Most songs, if they conjure an image at all, conjure a personal one — maybe you remember where you were when you first heard it, or maybe it’s an image of someone special in your life with whom you share the song. Then there are the songs that conjure up a very public image, an image that’s shared by the culture at large.
“Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, from the Saturday Night Fever, is in the second category. For most people it brings to mind the image of young, exuberant John Travolta dancing his way to white suit stardom.
Until now. And it takes a movie star with the stature of Brad Pitt to make a legit case of wresting the song from Travolta and owning it for Ladybug. Yup that’s Brad Pitt’s character’s name in David Leitch’s Bullet Train, where he’s a killer considering a change in life style. The trailer just dropped for the July 15 release, and Brad Pitt is staying alive in it with at least as much gusto Travolta’s Tony Manero on the streets of Queens, NY.
If you want to know what happens, here’s the bestselling novel that inspired the film.
If you want to see the original Travolta strut, and to realize he’s doing way more than just staying alive, here it is:
