When John Badham appeared at VanCity Theatre last Saturday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his 1977 megahit Saturday Night Fever, he was 28 years older than when he filmed Bird on a Wire in Victoria.
The Hollywood director鈥檚 disarming wit and affability that endeared him to local crews who worked on Bird on a Wire here in 1989 was noticeably intact.
After waxing nostalgic about Saturday Night Fever, Badham, 77, briefly reminisced about shooting sequences for the action-comedy, which starred Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn.
鈥淰ictoria was such a wonderful place to shoot,鈥� recalled Badham, back in Vancouver, where he filmed the 1987 crime comedy Stakeout, to direct an episode of the TV series Supernatural.
鈥淧eople love to make movies there [in Victoria],鈥� Badham said. 鈥淵ou love to be with people who love to make movies, not with people who say: 鈥極h, where鈥檚 my paycheque? I want to go home.鈥� 鈥�
Indeed, it was hard to miss Badham and his crews during their high-profile shoot that saw downtown Victoria masquerade as Racine, Wisconsin.
His Bird on a Wire locations included Market Square, the Carnegie Building, Bastion Square and Chinatown, where a motorcycle chase scene through Fan Tan Alley was a notable highlight. Recreating a small town in the American midwest here was much different than shooting Saturday Night Fever in pre-gentrified Brooklyn in the mid-1970s, he said.
鈥淚 grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. I hadn鈥檛 even visited Brooklyn until two weeks prior,鈥� said Badham, who also appeared at a post-screening reception hosted by the Director鈥檚 Guild of sa国际传媒鈥檚 sa国际传媒 chapter.
It was part of Vancouver International Film Festival鈥檚 series of special events at its headquarters leading up to this year鈥檚 showcase that begins Sept. 28.
Badham incredulously recalled how locations for Saturday Night Fever hadn鈥檛 even been secured or its stars, other than Travolta, confirmed by the time he arrived two weeks before shooting began.
There was a tight timeline, since Travolta would have to shoot Grease immediately after with Olivia Newton-John, who had cleared her concert schedule to do it.
鈥淭he movie was really a placeholder before Grease,鈥� Badham said.
Bolstered by Travolta鈥檚 multi-layered, career-launching performance as Tony Manera, the swaggering, discontented Brooklyn hardware-store employee and disco-dance competitor who lives for Saturday nights, and a terrific Bee Gees soundtrack, Badham鈥檚 film evocatively conveyed the impact of disco-mania. It also surpassed expectations, he recalled.
鈥淏ut it was disrespected at first,鈥� said the English-born director, recalling a scathing Variety review describing it as 鈥渁n updated 1970s version of the Sam Katzman rock music cheapies of the 鈥�50s.鈥�
The review criticized the R-rated film鈥檚 raunchy dialogue and situations, and called it 鈥渁 more shrill, more vulgar, more trifling, more superficial and more pretentious exploitation film.鈥�
Watching Badham鈥檚 restored director鈥檚 cut, the film鈥檚 darker elements, including a rape scene and profanity that was shocking even by today鈥檚 standards, seemed more intense than I recalled.
鈥淧eople forget how gritty it is,鈥� said Badham, who was inspired by Mean Streets when directing Norman Wexler鈥檚 screenplay. The Saturday Night Fever script had been based on Nik Cohn鈥檚 New York magazine article headlined Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night. Badham said Martin Scorsese鈥檚 1973 classic helped him evoke New York鈥檚 street scene and dramatize a young Italian-American man鈥檚 attempt to rise above his apparent lot in life.
鈥淭hank you, Marty,鈥� said Badham, whose re-released first studio picture since his feature debut, the baseball movie The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, is available on Blu-Ray.
Badham, whose subsequent Hollywood hits include War Games and Blue Thunder, wasn鈥檛 afraid to acknowledge his initial lack of familiarity with the milieu and disco craze.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 get it. I don鈥檛 know who this is about,鈥� he remembered telling Robert Stigwood, the Australian producer who financed the low-budget picture and hired Badham after firing original director John Avildsen.
鈥淥n the day Avildsen gets his Oscar for Rocky, he gets fired from this movie,鈥� Badham recalled during a post-screening Q&A with film scholar Michael van den Bos.
Badham had high praise for Travolta, who was 23 at the time and had rigorous dance training for weeks before filming began.
He didn鈥檛 agree with Travolta鈥檚 original colour choice for his iconic disco suit, however. Travolta wanted a black suit, suggesting it would make him look cool, but Badham pushed for a lighter colour.
Badham managed to persuade Travolta to change his mind by telling him his co-star, Karen Lynn Gorney, would be wearing a dress that would effectively upstage his black suit, he recalled.
鈥淗e came back with two white suits,鈥� said Badham, whose costume designer, Patrizia von Brandenstein, bought them off the rack in Brooklyn.
After Travolta worked up a sweat wearing one, he鈥檇 be given a fresh suit while crew members used hairdryers to dry the wet one, he recalled, noting he could understand Travolta鈥檚 yearning.
鈥淓ven in Reservoir Dogs, everybody wants to be Mr. Black, right?鈥�