The Last Days of Disco

1

- [ Disco]

- [ Phone Line Ringing]

- [ Man] Hello?

- [ Woman] Hi, honey. It's me.

- [ Continues]

- I went to see the doctor today.

'Cause ever since you've been gone,

I had a pain deep down inside.

- [ Women Vocalizing]

- He says there's nothing really wrong with me.

I'm just missing my man.

So, honey, please...

come on home as soon as you can.

Doctor's orders

Say there's only one thing for me

Nothing he can do

'Cause only you can cure me

Says in my condition

I heard you have a much better chance

of getting in if you come by cab.

- You're really worried about getting in?

- Yes.

I thought you'd been here

several times before.

Not the front way.

They were private parties. We came in the back.

We look really good tonight.

I'm sure we're gonna get in.

- [ Continues]

- [ Chattering]

[ Man]

Van.

- [ Woman] Van.

- [ Man] Van, here.

Let's get a cab.

Maybe you're right.

When we get out, don't stop where the crowd is.

Just follow me right in.

- When we get out, we just follow you in.

- Yeah.

- Why don't you put this on.

- What?

- Just until we get inside.

- I don't get it.

- [ Man] Van. Right here.

- [ Man #2] Here, Van.

[ Continues]

Uh, we're all together.

- Van.

- Only him.

We're together.

Come on, Van. This is important.

These are my friends.

You can go in, but they'll have to wait.

Hey, nice coat.

[ Continues]

Don't worry, Jimmy. We don't care.

- I can't believe it.

- Yeah. What an a**hole.

You know, that had nothing to do with you guys.

Van just wanted to put me in my place.

- Apparently it happens all the time.

- Jerk.

- It's happened to you before?

- No, but it was overdue.

- None of us really wanted to go anyway.

- Yeah. We're exhausted.

No, I really wanted to go.

[ Continues]

There's Jimmy Steinway.

I can't believe it.

He's already leaving?

You like him?

I could never be interested

in anyone who worked in advertising.

God, you were right.

This place has gotten really hard to get into.

Who's the other guy

you were interested in?

[ Continues]

Doctor's orders

Say there's only one thing for me

[ Chuckling ]

Oh, God. We made it.

This is the last time I'm coming here.

I always wanted to be able to say I got into the club.

Of course we got in.

Who's the second guy you were interested in?

- Tom Platt.

- Oh, well, that's a lot better.

- How do you mean?

- Well, Tom Platt's smart and somewhat cool.

A lawyer involved in environmental causes.

Not to mention tall, dark and handsome.

Every daY

A lovin' spoonful to be taken

It's the only way

To stop this empty heart of mine

from breakin'

Won't get better

- Till you're back again

- [ Man] Nina. Please, stop.

- He told me

- Nma.

Doctor's orders

- l need your loving arms

- [ Sobbing ]

Nina.

- Please, stop. Wh -

- [ Continues, Faint]

[Van ]

McGrath.

- Nina.

- [Van ] Come back here!

It's not what you think. I -

I think I'm gay.

What?

It's not possible.

[ Sobs, ]

How?

It's always been there, I guess.

I've only begun to acknowledge it now.

You really think you're gay?

- [ Man] Thanks.

- [ Man #2] Thank you.

I was just starting law school when the first

up-tempo Philadelphia International hits broke.

Some people don't consider that disco,

because it's good...

but I remember feeling

absolutely electrified.

- You feel electrified often.

- No, but this was different.

I loved the idea that there'd be all these

great places for people to go dancing...

after the terrible social wasteland

of our college years.

- [ Groans ]

- You've been to a lot of discos?

No. In fact, practically none.

For me, law school wasn't easy...

and I haven't had much of a social life

since coming to the city either, but...

I still consider myself a loyal adherent

to the disco movement.

- It's a movement?

- Sort of.

What I found terribly encouraging

was the idea...

that when the time in life came

to have a social life...

there'd be all these great places

for people to go to...

because, as you'll remember,

for many years, there were none.

- Yeah.

- What I didn't realize...

is that they'd get

so impossible to get into.

- [Man] Let's call it a night.

- No. Wait. I have an idea.

[ Man]

Hey, Jimmy. Here. Take this.

- [ Man #2] Jimmy.

- Thanks.

Jimmy.

[ Chattering ]

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Oh, you're Des's friend.

- Yeah. Hi.

[ Car Door Closes ]

Where are Marshall and Steve?

They've gone back to the hotel.

Jimmy, come on.

- I can't believe it.

- Jimmy. Let's go.

[ Disco]

- Your body, my body,

- They wanted me to apologize for them.

- They were really bushed.

- What a disaster.

- No.

- Everybody move your body)

- I can't believe it.

- Wow.

Everybody work your body

Your body, my body

Everybody work your body

- Do you like nightmares?

- No.

Well, I do.

It's not obviously connected, but...

I think that's what made me a little more

tolerant of the guys at Hampshire.

- What do you mean?

- You were a bit critical.

The guys there preferred women

more laid-back.

I'm laid-back.

Well, for whatever reason,

you didn't have much of a social life there.

I had a social life.

Just not one of those

terrible pretend marriages.

The Hampshire guys were jerks -

hippie-dippie suburbanites with all this hair...

and extremely dim intellectual interests.

I'm sorry. I don't consider the guy who did

the Spider-Man comics a serious writer.

Alice, one thing I've noticed

is that people hate being criticized.

Everyone hates that.

It's one of the great truths of human nature.

- [ Toilet Flushes ]

- I think it's why my parents got divorced.

I'm sorry. It's just that you're so terrific,

it makes me sick to think...

you might get in that terrible situation again,

where everyone hated you.

- Hated me?

- You're wonderful.

- [ Continues ]

- Maybe, in physical terms...

I'm a little cuter than you...

but you should be

much more popular than I am.

It'd be such a shame if what happened

in college repeated itself.

- [New Disco Song Starts ]

- Why would it repeat itself?

You're right.

I just think it's so important

to be in control of your own destiny.

Not to fall into that '50s clich

of waiting by the phone for guys to call.

The right ones never do.

Those who do, you have to make

the most ridiculous excuses to.

The nice ones get hurt feelings

and hate you.

The jerks inevitably corner you

into going out anyway.

Late at night you find yourself with

some awful guy with disgusting breath...

thrusting his belly up against you, trying to

stick his slobbering tongue in your mouth.

[ Groans ]

Thank God this is a whole new era

in music and social models.

[ Continues]

- Oh, what, wow,

- We're in complete control.

- He's the greatest dancer,

- Look down.

- Oh, what, wow,

- There are a lot of choices out there.

One night in a disco

on the outskirts of Frisco 'P

[ Man] Fantastic. This place is better

than I could have imagined.

It's too bad Steve and Marshall didn't come.

They really would have loved this.

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