If you expect to learn much about Robert Stigwood, this new documentary about the famed manager (of the Bee Gees) and producer (of “Saturday Night Fever”) will leave you frustrated.
Talk about bait and switch: Although it is nominally about the film and music mogul Robert Stigwood, the latest entry in HBO’s Music Box series has little new or insightful to say about him. There’s nothing about his childhood as a gay kid in 1950s Australia, and only perfunctory mentions of his managing Eric Clapton, or producing the original Broadway stagings of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita.”
His association with the Bee Gees earns more attention but that’s because they were an integral part of “Saturday Night Fever” — the focus of much of “Mr. Saturday Night” and arguably Stigwood’s greatest achievement as a producer. (The new documentary works best as an addendum to the Frank Marshall film “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”)
Most of the time, the director John Maggio covers familiar territory: a quick primer on disco, Stigwood optioning the writer Nik Cohn’s article about the nightlife scene in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge, and how John Travolta found his groove, with help from the dance coach Deney Terrio.
But even in what it does cover, the doc feels rushed and skimpy, relying mostly on testimonies from former executives of the entrepreneur’s company while the stars he worked with remain conspicuously absent.
Stigwood also scored with the movie “Grease,” and then it was all over: He got caught in the disco backlash, lost his golden touch. Maggio ends his story in the early 1980s, even though Stigwood lived until 2016. He is thinking small about a man who used to dream big.
Mr. Saturday Night
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. Watch on HBO Max.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
