Studio 54 (2018)

Directed by: Matt Tyrnauer | 98 minutes | documentary | Starring: Steve Rubell, Ian Schrager

We actually didn’t know much in the 1970s. Music, films and books still traveled the world, but you only heard a few rumors about less mobile things. One of the hottest rumors at the time was about a New York nightclub where glitter, extravaganza, drugs, sex and thumping disco tunes reigned supreme. A disco where celebrities such as Liza Minelli, Sylvester Stallone, Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger were among the clientele. A disco that had to close its doors after three years, but that has never lost its legendary status.

Almost 40 years after the demise of this legend, a documentary with the sober title ‘Studio 54’ is released in cinemas. The film tells the story of the rise and fall of this disco and of its founders Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell. It is the more introverted Schrager who takes us back in time, accompanied by archive footage and a procession of talking heads. Not only from visitors, employees and friends, but also from the detectives who started the demise of the disco. The rise and fall each take up about half the time, although there is also some room for what Schrager and Rubell were going to do after the disco debacle.

‘Studio 54’ is a convincing variation on the Icarus story, in which the success of the disco went to the heads of both entrepreneurs. They didn’t need a liquor license, they didn’t pay income tax and they didn’t really care about the excessive drug use of the clientele. They lived in a fairy tale until the US government intervened.

The strongest point of ‘Studio 54’, besides the fine images and nice stomping disco music, is the fact that Schrager tells this story with the wisdom, the emotional distance and the insight that come with the years. Schrager not only tells but also knows how to interpret. In addition, he looks and sounds like a slightly better preserved version of Robert de Niro.

Perhaps the documentary would have been even better if he had paid more attention to the contrasts. It is said that the open-minded Studio 54 offered an escape from a world full of homophobia, filth, pettiness and economic depression, but we don’t see that misery. And because that ugly outside world remains invisible, we also understand less the appeal of the club.

Of course the story of ‘Studio 54’ is reminiscent of that of Amsterdam’s Roxy, The Hacienda from Manchester and (somewhere in prehistoric times) the El Dorado in Berlin. That may make it all a little less unique, but no less universal. And no less fascinating, especially for those who were young in the 70s and had to make do with a rumor all along.