STAYING ALIVE

year: 1983 cast: Sylvester Stallone, Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes rating: ***

This is not a John Travolta film; it belongs entirely to writer/director Sylvester Stallone, rehashing the ROCKY storyline of a diamond in the rough fighting to survive... only here he's a dancer, not a boxer... and it's a bad movie: but fun as hell.

Travolta struggles to make it from the streets to lead dancer in the cheesiest Broadway musical ever created, SATAN'S ALLEY, a cross between CATS and a demonic flu dream. Playing the character he made famous in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, Travolta's former Disco King Tony Manero charms his way into the bed of gorgeous Broadway star Finola Hughes, who turns the tables and uses him.

There's an overabundance of Tony getting his just-deserts i.e. the player getting played, and his whining gets tiresome. All the while he uses his own pawn: a dough-eyed, loyal and downright stupid girlfriend (Cynthia Rhodes), who can't help but to love the handsome devil. And, like Rocky Balboa, our hero strives for heights he never thought possible in this sequel that's more of a continuation: the character, having "grown up," is now going for gold.

It's too bad the Bee Gee's Soundtrack, unlike the original, is full of breezy and forgettable pop tunes (Frank Stallone's FAR FROM OVER captures the "drive" a lot better). But if you like corny movies, this takes the cheesecake.

Frank Stallone, described in the film as a "demented paratrooper"

Director cameo Sylvester Stallone spotted by John Travolta in New York