Thank God It's Friday is a 1978 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Klane (in his directorial debut) and produced by Motown Productions and Casablanca FilmWorks for Columbia Pictures. Produced at the height of the disco craze, the film features the Commodores performing "Too Hot ta Trot" and Donna Summer performing "Last Dance", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1978. The film features an early performance by Jeff Goldblum and the first major screen appearance by Debra Winger. The film also features Terri Nunn in her only film role, who later achieved fame in the 1980s new wave group Berlin. This was one of several Columbia Pictures films in which the studio's "Torch Lady" came to life in the opening credits, showing off her moves for a few seconds before the start of the film.
Contents
Plot
Thank God It's Friday tells several intertwining stories of the patrons and staff of the fictional Los Angeles disco The Zoo over the course of a single Friday evening. These people include:
Tony Di Marco – owner of The Zoo. Lecherous and promiscuous, he's inordinately fond of his 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera.
Bobby Speed – the club's DJ, who's broadcasting his first live show from the club.
Frannie and Jeannie – two high school friends who want to win The Zoo's dance contest to buy Kiss concert tickets.
Carl and Ken – a hopelessly near-sighted schlub looking for a casual liaison, and his friend looking for a girlfriend.
Dave and Sue – a young married couple celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.
Jackie – dental hygienist by day, drugged-out disco freak and Zoo regular by night.
Jennifer and Maddy – the new girl in town taken to the disco by her know-it-all friend who's not as sophisticated as she thinks she is.
Nicole Sims – an aspiring disco singer.
Marv Gomez – a self-described "leatherman" who lives to dance.
Malcolm Floyd – the roadie for The Commodores, responsible for delivering their instruments to the club by midnight.
Gus and Shirley – a mismatched couple on a blind date, arranged by a computing algorithm.
Production
The film production occurred during the summer and autumn of 1977 at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard (on the corner of La Cienga and San Vicente Boulevard) in Los Angeles. The building was formerly named the Millionaire's Club, which was closed several years before the film. Within these several years, the building underwent “a series of disco and restaurant attempts,” including one named Cabaret. It then was reopened as the nightclub Osko's in December 1977, several months after the filming. The club had four dance floors and 'the Cave', an ice cavern-themed room as seen in the film. Osko's was also a filming location of the 1978 horror film Jennifer. Club owner Osko Karaghossian had a role as a bouncer in the film. Osko's nightclub was completely demolished by the early 1990s and was replaced by a large Loehmann's dress store.
Release
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 36% rating, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10.
Roger Ebert rated the film 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "When you describe it, it sounds like a lot more fun than it is when you see it." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film an identical 1.5-star grade and called it "a disco movie that's little more than a dismal record promotion ... More attention has been paid to the display of records than people." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film was "really a record album with live-action liner notes featuring a dozen young actors, most of whom are quite nice and, as yet, unknown, and a few who are better known but not as impressive as the new people." Canby remarked that Donna Summer, "whose wigs are as elaborate as Diana Ross's, is competition for the superb Miss Ross in no department other than hair." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety wrote, "Donna Summer makes her film debut in a comparatively charming role of an aspiring singer who cons her way to the disco stage and instant stardom. Fact that she is not known as an actress makes the thesping believable. Rest of cast, however, includes many with strong prior credits who are shot down by the Barry Armyran Bernstein script and Robert Klane's direction." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described the film as a "lively, zany, often crass, sometimes irresponsible but surpassingly good-natured movie," with Summer possessing "an exciting screen presence", if not strong acting abilities. Gary Arnold of The Washington Post panned the film as "90 aimless, alienating minutes" full of "TV sitcom-pilot boors, half-wits and low-lifes" who "don't sustain a glimmer of human interest. When attention shifts back to one character or set of characters previously introduced, you have trouble placing them."
In his annual Movie Guide, film critic Leonard Maltin rated the film as a "BOMB". He wrote that it is "perhaps the worst film ever to have won some kind of Academy Award", for Summer's hit song "Last Dance".
Box office
The film opened in New York City on May 19, 1978 and grossed $752,000 from 85 theaters in its first week, which made it second for the week at the U.S. box office behind The Greek Tycoon.
Accolades
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
"Last Dance" – Nominated
Home media
Thank God It's Friday was released on Region 1 DVD on April 4, 2006, and released on Blu-ray on May 1, 2018, by Mill Creek Entertainment.
Soundtrack
The film contains many popular disco songs, with many key performers featured, including Donna Summer, Pattie Brooks, Love & Kisses, The Commodores. A triple album containing many of the tracks heard in the film was released six weeks in advance of the theatrical release to build up interest in the film.
Several songs heard in the film were not included on the soundtrack album, including an excerpt from Alec R. Costandinos' suite Romeo and Juilet, Giorgio Moroder's "From Here to Eternity", The Originals' "Down to Love Town", D.C. LaRue's "You Can Always Tell a Lady (By the Company She Keeps)", The Commodores' "Brick House", The 5th Dimension's "You Are The Reason (I Feel Like Dancing)", Meco's "Meco's Theme" and the Village People tracks, "In Hollywood (Everybody Is A Star)" and "I Am What I Am".
The biggest hit single on the album was Donna Summer's "Last Dance", which won an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and also made it to #3 on the US singles chart. The song was written by Paul Jabara, who the following year composed Summer's duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". Jabara performed two of the songs on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack and appeared in the film as well.
The soundtrack album was issued as a three-record set in 1978, of which the third disc was a single side 12 inch single of the 15:45 minutes Donna Summer, "Je t'aime... moi non plus" track. Upon its 1978 release, a promo set of separate 12" singles of every track was released to select DJs only. An edited CD came out in 1995 on the budget label Rebound Records. A digitally remastered version of the full soundtrack on a 2 disc set was released on PolyGram Records on March 25, 1997. The company that holds the rights to the album is as of 1998 the Universal Music Group. The album is described by many as the world's only five-sided soundtrack album.
Cameo's "Find My Way" was issued as a 7" single in 1975. Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer's cover version of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's 1969 hit single "Je t'aime... moi non plus" was recorded a few years earlier, but had its debut on the soundtrack and was issued as an edited 7" single in a few countries in 1978. "Too Hot ta Trot" was from The Commodores' 1977 album Commodores Live! – on certain editions of the Thank God It's Friday album replaced by a studio recording. The song topped Billboard's R & B chart the week of February 18, 1978. Other titles on the soundtrack, including "Last Dance", were recorded for the film.
Track listing
Side one
Love & Kisses: "Thank God It's Friday" (Alec R. Costandinos) – 4:13
Producer: Alec R. Costandinos
Pattie Brooks: "After Dark" (Simon Soussan/Sabrina Soussan) – 7:50
Producer: Simon Soussan
Donna Summer: "With Your Love" (Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte, Donna Summer) – 3:58
Producers: Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte
Donna Summer: "Last Dance" (Paul Jabara) – 8:11
Producers:Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte
Side two
Paul Jabara: "Disco Queen" (Paul Jabara) – 3:45
Producers: Bob Esty, Paul Jabara
Cameo: "Find My Way" (Johnny Melfi) – 4:56
Producer: Larry Blackmon
The Commodores: "Too Hot ta Trot" (Lionel Richie, Milan Williams, Ronald LaPread, Thomas McClary, Walter "Clyde" Orange, William King) – 3:24
Producers: The Commodores, James Carmichael
Wright Bros. Flying Machine: "Leatherman's Theme" (Arthur G. Wright) – 3:22
Producer: Arthur G. Wright
Marathon: "I Wanna Dance" (Pete Bellotte, Thor Baldursson) – 5:58