Studio 54 [DVD]

great item, great value for money would recommend

A good Watch

I'm a huge fan of the mythos of the origial Studio 54, but unfortunately Miramax wouldn't let Mark Christopher have the final say. Ryan Phillipe's suprisingly good performance is cut, to highlight his torso and pout - and Mike Myers isn't given HALF enough time to show off his amazing take on Steve Rubell. Neve Cambell is as dull as usual, but gladly her on screen time is very limited.Overall, quite a depressing film - but only in the same way that Saturday Night Fever isn't a disco at all - it's a harsh telling of a 70s story.I was pleasantly surprised by this film, but it would have been SO much better if Miramax had let Christopher do what he intended, and kept all the cuts. What we need is a director's cut - that would get 5 stars.

Good

I always wanted to see this movie but never had the occasion to find it somewhere. Than was delighted to see it here but... Amazon put in the UK plateform a all Germain langage version of the movie with no subtitles (at least) or not even bothering doing the original English version. Shame on you Amazon! I want to get a refund!

Great Movie from the home of most controversial Night Club in the world when Disco was Disco. Today with the closure of so many Clubs is it a dying scene confined to the past ?

This is still a flawed movie, but it is so much more interesting and develops the characters much further. If you are interested in Studio 54 and the birth of disco/club culture this is worth a watch. It also extends the queer subtext. If Miramax had released this version of the movie it would have been a hit. It's worth revisiting this movie and the soundtrack is great.

I like to watch directors' cuts of films. I think it gives insight not only to the director's vision, but into the process of film-making more generally and to the compromises filmmakers face.'54' was never a film I loved. I think I saw it only once, in the cinema, upon its initial release. I was impressed with Mike Myers who disappeared into his role, but the rest of the cast barely registered, and the movie had a vague "Goodfellas in the Discoteque" plot. It felt slight and forgettable.I later read about a directors cut that had been preserved on a VHS tape and how it was meant to be a major improvement. Legend had it that it was one of the great lost films. I was surprised then to learn that it is now available, and on streaming!The directors cut does indeed represent a major improvement dramatically for the film. The tax fraud and gangster-ish sub-plots now take a back-seat to a character study of a love triangle between Ryan Phillipe, Salma Hayek and Brecken Myer. Mike Myers is still great, though his character, a portrayal of the real life Steve Rubbell, is a much more sinister character here, a pervy, controlling manipulator who will remind people of Harvey Weinstein in 2022. The way the characters behave in this movie may have been considered "free-spirited" in the 1970s when it took place, and probably still played for laughs in the 1990s when the movie was made, but today would be considered very problematic.Phillipe's character flees a mundane working class suburbia, eventually reinventing himself as a gigolo bartender. Hayek and Brecken Myer are married club staff, though Myer is more conservative than his adventurous wife. The love triangle that emerges between them doesn't quite work, even in this cut. Phillipe and Hayek simply don't have enough screen time together to establish their mutual attraction. Nor do we spend enough time with Hayek and Brecken Myer to understand their marriage, or the lines they cross. It ultimately comes together, but it's up to the viewer to connect a few of the dots, and I think perhaps there are still more unrealised scenes between them. On the other hand, I don't even remember Salma Hayek appearing in the original theatrical cut but she is a key player here.I barely recall Neve Campbell in the original cut either, but her role seems even smaller here. She plays a stand-in for all the celebrities that frequented the club, and represents an object of desire for Phillipe and a reminder of his roots.The film does a great job of depicting the notorious decadence of club 54, and I was surprised to learn that some of the more outrageous scenes in the film have basis in actual fact (or legend) such as the balcony where strangers copulated freely, or the VIP cave full of drugged up celebs.Some of the footage here was salvaged from the VHS tape, and it looks very grainy on modern screens. Thankfully these shots are mostly few and far between, and they add a certain stylised quality to the film. It won't ruin your experience.If you liked the original theatrical cut, you owe it to yourself to watch this cut. If you were like me and saw unrealised potential in the theatrical cut, then you should watch this. If you have never seen 54 in any version, watch this one.