Thank God It's Friday (1978)

A Friday in the life of the disco club the Zoo, where the staff and clients meet and dance their their lives away.

Director:

Robert Klane

Writer:

Armyan Bernstein (as Barry Armyan Bernstein)

Stars:

Donna Summer, Valerie Landsburg, Terri Nunn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Valerie Landsburg	...	Frannie
Terri Nunn	...	Jeannie
Chick Vennera	...	Marv Gomez
Donna Summer	...	Nicole Sims
Ray Vitte	...	Bobby Speed
Mark Lonow	...	Dave
Andrea Howard	...	Sue
Jeff Goldblum	...	Tony
Robin Menken	...	Maddy
Debra Winger	...	Jennifer
John Friedrich	...	Ken
Paul Jabara	...	Carl
Mews Small	...	Jackie (as Marya Small)
Chuck Sacci	...	Gus
Hilary Beane	...	Shirley

Storyline

It's Friday and everyone is going to the hot new disco. The Commodores are scheduled to play if Floyd shows up with the instruments and Nicole dreams of becoming a disco star. Other characters are there to win the dance contest, or to put a little excitement into a fifth anniversary.

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Plot Keywords:

disco | dance contest | hot dog stand | racial slur | reference to kiss the band | 

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Taglines:

After 5000 years of civilization, we all need a break.

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Genres:

Comedy | Music

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

20 July 1978 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

T.G.I.F.

Filming Locations:

La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,200,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$7,300,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Casablanca Filmworks, Major Studio Partners, Motown Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie's original 1978 first-issue soundtrack album was a three record set which included two 33 1/3 rpm LP records and one 12 inch single.

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Goofs

During the dance contest, Frannie is dancing with Marv in blue platform-soled shoes. But after they win the contest and go to the stage to collect their prize, a wide shot reveals that she is barefoot. Probably most of the actual dancing was done this way, rather than in those dangerous platform soles.

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Quotes

Sue: I also noticed that hippy freak you've adopted! I want to know is one evening with her worth five years of marriage?
Dave: What are you talking about? Five years of what? What do you mean who?
Sue: Dave, I want to sit down.
Dave: Who's Dave? I'm Babbakazoo!

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits, the name of actress Linda Cremeans is mis-spelled, as "Linda Creamans"

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2002)

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Soundtracks

Take It to the Zoo
Performed by Sunshine
Written by Donna Summer (uncredited), Bruce Sudano (uncredited) and Joe Esposito (uncredited)
Produced by Arthur G. Wright (uncredited)
Casablanca Records

User Reviews

Thank God It's Friday is a fun '70s disco dance movie

After almost 30 years of hearing or reading about the '70s disco movie, Thank God It's Friday, and having taped it for future viewing from AMC 5 years ago, I finally got around to seeing it a couple of hours ago. I must say, I was mainly expecting some cheesy comedy set in a dance club with lame jokes and a bare plot. Instead, most of the intentional punchlines and visual gags worked and I loved the multi-character story lines that occasionally overlapped. Good musical performances by The Commodores and Donna Summer who here plays a struggling singer named Nicole Sims. Her song, "Last Dance" is the highlight of this movie and helped win an Oscar for Best Song for its writers, Giorgio Moroder and Paul Jabara who also plays a character who gets stuck in a staff room backstage. Also appearing are Jeff Goldblum as the club's owner, Debra Winger as a nice girl, and future Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn, who's 16 here, as an underage club hopper. Special mention must go to the guy who plays Marv Gomez (Chick Vennera) who's hilarious dancing on some car roofs having the time of this life. Watch this movie and see if you don't feel the same! By the way, kudos to whoever animated the Columbia Torch Lady dancing...