Studio 54
Director:
Matt Tyrnauer
Year: 2018
Rating: 6.0
When I moved to New York City in the late 1970's there were two iconic clubs
that everyone knew about. One was the disco Studio 54 and other one was Plato's
Retreat, a sex club. Both opened in 1977. I tried once getting into Studio
54; I didn't with Plato's! I like thousands of others failed - turned away
by a doorman with a discerning eye for straight squares like me. I was a
member of the Bridge and Tunnel crowd - meaning coming in from Queens or
in my case Brooklyn. We were undesirables for a club that catered to celebrities,
models, opinion makers, the sexually promiscuous, the outrageous - sadly
I wasn't any of those.
In truth after watching the many video scenes inside the club I would have
been so overwhelmed. so lost at sea, I would have shrunk up and disappeared.
The doorman knew what he was doing. I think I waited outside trying to look
my coolest with a friend though, for the life of me I can't recall who, for
about 30 minutes and then we just went elsewhere. I never tried again. I
knew I would never be cool enough for Studio 54.
But back then Studio 54 was a phenomenon - in the papers all the time with
photos of celebrities - nothing like it before and as far as I know nothing
like it since. It was created by two young men with a vision - Ian Schrager
and Steve Rubell - and for a few brief years it was the place to go (if they
let you in). What brought it to an end was that both of them were avoiding
taxes on the bags of money that were collected every night skimming like
a dairy farmer. Both were convicted and sent to prison and it closed in 1980.
When released from prison they went into boutique hotels - very successfully
- but Rubell died of AIDS in 1989.
Schrager is still in the hotel business and narrates much of this documentary.
It was enjoyable enough to watch, a ton of clips of people having fun, getting
naked, taking drugs and the celebrities hobnobbing with one another - it
feels so long ago - a different age - hard to imagine that happening today.
