The Secret Disco Revolution

2012

1h 25m

Documentary

List

43%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

41%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Alice Echols, Michael Musto, Gloria Gaynor, Thelma Houston and others appear in filmmaker Jamie Kastner's exploration of disco music's empowerment of women, blacks and homosexuals.

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Audience Member

Perhaps because I remember the disco era, and I loved the music, I liked this movie more than I should have. Some of the interviews are intriguing, the music is incredible, and the video footage (from the files) is great. The best section deals with Studio 54--a trip all by itself.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I watched it sober. Not the recommended approach to an argument that disco is the musical embodiment of the feminist critique of patriarchy. In a different mood I might have been able to consider Donna Summer's Love to Love you Baby as a rejection of the three-minute sex act!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great film about disco. Awful premise. Great footage and interviews with some of disco's creators and haters. Definitely can get thru 1 hour and 24 minutes and feel good about it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION has a great premise at its core--investigating disco fever from a socio-political perspective--something disco truly deserves. Sadly, DISCO gets all wrapped up in the music biz and hedonism and loses its way. A VH-1 doc at best. Another missed opp at the bijou :(

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Miz B W

Maybe disco was really just about having a good time. Getting all academic about it seemed over the top for me. Although the whole gay liberation perspective actually made sense to me. I was too young during the disco era to be aware of anything like that.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/15

Full Review

Audience Member

The disco documentary is contains too funky music from the beginning to the end.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

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Jamie Kastner

Director

Peter Keleghan

Narrator

Jamie Kastner

Screenwriter

Jamie Kastner

Producer

Derek Rogers

Cinematographer

Greg West

Film Editing

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Kyle Smith

New York Post

"The Secret Disco Revolution" laughably fails to turn Barry White and Donna Summer into the Che Guevara and Emma Goldman of the dance floor.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 28, 2013

Full Review

David DeWitt

New York Times

Faddish taste may be interesting for some, but for others it will devolve into the banal, as cultural history as well as entertainment.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jun 28, 2013

Full Review

Moira MacDonald

Seattle Times

The veil is lifted on this secret movement, one that everyone else thought was just about dancing and doing coke.

Rated: 3/4

Jun 27, 2013

Full Review

Pat Padua

Spectrum Culture

Disco deserves better.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 30, 2018

Full Review

John Fink

The Film Stage

The film's strongest moments are in its case for what brought down disco including its broad expansion via radio.

Rated: B

Aug 8, 2016

Full Review

Glenn Dunks

Glenn Dunks

While there is plenty of interest in Kastner's documentary, anybody with more than a passing knowledge of the disco era will know most of it already.

Rated: C-

Sep 5, 2013

Full Review

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Synopsis

Alice Echols, Michael Musto, Gloria Gaynor, Thelma Houston and others appear in filmmaker Jamie Kastner's exploration of disco music's empowerment of women, blacks and homosexuals.

Director: Jamie Kastner
Screenwriter: Jamie Kastner
Production Co: Cave 7 Productions Inc.
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2014
Runtime: 1h 25m

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