54 (film) - Historical Inaccuracies

Historical Inaccuracies

Being on a tight budget, the movie ultimately ended up only a loosely-based rendition of the Studio 54 era: some of the most prominent club patrons of the time (Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Mariel and Margaux Hemingway, Mick and Bianca Jagger, and many others) are barely ever mentioned if at all (with the exception of Andy Warhol, briefly seen in one scene), although during the end credits some photos of the era are shown, depicting such people mingling with the club owners.

The time frame is slightly off against the actual dates when the events took place (primarily, the IRS raid): the movie is set during 1979, when Steve Rubell had already been indicted for tax crimes.

The co-founder of the club, Ian Schrager, a major figure at the time, is not seen at all, replaced by a mob-like Italian-American figure named "Anthony", supposedly the leader of the money-skimming operation that leads to the club ultimate demise. The character of Rubell is left as the sole manager of the establishment. Schrager was as present in the club life as Rubell was so his total absence from the script is puzzling.

Also, there is very little visual reference to the clothing, hair and makeup styles in fashion during the disco era of the late 1970s: at the time, men sported beards, moustaches and long hair much more evidently than what is seen in the movie, where furthermore only a few of the actresses and extras wear suitable hairstyles and clothes relevant to the time period. In fact, most of the patrons in the movies rather feature hair and clothes that were ordinary in the late 1990s when the movie was shot.

The decor, lighting and original furnishings of the Studio 54 dancefloor have been recreated only up to a point: some of the famous props are there (the man-moon, the rainbow lightfan, the DJ booth), while most of the lighting devices, such as moving heads, scanners and compact laser units, clearly visible in some scenes, simply did not exist at the time and would not have until well into the 1990s. Also, the original Studio 54 was rife with very colorful and powerful lighting marquees and pillars and similar devices, up to right in the middle of the dancefloor. There is no trace of those in the movie.

Most crowd scenes are sparsely populated, and dancing scenes are very sedate, as if very few extras were available for shooting.

The family of Steve Rubell protested after the film release for what they perceived as an unfaithful rendition of their relative's character, portrayed as an intelligent but inordinately sleazy gay predator with a severe alcohol and substance abuse problem, connected with the mob, and who literally swims thru stashes of dollar bills. While the money skimming operation did actually took place, and Rubell himself did die of AIDS-related causes in 1989, he was not open about his sexuality and there is no substantial evidence for mob connections or for the other film claims about him.

In the film, actress/singer Mary Griffin performs the song "Knock on Wood" while wearing an outfit strikingly similar to that which disco singer Amii Stewart wore in the video to "Knock On Wood" in 1979. Although it is obvious that Griffin is portraying Stewart, the credits at the end of the movie have Griffin's character listed only as Disco Star.