his enduring impact on music, film, business and the culture of the 1970s itself, even if personal details are brushed to the side.
Director John Maggio (The Newspaperman) finally gives Stigwood his due, though he admits in his new film’s early moments the project started out as a disco documentary. Stigwood, as it turned out, so indelibly steered the genre’s second coming—forever changing how movie studios perceive soundtracks—that disco might have died a quiet death had it not been for a handful of visionary business decisions, skeptical studio execs and a band called the Bee-Gees.
Previously, Stigwood had orbited The Beatles, managed some bands and released some records, but a 1976 disco culture article by journalist Nik Cohn for New York Magazine planted the seeds for 1977′s Saturday Night Fever in Stigwood’s mind. Revitalizing a then-waining Bee-Gees for the film’s music, Stigwood would tap TV star John Travolta for the lead, Serpico scribe Norman Wexler for the script and John Badham (War Games) to direct. Fearing they’d missed the lifespan of disco proved false—together Stigwood and crew extended the genre’s popularity another half-decade at least, becoming the first production to ever release a soundtrack before its premier, both of which would earn hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. That was unheard-of at the time.
As such, Mr. Saturday Night proves a strangely satisfying glimpse into a very niche world. If nothing else, it’s never disappointing to hear about folks who enraged film exec and notorious bastard Michael Eisner, but Maggio drops the ball on exposing why a movement driven by queer and Black ‘70s culture was sold back to them by straight white folks.
We do learn, though, that Stigwood’s business acumen laid the foundation for media practices still common today, but we only see this commercial side of the man. That leaves a whole lot of mystery on the table, which is admittedly enticing in its own way, but is that really enough to have ditched an entire doc on disco?
Instead, we mostly get a making-of film about Saturday Night Fever told through audio interviews and countless photos, TV spots and other documentation. If that does nothing else but remind the world how the Bee-Gees wrote some bangers, there’s some merit there, and music fans of a certain age will want to know this stuff. Too bad it doesn’t go as deep as it could or should have, though.
7
+Fascinating bit of “who knew?” media history
-We only learn about Stigwood the businessman
Music Box: Mr. Saturday Night
Directed by Maggio
HBO Max, NR, 83 min.
