54
USA 1998
Reviewed by Liese Spencer
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
New York, 1979. Nineteen-year-old Shane O'Shea lives with his father and younger sisters in New Jersey. One night he cajoles his friends to go to Manhattan's most exclusive disco, Studio 54. Only Shane is let in by owner Steve Rubell. Shane returns and is given a job. He moves in with fellow busboy Greg and his wife Anita, an aspiring singer-songwriter who works in the cloakroom.
Sexually promiscuous, Shane takes drugs and meets celebrity guests such as soap star Julie Black and geriatric regular Disco Dottie. Every night money is cleared from the tills to cheat the IRS. Greg is propositioned by Rubell, but refuses. Shane begins an affair with socialite Billie Auster. Greg begins to deal drugs. Shane contracts a sexually transmitted disease. After arguing with Greg on Christmas Eve, Shane goes home but is turned away by his father.
Steve spends a romantic afternoon with Julie Black. On New Year's Eve, Shane sees Julie with another man who suggests a threesome. Dottie dies on the dancefloor during Anita's singing debut. Shane argues with Rubell and storms out. The IRS raid Studio 54 and arrest Rubell. Eighteen months later Rubell is released from prison and Shane, Anita and Greg meet again at a party at Studio 54.
Review
Bowdlerised by parent company Disney, Miramax's 54 is a disappointingly conventional account of the 70s most notorious nightclub. Retracing the steps of Saturday Night Fever with heavy feet, writer-director Mark Christopher's urban picaresque opens with teenager Shane O'Shea fleeing his New Jersey home in search of excitement in Manhattan's most exclusive nightclub. With a grinding predictability, the next 90 minutes show us Studio's glittering bacchanalia turning into a strobe-lit nightmare of corruption and ugliness. As he progresses from gauche innocent to bare-chested hustler, Shane befriends fellow busboy Greg and his wife Anita, blue-collar grafters who understand that in the United States, "there is no such thing as royalty, only celebrity", and who ply their aspirations in the mosh-pit of social mobility that is Studio 54.
The script's decision to focus on these dim-witted dreamers is a mistake. Pretty enough, Ryan Phillippe as Shane lacks Travolta's charisma and dancing skills, while Breckin Meyer and Salma Hayek's truncated roles as Greg and Anita leave them little room to prove their abilities. So brutal is the editing that their ensemble relationship is reduced to a series of tenuous allegiances and confrontations which dissolve between scenes with little meaning or resonance.
Such flimsy characters are matched by the film's half-hearted portrayal of pre-Aids hedonism. Bianca Jagger's ride into Studio 54 on a white horse was a moment of iconic decadence. It seems representative of the film's fearful approach that what we get instead is a white goat, a poor Andy Warhol impersonator and a slightly lascivious cameo by Michael York.
More perniciously, the club's legendary pansexuality has been replaced by the acceptable face of debauchery. In 54 homosexuality can be heard about but not seen (a prudishness that stems, one suspects, from the studio rather than from Christopher, whose previous work includes a couple of gay shorts). Shane, Greg and Anita's love triangle is entirely proper (a much vaunted screen kiss between Shane and Greg was cut) while Greg shows an uncharacteristic squeamishness by refusing to have a career-enhancing exchange of bodily fluids with club-owner Steve Rubell.
Sporting a prosthetic nose and bald patch, Mike Myers' Rubell is the best thing about the movie. Whether writhing ecstatically on a bed covered in dollar bills or addressing the crowds from the DJ's box like some disco dictator, Myers' tragi-comic performance captures Rubell's sleazy charm to perfection. It helps of course that Myers has all the best lines. In one scene he tells the doorman not to let, "whores and yids in like last night," only for the bouncer to protest, "But those were your cousins, Steve." Later, as the IRS raid his club, Rubell can't help sneering, "even from here their suits look cheap."
A moral bankrupt from the sticks who buried his own sense of self-loathing in snobbery and substituted intimacy for a family of dancing drug-users, Rubell's impresario is the one character of any substance, the one we want to watch. Instead, we follow his brainless employees towards a trite ending about a dead granny who partied until the end.
Released at the fag-end of the recent 70s retrospective, Christopher's film already feels past its sell-by date, its banal characters and uninspired script inviting unfavourable comparisons with Boogie Nights and The Last Days of Disco. Studio's decor famously included the Man in the Moon, spooning cocaine into his nose. Despite a great soundtrack, watching 54 is more like swallowing a bottle of quaaludes: let's hope it's the last stop on the current nostalgia trip.
Credits
- Producers
- Richard N. Gladstein
- Dolly Hall
- Ira Deutchman
- Screenplay
- Mark Christopher
- Director of Photography
- Alexander Gruszynski
- Editor
- Lee Percy
- Production Designer
- Kevin Thompson
- Music
- Marco Beltrami
- ©Miramax Film Corp
- Production Companies
- Miramax presents
- a Redeemable Features/Dollface/ FilmColony production
- Executive Producers
- Bob Weinstein
- Harvey Weinstein
- Bobby Cohen
- Don Carmody
- Associate Producer
- Jonathan King
- FilmColony Production Executive
- Lila Yacoub
- New York Production Supervisor
- Bill Milling
- New York 2nd Unit Supervisor
- Mark Brown
- Production Co-ordinators
- Deborah Zwicker
- New York:
- Alexis Arnold
- Co-ordinator
- Lesley Myers
- Production Managers
- Mathew Hart
- New York:
- David Steck
- Location Managers
- Jim Powers
- New York:
- Diana Strauss
- Post-production Supervisor
- Martha Griffin
- Assistant Directors
- Michael Zenon
- Rocco Gismondi
- Tim Singh
- New York:
- Jude Gorjanc
- Cindy Craig
- Linda Perkins
- Script Supervisor
- Susanna David
- Casting
- Billy Hopkins
- Suzanne Smith
- Kerry Barden
- Toronto Director:
- Diane Kerbel
- New York 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Peter Reniers
- Camera Operators
- Andy Chmura
- Kit Whitmore
- New York:
- Peter Reniers
- Steven Drelich
- Steadicam Operators
- Peter Rosenfeld
- Andris Matiss
- Sean Jansen
- New York:
- Steve Constantino
- Club Lighting Designers
- Alexander Gruszynski
- Martin Kelley
- Digital Effects
- Bipack, Inc
- Special Effects
- Key:
- Michael Kavanagh
- On-set:
- Rob Sanderson
- Additional Editing
- Greg Featherman
- Michael Levine
- Additional Editor
- Peter Devaney Flanagan
- Art Directors
- Tamara Deverell
- New York:
- Loren Weeks
- Set Decorator
- Karin Wiesel
- Co-decorator
- Peter Nicolakakos
- Key Scenic Artist
- John Bannister
- Scenic Artist
- Jak Oliver
- Costume Designer
- Ellen Lutter
- Additional Costumes
- Libbie Lane
- Costume Supervisors
- Extras:
- Kathleen Meade
- On-set:
- Quita Alfred
- New York On-set:
- Roseann Milano
- Wardrobe Supervisor
- New York On-set:
- Kevin Faherty
- Make-up
- Key Artist:
- Patricia Green
- New York Artist:
- Linda Grimes
- Additional:
- Veronica Green
- Mr Myers' Prosthetics
- Design:
- Matthew Mungle
- Make-up Artist:
- John Jackson
- Hairstylists
- Key:
- Judi Cooper-Sealy
- New York:
- Verne Caruso
- Main/End Title Sequence Design
- Dan Perri
- Main Title Effects
- OCS/Freeze Frame/Pixel Magic
- Opticals
- Howard Anderson Company
- Guitar Solos
- Buck Sanders
- Orchestrations
- Kevin Manthei
- Music Supervisors
- Susan Jacobs
- Coati Mundi Hernandez
- Music Co-ordinator
- Erin Gutterman
- Music Editors
- Shari Schwartz Johanson
- John Finklea
- Sienna Finklea
- Chris McGeary
- Nancy Novack
- Soundtrack
- "Keep on Dancin'" by Eric Matthews, Gary Turnier, performed by Gary's Gang; "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" by Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Kenny Lehman, performed by Chic; "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield, performed by Destination; "The Boss" by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, performed by Diana Ross; "Vertigo/Relight My Fire" by/performed by Dan Hartman; "You Make Me Feel Alright (Mighty Real)" by James Wirrick, Sylvester James, performed by Sylvester; "Contact" by Edwin Starr, Robert Dickerson,Arthur Eugene Pullman II, performed by Edwin Starr; "Knock on Wood" by Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper, performed by Mary Griffin; "Young Hearts Run Free" by David Crawford, performed by Candi Staton; "Que sera mi vida" by Daniel Vangarde, Jean Kluger, Alex Francfort, performed by The Gibson Brothers; "Wishing on a Star" by Billie Calvin, performed by Rose Royce; "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" by Gloria R. Jones, performed by Gonzalez; "Lovin' Is Really My Game" by Belita Woods, Trenita Womack, performed by Brainstorm; "Love Machine (Part I)" by Warren Moore, William Griffin, performed by The Miracles; "Let's Start the Dance" by Hamilton Bohannon, performed by Bohannon; "I Got My Mind Made up (You Can Get It Girl)" by Scott Miller, Kim Miller, Raymond Earl, performed by Instant Funk; "Native New Yorker" by Sandy Linzer, Denny Randell, performed by Odyssey; "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot, performed by Stars on 54 featuring Ultra Naté, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez; "Heaven Must Have Sent You" by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland Jr., performed by Bonnie Pointer; "Disco Nights (Rock, Freak)" by Emanuel LeBlanc, Herb Lane, Keith R. Crier, Paul Service, performed by Go; "Found a Cure" by Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, performed by Ashford & Simpson; "Come to Me" by Tony Green, performed by France Joli; "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" by Harold Clayton, Sigidi, performed by S.O.S. Band; "Spank" by Ronald Smith, performed by Jimmy 'Bo' Horne; "I Need a Man" by P. Papadiamondis, P. Slade, performed by Grace Jones; "Cherchez la femme/Se si bon" by August Darnell, Stony Browder, performed by Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band; "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" by Randy Bachman, performed by Bachman-Turner Overdrive; "Hang On in There Baby" by/performed by Johnny Bristol; "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Kenneth Gamble, Cary Gilbert, Leon Huff, performed by Thelma Houston; "Galaxy" by Thomas Allen, Harold R. Brown, Morris Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard Scott, Jerry Goldstein, performed by War; "Lamento Borincano" by Rafael Hernandez Marin, performed by Salma Hayek; "Heart of Glass" by Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, performed by Blondie; "Fly Robin Fly" by Sylvester LeVay, Stephan Prager, performed by Silver Convention; "The Break" by Denis LePage, performed by Kat Mandu; "The Night I Fly" by Thelma Houston, Bunny Byll, performed by Nayobe Gomez; "Pillow Talk" by Sylvia Robinson, Michael Burton, performed by Sylvia; "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin, performed by Thelma Houston, Jacky Terrasson; "Jingle Bells" performed by Marco Ribaldi; "Minuet in G Major" by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Janos Sebastyen Orchestra
- Choreography
- Lori Eastside
- Sound Design
- Steve Boeddeker
- Production Sound Mixers
- David Lee
- New York:
- Brian Miksis
- Re-recording Mixers
- Lora Hirschberg
- Gary A. Rizzo
- Michael Semanick
- Tom Myers
- Tony Sereno
- Re-recordist
- Ronald G. Roumas
- Mix Technicians
- Kent Sparling
- Jurgen Scharpf
- Co-supervising Sound Editors
- Tom Bellfort
- Robert Shoup
- Dialogue Editors
- Ewa Sztompke Oatfield
- Rich Quinn
- Lindakay Brown
- Claire Sanfilippo
- Sound Effects Editors
- Kyrsten Mate Comoglio
- E. Larry Oatfield
- David C. Hughes
- Al Nelson
- ADR
- Editor:
- Sue Fox
- Marilyn McCoppen
- Foley
- Artists:
- Dennie Thorpe
- Jana Vance
- Recordist:
- Pepe Merel
- Mixer:
- Tony Eckert
- Editors:
- Kevin Sellers
- Karen Wilson
- Creative Consultant
- Matthew Landon
- Studio 54 Consultant
- Steven Gaines
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Shane Cardwell
- Animal Handler
- Rick Parker
- Cast
- Ryan Phillippe
- Shane O'Shea
- Salma Hayek
- Anita
- Sela Ward
- Billie Auster
- Breckin Meyer
- Greg Randazzo
- Sherry Stringfield
- Viv
- Neve Campbell
- Julie Black
- Mike Myers
- Steve Rubell
- Heather Matarazzo
- Grace O'Shea
- Ellen Albertini Dow
- Disco Dottie
- Erika Alexander
- Ciel
- Skipp Sudduth
- Harlan O'Shea
- Domenick Lombardozzi
- Kev
- Mark Ruffalo
- Rick
- Jason Andrews
- Anthony
- Jay Goede
- Buck
- Lorri Bagley
- Patti
- Lauren Hutton
- Liz Vangelder
- Michael York
- ambassador
- Daniel Lapaine
- Mark the doorman
- Ron Jeremy
- Ron
- Elio Fiorucci
- Thelma Houston
- themselves
- Cameron Mathison
- Atlanta
- Noam Jenkins
- Romeo
- Patrick Taylor
- Tarzan
- Aemilia Robinson
- Kelly O'Shea
- Mark Griffin
- disco star
- Don Carrier
- Julian
- Robert Bauer
- Roland Sachs
- Bruno Miguel
- Boyd
- Laura Catalano
- Rochelle
- Kohl Sudduth
- Rhett
- James Binkley
- Rubell's bodyguard
- Arthur Nascarella
- John Himes
- IRS agents
- Louis Negin
- Truman Capote
- Lena Vajakas
- Conrows
- Barbara Radecki
- TV host
- Sean Sullivan
- Andy Warhol
- Vieslav Krystyan
- photographer
- Niki Holt
- Alpine Inn waitress
- David Blacker
- bouncer
- Bruce MacVittie
- music producer
- Emmanuel Mark
- talent manager
- Kabriel Lilly
- little girl
- Morgan Freeman
- angelic boy
Lina Felice- Nicaraguan woman
- Drake Alonso Thornes
- man on horseback
- Justin Tensum
- blond busboy
- Jason Fruitman
- busboy 1
- Andy Grote
- 54 waiter
- Jordan Paige
- young Shane
- Georgina Kess
- Shane's mom
- Mario Bosco
- Mario
- Coati Mundi
- Victor Sutherland
- djs
- Janie Longley
- Michael Henderson
- Chris Ingram
- kissing trio
- Sheryl Crow
- Georgina Grenville
- Cindy Crawford
- Sophie Rousseau
- Victor Brown
- Heidi Blum
- Donald Trump
- Cecilia Thomson Ling
- Frederique Van Der Wal
- Veronica Webb
- Michael Van Der Wal
- VIP patrons
- Art Garfunkel
- Peter Bogdanovich
- Beverly Johnson
- Bruce Jay Friedman
- Andrea Bocaletti
- Lorna Luft
- Valerie Perrine
- Elaine's patrons
- Ultra Naté
- Amber
- Jocelyn Enriquez
- Stars on 54
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 8,387 feet
- 93 minutes 12 seconds
- Dolby/SDDS
- In Colour