Studio 54

Name: Studio 54
Genre: Documentary
Released: October 5, 2018
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 70
Cast: Bianca Jagger, Calvin Klein, Divine, Farrah Fawcett, Ian Schrager

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

See All

6.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.2	Your Score
6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Studio 54

Now Playing: Studio 54

Movie Details & Credits

Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: October 5, 2018 | NR

Starring: Bianca Jagger, Calvin Klein, Divine, Farrah Fawcett, Ian Schrager, Jack Benny, Jack Dushey, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Nile Rodgers, Steve Rubell, Walter Cronkite

Summary: For 33 months, from 1978 to 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the place to be seen in Manhattan. A haven of hedonism, tolerance, glitz and glamor, Studio was very hard to gain entrance to and impossible to ignore, with news of who was there filling the gossip columns daily. Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two college friends from Brooklyn,For 33 months, from 1978 to 1980, the nightclub Studio 54 was the place to be seen in Manhattan. A haven of hedonism, tolerance, glitz and glamor, Studio was very hard to gain entrance to and impossible to ignore, with news of who was there filling the gossip columns daily. Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two college friends from Brooklyn, succeeded in creating the ultimate escapist fantasy in the heart of the theater district. Rubell was the outgoing party-boy who wanted to be everybody’s friend and was photographed with every celebrity du jour who entered the club and Schrager was the quiet, behind-the-scenes workhorse who shunned the limelight. Studio 54 was an instant success and a cash cow, but the drug-and-sex-fueled dream soon imploded in financial scandal and the club’s demise. [Zeitgeist Films]… Expand

Director: Matt Tyrnauer

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: NR

Runtime: 98 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Dante James

Oct 4, 2018

Celebrities. Privilege. Debauchery. Hedonism. We’ve all heard the stories about the most infamous (and legendary) nightclub of all time, Studio 54, but we didn’t have all the facts…till now. Read full review

Chris Nashawaty

Oct 4, 2018

One of the great surprises of Matt Tyrnauer’s giddy glitterbomb of a documentary about New York’s infamously Caligulan Me Decade hot spot is discovering how much of our culture (the drugs, the music, the sexual liberation) is wrapped up in one nightclub that existed for a mere 33 months. Read full review

Empire Olly Richards

Oct 4, 2018

A fascinating documentary that captures all the glamour and grubbiness of the 20th century’s most famous nightclub. All the thrill of being there with none of the hangover. Read full review

John DeFore

Oct 4, 2018

Relying on interviews with Schrager and other insiders instead of cramming in every celeb who graced the dancefloor, Tyrnauer delivers a meaty and transporting portrait. Read full review

Gary Goldstein

Oct 11, 2018

Ultimately, Studio 54 proves a nostalgic, sometimes wistful, other times unsettling look back at a singular period of time. Read full review

Mark Feeney

Oct 24, 2018

The documentary is good on the gay aspect of 54, and disco generally. Schrager became highly successful as an impresario of boutique hotels. Still, when he talks about Studio 54 there’s a touch of wonder in the tough-guy growl. Read full review

Dan Callahan

Oct 4, 2018

Studio 54 is a case of a documentary attempting to tell a story that obviously cannot be fully or satisfyingly told at this juncture. As such, it has value only insofar as it suggests how much that era cannot quite be re-captured. Read full review

SEE ALL 22 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

BenWomack

Feb 6, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. True. People try and remember what it was like: to go dancing at; to manage; to close down the New York city night club. and one of the first people interviewed is its manager, Pete Schrager.

Description : (This from hazy memory, 16/10/18)
Pete Schrager and Steve Rubell met at Sycracuse university and perhaps thought - how can we continue the party of university times? They revived an old CBS studio, theatre, near 54th St. (New York City? correct.) and turned it into a night-club that opened April 26th, 1977.

(The hey day. People reminisce; photos.)

They put money in the ceiling away from the tax official- and illegal drugs in a safe. Both were found during a police raid on Dec 14 1978. The two men went to prison. Sobering.

They tried to continue with the night-club, but… by then it was the AIDS epidemic. Steve Rubell died, as well as many of the staff.

Reaction: I put on my goggles. Here is what being at Studio 54 would have been like. You don’t get the sound, quite- and you don’t get the smell. (n.b. I wasn't sure how much love was put into portfolio-ing the music.)

There was quite tight control present, during the documentary. You had the police there, for starters. I felt that it was quite well made. I didn't think it was sad, I didn't think it was happy. I don't want the time I spent watching it back! I didn't find it very interesting.

Thank you.

Does it use beautiful people to get your attention? No, not really.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 1 REVIEWS