{"id":11798,"date":"2025-05-02T22:16:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11798"},"modified":"2025-05-02T22:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:16:47","slug":"54-directors-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/05\/02\/54-directors-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"54 (Director’s Cut)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"54<\/strong> (1998)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Miramax\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes (Director\u2019s Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexuality, nudity, drug use and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mark Christopher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mark Christopher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Alexander Gruszynski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 28, 1998 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Mike Myers, Sela Ward, Breckin Meyer, Sherry Stringfield, Ellen Albertini Dow, Michael York, Lauren Hutton, Cameron Mathison, Noam Jenkins, Jay Goede, Heather Matarazzo, Skipp Sudduth, Aemilia Robinson, Thelma Hopkins.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $16.8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are three different versions of 54<\/strong>, writer-director Mark Christopher\u2019s fictional account of the fall of Studio 54, the hottest disco in New York City in the late 70s. The theatrical cut, which opened to negative reviews and chilly public reception, is the studio version that underwent extensive rewrites and reshoots on the orders of Miramax head Harvey Weinstein. He demanded the removal of all the gay material, especially the scenes hinting at the main character\u2019s bisexuality. Christopher wasn\u2019t allowed in the editing room so he didn\u2019t get to see the final cut (run time 93 minutes) prior to its release in August \u201998. The second version, the Extended Cut, is just the theatrical version with seven minutes worth of extra scenes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Director\u2019s Cut, the version I\u2019m reviewing here, is 54<\/strong> as Christopher intended it to be seen. He removed 30 minutes of studio reshoots and restored 45 minutes of original material. It\u2019s a much darker film. Any notion that Studio 54 was a never-ending party will be dashed by this peek at what went on behind the scenes at the club, a hotspot that attracted celebrities from all walks of life. We\u2019re talking actors and royalty dancing the night away side by side- e.g. Truman Capote, Andy Warhol and Princess Grace. It looks glamorous from the outside, but you know what they say about looks being deceiving.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story is told from the perspective of Shane O\u2019Shea (Phillippe, I Know What You Did Last Summer), a 19YO gas station attendant from Jersey City. He wants more out of life than his working class existence. One night, he and his friends drive over the river to the Big Apple. He\u2019s the only one granted admittance to the super-exclusive club by owner Steve Rubell (Myers, Austin Powers), but only after he removes his shirt.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Shane loves what he sees and returns the next night despite the objections of his bigoted, conservative father (Sudduth, Ronin). Rubell hires him as a busboy and it isn\u2019t long before he becomes something of a celebrity. He befriends fellow busboy Greg (Meyer, Clueless) and his wife, aspiring disco singer Anita (Hayek, Desperado). He moves in with them and considers them his new family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Naturally, Shane gets caught up in all the decadence. He buys new clothes and an expensive car. He has sex with both men and women. He starts using drugs. He also has a brief encounter with Julie (Campbell, Wild Things), a soap opera star he has a crush on. Of course, it all comes crashing down due in equal parts to hubris and lack of intelligence. Also, the IRS raids the place and arrests Rubell for skimming money from the club\u2019s nightly take. It was bound to happen. The man wasn\u2019t exactly discreet about his misdeeds. That\u2019s not a spoiler. It happened in real life albeit not as depicted in 54<\/strong>– i.e. the raid did NOT go down at the New Year\u2019s Eve celebration.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s no question that the Director\u2019s Cut of 54<\/strong> is the better version. I\u2019d even say it\u2019s the definitive version. In his first solo feature film, Christopher bathes the hedonism in melancholy which robs the goings-on of any and all joy. We already know from the opening credits sequence that the protagonist\u2019s time on the top is fleeting. It\u2019s not going to last. The only one that doesn\u2019t know it is Shane who\u2019s too dim to think beyond the right here and right now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the lead role, Phillippe delivers a performance reminiscent of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever and Mark Wahlberg from Boogie Nights. Shane is a not-too-bright guy from a working class neighborhood. He toils away at a dead end job. He\u2019 constantly at odds with his father who doesn\u2019t understand why he can\u2019t just be satisfied with what he\u2019s got. The friends he hangs out with every night at the local disco dive seem destined to stay rooted in their directionless lives. He finally breaks free of the life he\u2019s always known to start a new one in a decadent world he never could have imagined. He becomes consumed by it to the point where he loses his moral compass. It\u2019s Ryan\u2019s best performance to date.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The most surprising performance in 54<\/strong> comes from Myers in his first dramatic role. The Austin Powers star is perfectly cast as Steve Rubell, a weaselly sort who is nowhere near above using his power to demand sexual favors from his hunky male employees. When Greg refuses, telling him he\u2019s not gay, Rubell just sighs and says \u201cLabels.\u201d He may be a powerful man (in the microcosm of Studio 54), but it doesn\u2019t make him any less pathetic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Campbell\u2019s role in the Director\u2019s Cut has been drastically reduced. What she has is essentially a glorified cameo. Her romance with Shane gets the heave-ho; it was never part of the original screenplay to begin with. The focus is on the love triangle between Shane, Greg and Anita. It\u2019s a complicated relationship. Although he sees them as family, Shane still wants to get with Anita and vice versa. He also shares a kiss with Greg who gets increasingly jealous of his friend\u2019s fondness for his wife. For her part, Anita is more interesting in getting her singing career off the ground then getting with either of the guys.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While better than the version that got released to theaters, this 54<\/strong> still has flaws. Although the narrative flows more smoothly, it still has a few bumps. It has some pacing issues, especially in the second half. It mostly spins its wheels until the climax when the kingdom comes crashing down around the central characters. On the upside, Christopher doesn\u2019t struggle with tone. It\u2019s a non-stop party inside the club, but he manages to make it feel less joyous than it should be.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Some say it\u2019s the music that makes the movie. That\u2019s certainly true in many cases and 54<\/strong> is one of them. The two-cassette soundtrack is a virtual cornucopia of disco tunes from the latter part of the 70s. It both sets the mood and provides a contrast for the melancholy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t say 54<\/strong> is one of the greatest 70s-set films of the 90s. That honor goes to Boogie Nights with Dazed and Confused running neck and neck. It\u2019s still a good movie. It\u2019s definitely bold with its open sexuality, especially as it pertains to LGBTQ+ stuff. It\u2019s a travesty that Weinstein didn\u2019t have the courage or foresight to allow 54<\/strong> to be released in its original form. Thankfully, it found its way back to the public eye. It really is a fascinating look at a way of life (pre-AIDS) that no longer exists.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

54 (1998)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Miramax\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 105 minutes (Director\u2019s Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong sexuality, nudity, drug use and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mark Christopher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mark Christopher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Alexander Gruszynski\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 28, 1998 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Mike Myers, Sela Ward, Breckin Meyer, Sherry Stringfield, Ellen Albertini Dow, Michael York, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/54-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11832,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798\/revisions\/11832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}