Given the title, you might think this would be a Saturday Night Fever rip-off, but that’s not really the case. (It does have just enough disco scenes to stick into a trailer to make it look one though.) It’s actually a German sex comedy that plays like a prototype for an American Horny Teenager movie. The most surprising thing about Summer Night Fever is just how good it is.
Peter (Stephane Hillel) and Freddy (Claude Obalski) take a trip through Europe hoping to score with as many women as possible. The only problem is that Freddy has to bring his dorky sister Victoria along. Since she’s played by Olivia Pascal, you know it’s only a matter of time before she loses her glasses and blossoms into a full-blown sexpot. Anyway, Peter can’t even seem to make it to first base while the nerdy Freddy is scoring left and right. It takes a while, but Peter eventually comes to his senses and realizes Victoria is the girl for him.
Sure, the movie has plenty of T & A to go around, but there’s also a sweet coming of age story wrapped in there as well. So many of these things get so invested in showing skin that they forget to have actual characters we care about. I’m not saying character development is essential to a Horny Teenager movie. What I will say is that I gladly tip my hat to the ones who manage to sneak it in there.
Even the sexy situations the trio find themselves in help to advance the plot and/or their relationships. (Like when Olivia finds herself aboard a swinger’s yacht.) Sure, there are some unnecessary detours (like the scene with Gianni Garko as a man who hides under the bed with Freddy when his lover’s husband comes home early), but they still manage to be funny. Oh, and for whatever reason the filmmakers forgot to dub one part into English, but it sort of adds to the humor of the scene as it features a couple who come back from skinny dipping to find their clothes have been stolen.
The movie is a great showcase for Pascal. She has a sweet scene early on where she makes herself pretty for the first time and flushes her retainer down the toilet. It also helps that she practically spends the last act shirtless.
The soundtrack is surprisingly good too. Trans superstar Amanda Lear’s hypnotic “Follow Me” is used effectively during a party scene. Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street” is also heard a couple of times too (long before it was used in Good Will Hunting).
The best line comes courtesy of Peter when sees Freddy’s math teacher on a topless beach and quips, “I bet she knows how to multiply!”
AKA: Disco Summer. AKA: Hot Summer Night Fever.
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