54 shows such people, set in the sleazy world of the late 1970's nightclub scene.  Studio 54 Manager Steve Rubell (played by an almost unrecognisable Mike Myers) made Studio 54 into the most popular nightclub in New York.  It was the place to be seen and the place where you could be made..

Shane (Ryan Phillipee) lives over in Jersey and dreams of getting out.  He and a group of friends decide to take a trip to the big smoke (only 5 kilometres away)with hopes of seeing his dream girl, former Jersey girl Julie Black (Julia Salenger...err i mean Neve Campbell).  Shane is picked from a crowd of hundreds by Rubell, ignoring Shane's friends, and so makes it into Studio 54 and is instantly seduced to a whole new world.

Through some connections Shane becomes a 54 busboy where he gets deeply involved in the sex and drug scene.  His new 54 friends, married couple Anita and Greg (Selma Hayek & Breckin Meyer), also dream the big dream, especially Anita who wants to be a recording artist. 

When Studio 54 was first shown to USA's Mirimax execs, they apparently Freaked out.  For the film they were presented with was hot hot hot!!!! Full on sex orgies, bi-sexual 3 ways, you name it.  Though in truth this would have most likely been an accurate portrayal of the 54 scene.  So Miramax took it upon themselves to slaughter 54 and make it the film we now see.  Thankfully, Roadshow decided to release the Full Studio Cut, and not the one released at Theatres.  so what we now have is the hotter version, but certainly not the hottest.....DVDfile in the USA have the Director's Cut of 54 on their DVD request line, but I somehow doubt Disney will let it see the light of day.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??
Unlike the region 1 version of 54 Roadshow's is 16:9 Enhanced and looks pretty good.  While the overall detail was a little lower than expected, the colours dazzle and the image is pretty sharp.  The feeling of a 70's nightclub is captured very well, with minimal aliasing (which is virtually non-existent) and crosstalk is relatively unseen..... Generally speaking this is a very comfortable picture to watch, and certainly doesn't look edgy (though not many Disney derived films are)

Soundwise The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is used very effectively with a great use of ambience to capture the music of a nightclub (and there is some great music to be had here)  While dialogue was generally clear and intelligible, some sloppy ADR work proved troublesome to my Pioneer player by enhancing the time delay.  Yet was perfectly acceptable on both the Nakamichi and Samsung DVD players.  As has become standard on the latest Roadshow DVDs, there is also a Dolby 2.0 track which works quite well, but is of course not as effective as the 5.1 mix.   Having read about Dolby 5.1 downmixing and what is done over at DVDfile, it's great that Roadshow are supporting the 2 audio mixes.

As far as extras goes, this one is very lacking.   We're treated to the usual cast and crew bios (with some history of 54 included), as well as a 16:9 Enhanced DD2.0 trailer, and the music video to If you could read my mind".   There are also some audio grabs on the main menus, with a snip of IYCRMMind. 
Pity it wasn't the full length music track ( subtle hint to Roadshow :-)

While the seedy side of 54 may not appeal to everyone's tastes, it's the sort of film that grows on you after repeated viewings, amongst all the sleaze, there's some likeable characters (Dottie the grooving grandma, and of course Mike Myers in his best role yet) 

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver: Marantz SR870 & Sony SDP-EP9ES
Speakers:-
     Fronts: B&W 602
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Rears: Jamo Magic 14
     Subby: M&K V125 

- reviewed 25th October 1999