Staying Alive is the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as the main character, Tony Manero, with Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes, Joyce Hyser, Steve Inwood and Julie Bovasso. It was directed by Sylvester Stallone. The title comes from the Bee Gees song, ‘Stayin’ Alive’, which was used as the theme song to Saturday Night Fever and is also played during the final scene of Staying Alive.
This film takes place six years after the events of Saturday Night Fever. Former disco king Anthony ‘Tony’ Manero has left Brooklyn and is now living in Manhattan staying in a flophouse while he works as a dance instructor and as a waiter at a dance club, looking for his big break in the modern dance productions on Broadway. He continues to hold some injustices, especially toward his most recent girlfriend, the forgiving Jackie (Cynthia Rhodes). He holds a double standard whereby he feels at liberty to see other women, but becomes vexed if he finds Jackie with other men.
While watching a show in which Jackie is a dancer in the chorus, Tony focuses instead on the lead, a wealthy English dancer, Laura (Finola Hughes), whom he seduces and spends the night with; however, it becomes clear that she only intended to be involved with him for one night. Tony tries to see Laura other times, only to find that he has been used by her: at last, she coldly dubs their relationship a mere one-night stand.
Jackie, Tony, and Laura all try out for the Broadway production, Satan’s Alley, and all three land chorus dancer parts with the exception of Laura, who is once again cast as the lead female dancer. Jackie, sick of being considered second best in Tony’s eyes, finally leaves Tony, and he soon realizes how cruel he has been to her while so focused on getting Laura. Frustrated by his situation with Laura and Jackie Tony walks all the way from Manhattan to his old neighboorhod in Brooklyn in the middle of the night. He visits with his mother (Julie Bovasso) the next morning and he apologises to her for his selfish ways when he was young. She in turn tells him that it was that selfishness that got him out of a dead end life in Brooklyn. Tony, eventually sees an opportunity to replace the lead male dancer and make amends with Jackie.
Summary via Wikipedia.