An earlier nit: the Puerto Rican couple kept their second-place check, so Tony, who celebrated a $4 raise, should have swapped checks; a participant says the same point was on their Picking Nits list.
The dance contest should have been the best scene, a face-off with the Puerto Rican couple, and instead screwed up the easy part with no Rocky moment.
The Barracudas fight goes nowhere; they may have attacked the wrong guys, and losing the fight would have been funnier.
After their friend falls to his death, the police ask no follow-up questions and Tony rides the subway for six hours.
The $500 contest prize, split to $250 each, is too small; about $1,500 would have made more sense given the $4 raise.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 00:28:54Read transcript

Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and called its musical and dancing sequences dazzling.
Ebert compared it to Scorsese's Little Italy in Mean Streets and Who's That Knocking at My Door: characters with few aims and little hope of reaching the larger world symbolized by Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Ebert loved the movie, but Siskel loved it more and bought the suit.

Casting What-Ifs

John Avildsen replaced by John Badham; Jessica Lange, Kathleen Quinlan and Carrie Fisher reportedly considered for Stephanie; Donna Pescow nearly passed over

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:58:53Read transcript

The original director, who made Rocky, was fired a month before shooting, and his replacement was put on the map by this film.
Actresses reportedly considered for Stephanie include Jessica Lange, Kathleen Quinlan, Amy Irving and Carrie Fisher, with the internet list flagged as not fully verified.
Amy Irving is doubted because she was in Carrie with Travolta and was probably too famous; Carrie Fisher auditioned before Star Wars and would have been better than Gorney.
Accent matters most: Gorney's fake New York accent is unconvincing, illustrated by an impression of a Brooklyn aunt.
Donna Pescow, from Brooklyn, had to bring her accent back; Paramount executives Eisner and Katzenberg thought her too pretty, so she gained about 10 pounds and auditioned six times.

Recasting Couch

Carrie Fisher, Fran Drescher or Cher as Stephanie

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:04:09Read transcript

Anyone could replace Karen Lynn Gorney; Carrie Fisher is the exciting option.
Fran Drescher as the lead would have been great, though possibly too young if the role needed someone older.
Cher (transcribed "share") is floated, with the bonus of fake Hollywood stories about the leads falling in love during filming; the joke headline adds "Sunny, furious."

Brooklyn location shoot; gang harassment; real bridge reaction; ad-libbed hair line; first mainstream "blowjob"; girlfriend who died during filming; early Steadicam; Travolta family cameos; Bee Gees song origins; Farrah poster insert; Gorney's stalled career

In the discussion (9)

Approx. transcript time · 01:04:46Read transcript

The film was shot entirely on location in Brooklyn; the 2001 Odyssey disco has been demolished.
The production was harassed by local gangs and the mafia, with firebombings, and used fake call sheets; paying unions to stand by still happens.
The director kept the bridge stunt a secret from Donna Pescow, so her reaction was real, and Travolta ad-libbed the hair line because he was mad at the actor.
The film is claimed as the first mainstream Hollywood movie to use the word blowjob, accepted as true.
Travolta's real-life girlfriend, a TV actress, convinced him to make the film and died of cancer during filming.
It was one of the first films to use a Steadicam; Travolta's sister Ann plays the pizza lady and his mother a paint-store customer; Ellen Travolta is discussed.
Stigwood got the band on board; they declined to read the script but had song titles like Stayin' Alive, Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love, and according to Barry Gibb the group was dead in the water before the film revived them.
Paramount suits found the mirror scene homoerotic and asked for more Farrah Fawcett footage, explaining the poster close-up.
In her own account, people could not separate Gorney from Stephanie; she turned down a Saturday Night Fever TV series, made an unsold album in England, and now appears in the Clifford the Big Red Dog movie.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Staying Alive's existence; Donna Pescow's career; no seatbelts

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:19:38Read transcript

Staying Alive is horrible but welcome; its first five minutes are among the funniest of the 80s and it is too different to ruin the original.
Stallone bumping into Travolta in a redone opening shows he couldn't resist putting himself in the film he directed; Frank Stallone is mentioned.
Donna Pescow was really good but Angie, co-starring the Airplane lead, never took off, and she became a character actress, later on The Sopranos.
Nobody wears a seatbelt, and a childhood bench-seat crash put one participant through the windshield.