Thank God It's Friday

THANK GOD IT'S Friday was released just as the disco craze crested, when anything and everything might happen during a night on the town, when sex was casual, and drink and drugs were still regarded in a lighthearted manner, and music wailed and blared with the likes of Gloria Gaynor and K.C. & the Sunshine Band. Within a few years Disco would be publicly declared dead--but it still lives on in the recordings... and in Donna Summer's screen image of the Disco Diva, shimmering in the spotlight beneath the mirror ball with a hibiscus tucked into her hair as she belts out her megaton hit, "Last Dance."

TGIF is best regarded as a cultural artifact, an attempt to show everything that was shiny about the Disco world without any reference to its down sides of sexually transmitted diseases, next-morning-hangovers, and serious drug addictions. The story is slight: a disco is hosting a big dance contest, and every one arrives at the door with personal ambitions. There is, of course, the singer who hopes to hit it big; two underage teen girls hot to be Disco Queens; a sweet young thing who hates polyester and is looking for Mr. Right in the wrong place; and a ladykiller looking to score his next victim. The film is most memorable for the look of the disco, which is the real star of the film, and the cast, which includes several performers on their way up: Jeff Goldblum as the lady killer; Deborah Winger as the anti-polyester good girl; and of all people a very, very young Terri Nunn, who would later score big as the front singer for the band Berlin.

There are all the usual running gags, and as a whole the film is only mildly entertaining. But then Donna Summer steps into the spotlight--and for a few moments everything that was magic about Disco lives and breathes again. For what it is--an incredibly light, mindless bit of tinsel--the film is well done, but it has an extremely limited appeal for a contemporary audience. Unless you were actually part of the disco scene and want to revisit old memories, you're better off catching it on the late-late show. But my oh my... wasn't Donna Summer something special!

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

After a while, you do realize that this automatic time-capsule movie doesn't have much of a story, but it does have a variety of subplots wrapped up in a trim hour and a half. Basically, "Thank God It's Friday" is a one-night-in-the-life-of-a-disco-palace type of deal, involving a smorgasbord of characters. There are two under-age girls (Valerie Landsburg and future Berlin singer Terri Nunn) itching to enter the big dance contest, a married couple (Mark Lonow and Andrea Howard) out for a night on the town (against his wishes), the womanizing club owner (Jeff Goldblum), a nice but klutzy girl (Debra Winger) looking for a nice guy, and the harried DJ (Ray Vitte) being pestered by an aspiring singer (real-life disco queen Donna Summer). And there's a concert performance by Lionel Richie and the Commodores!

Is "Thank God It's Friday" a "good" movie in any sense? Not really, but it does provide a fair amount of amusement in its very dated way. Everything about it just screams the late 1970s, from the fashions to the tunes. Its episodic nature prevents us from getting too annoyed, since there are some characters, like Dave (Lonow) and Gus (Chuck Sacci) who wear out their welcome *quickly*. The soundtrack is fun to listen to, and Donna does belt out the number "Last Dance" which actually won an Oscar for Best Song. The performances range from even-keeled (Winger is quite appealing) to unpleasantly hammy (Sacci plays such a jerk, that you can't help but cheer when he gets slugged). Chick Vennera is quite a hoot as a veteran disco dancer who swears by his leather wardrobe. And DeWayne Jessie (a.k.a. Otis Day) shows off his talents by playing a van driver who's trying to get to the nightspot in time to deliver to the Commodores their instruments.

One of the writers of "Last Dance" was actor / songwriter Paul Jabara, who plays the guy who gets stuck backstage.

You just *know* that this one is going to show you some goofy entertainment with its spin on the Columbia Pictures logo sequence.

Five out of 10.

More disco to the people! TGIF was a favourite TRIPLE album (actually two lp's plus a maxi single with Donna Summer singing Je t'aime (moi non plus) for 13 minutes) of mine long before I lay my hands on a copy of the film. The music is fantastic and the film is ... well ... unique.

The cover art and screen shots on the soundtrack album had intrigued me for years and watching the film was certainly no disappointment: Lots of weird characters, a weird plot and highly enjoyable. I particularly find the idea of having a dancefloor DJ doubling as a live radio DJ hilarious. Have you ever worked with radio, as a DJ or simply have a secret craving for obscure, dusty vinyl disco records - this is the film for you.

Everybody seems to be having a good time making the film. and Donna Summer are quite funny when she breaks into the DJ's booth and try to imitate - Donna Summer...

Finally - did the 1970's discos really close at midnight? :-)

THANK GOD IT'S Friday needs to be reissued in Dolby digital and promoted like the GREASE 20th anniversary was in 1998. TGIF is a very funny film with an very recognizable cast - Jeff Goldblum even still looks the same! Does he have a painting in a cupboard getting old instead? Debra Winger, (the late great) Paul Jabara and Donna Summer and all those brown clothes and hideous cars! It was released with 4 track magnetic sound in 1978 and became quite a hit with all us flared up dance pants disco moviegoers. It is not Paul Jabara's only film appearance, he turns up in drag in DAY OF THE LOCUST the dark and scary look at 30s Hollywood. There is a place for this film in 2005 and I hope Columbia see the value. They also have a lot of other great music/concert films of the 70s that deserve another cinema reissue because of the sensational music content: WATTSTAX, FILLMORE and maybe the Fox doco CONCERT AT BIG SUR. If THE LAST WALTZ and GREASE can get out again to new audiences, so deserves TGIF and those others mentioned above. It is a very entertaining musical for lots more reasons than in 1978. The world of 1978 is almost enough alone.

This is an easy movie to laugh at. It is very into it's time and it's music, fashion, the whole nine yards. This movie came out in 1978 when disco was at it's most popular. DJs who a few years later would get on the "Disco Sucks" bandwagon were still wearing their polyester suits and wearing gold chains, playing the soundtrack of "Saturday Night Fever" over and over again. It's easy to forget how big disco was and how serious it was for a brief span of time. This movie attempts to portray in a humourous way, a night at a very "cool" disco, presided over by a very "cool" owner and DJ, who played " cool" music all night long. It shows how a night at the disco affects several different kinds of people, from a couple whose marriage is on the skids to two underage girls trying to sneak in to enter a dance contest. The music is pounding, the drug use blatant, the clothes were wild, yes this was 1978. This was all a clever package, of course, to market the movie's fantastic soundtrack. Like the SNF soundtrack, this movie sold their double LP soundtrack like hotcakes. Live performances by Donna Summer and The Commodores add to this movies appeal. Recommended as a double feature with "Detroit Rock City" to show that there was two very divergent musical tastes amoung white kids in 1978.