- In 2002, AMC (American Movie Classics) showed a new print of 'Fever' with scenes not in the theatrical release nor home version:
- 1) After Tony's first night at the disco, he and his buddies cruise the bridge, where the song 'Jive Talkin'' can be heard in the background. He gets out of the car, and begins to caress the bridge's structure with his fingertips.
- 2) After asking Doreen to dance, Tony and Doreen dance to 'Disco Duck'.
- 3) Tony takes Stephanie back to her Bay Ridge home, where they kiss in the car.
- 4) Tony signs for a telegram that tells his father has been asked to go back to work.
- 5) After getting out of the subway, Tony buzzes Stephanie's apartment building.
- There's a relatively recent print released in 2002 for limited release. This version, using the original R-rated version, however has slight changes: the 1954 VistaVision Paramount mountain fading into a light blue background was replaced with the newer 2002 Paramount CGI mountain.
- For the PG version some of the language replacement goes as follows: 1. Near the beginning when Tony and his boss are shutting up shop, his boss says to him to 'save his money, build a future', and Toni's response being 'oh fuck the future'. The PG version replaces it as 'to hell with the future'. The entire sequence plays out with the word 'hell' instead of 'fuck' when they talk, it seems like it's an entirely different take shot especially for this version. But also it's a lot darker, you can't see as much compared to the uncut version as if they've maybe darken it so their mouths aren't obvious which may suggest they re-dubbed it but using the same take. 2. When Tony and Annette walk down the stairs to the dance studio and Tony asks if she's 'a nice girl or a c**t?' but the PG version changes it to 'a nice girl or a pig?' 3. When the guys jump off the bridge and Annette runs to the side to look over she yells at them 'you fucker's', the PG version changes it to 'you fakers'. 4. The scene after Tony and Stephanie win the dance contest and Tony doesn't believe they should have won seems to be a different take in the PG version as a boom can briefly be seen at the top of the frame, plus the swearing is replaced, but in the uncut version the boom can't be seen.
- The American PG version was also submitted for a film classification in the UK in 1979. The film was awarded an 'A' rating (broadly equivalent to the UK's modern PG rating), but only after the British censors cut the film down even further to remove sexual dialogue, drugs references, and violence. This censored 'A' version was later released on video in Britain with a PG rating. All other versions of the film released in the UK are the uncut R-rated version, and are rated 18 (the original theatrical release was rated X).
- In 2017, a "Director's Cut" version of the films was released in theaters by Fathom Events, which was later released on Blu-ray. This version of the movie reincorporates two of the deleted scenes from old home video release, including the scene where Tony's dad gets his job back. It is roughly four minutes longer than the theatrical cut, though the Blu-ray includes both theatrical and director's cuts.
- The Censor Board of India rated the film a 'U' (unrestricted) in 1978. The run time calculates at approximately 112 minutes, that means the censored 'PG'-rated version was released in India instead of the original 119-minute 'R'-rated version. That version would have been given an 'A' (adults) rating, but that version had never made its way to India.
- The film went through endless censorship treatment in Australia for many years. Each release, the OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification) classified the film with different age-group certificates for both cinema and video.
- The film was originally given an 'R' (18+) certificate for cinema in 1978. 6 months later, it was edited by 5 minutes to achieve an 'M' (mature audiences of 15 years and over, under 15s allowed) certificate with a run-time of 114 minutes. It is unknown which version made the most money at the time.
- In 1984, the film made its VHS debut, with it being re-classified back to 'R' for "explicit language".
- In 1990, it made another VHS release with a new version. The film was heavily cut by 8 minutes for a 'PG' (parental guidance) certificate with all profanity, and sex entirely removed. The consumer advice reads "Occasional low-level violence, adult concepts". Due to Australian video being in a PAL format with a PAL run-time, it makes the run-time of 108 minutes to be 4 times faster making it 104 minutes (15 minutes away from the original uncut run-time).
- In 2002, the film was re-rated with an 'MA 15+' (under 15s must require adult accompaniment) certificate in its original run-time and uncut version for (Medium-level coarse language, adult themes) on a new VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray release, and it is now the current certificate for the film.
- Over the years, the theatrical "PG" print of Saturday Night Fever, released in 1979, has vanished from circulation.
- Saturday Night Fever has two ratings: The R-rated version is 118 minutes, it had contained the offensive language, nudity, and sexual content. In 1979, the film was re-issued as a 112 minute PG-rated version with extensive edits. This print removed all uses of 'fuck', 'cunt', 'shit', 'assholes', 'Jesus' and sexual dialogue references, as well as editing shots of the topless dancer, sex scenes in the car (notably the repeated rape of Annette), a groin kick and a head beating during the fight sequence, a shot of Tony waking and scratching his groin, and a closeup shot of a woman's breast on the poster in Tony's bedroom.
- The scene in the car that has Tony's friends talking about the drugs they have and Tony complains about how old Bobby's-8 tracks are is usually cut when the film is shown on network TV. The same goes for the scene that has the stripper in the backround.
- Another TV version shown on ABC in the '80s added more outtake footage, with the PG-rated print as its primary source.
- In later VHS releases, which carry a Dolby Surround soundtrack, some of the music has been altered (probably for copyright problems). Most annoying is the replacement of K-JEE by M.F.S.B., during the dance by the Puerto Rican couple in the contest, by some generic sounding music. This same music is also played instead of "Disco Duck" in the brief glimpse of the dance studio owner giving lessons to a group of people, and also instead of "Dr. Disco" when 2001 Odyssey is shown for the first time. Starting with the DVD release the entire theatrical soundtrack is restored.
- In Belgium, due pressure from younger audiences, the 'rape' scene was cut. This permitted people younger than 16 to go and watch the movie. This happened a few months after it's initial release, giving Saturday Night Fever a second life.
- Version being aired on TNT Network (as of Jan 2002) lists K-JEE in the musical credits. Disco Duck is still not played, however, replaced with generic studio music.
- The following deleted scenes appear on the DVD:
- Tony and Stephanie talking in a car.
- Tony's dad gets his job back.
- A scene where Tony goes to Stephanie's apartment.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content