Has there ever been a more perfect match of a song to the opening scene of a movie? It’s impossible to think of Saturday Night Fever without the bouncy rhythm of Stayin’ Alive coming into your head.

Between them, the song and the images in that long tracking shot of Travolta’s Tony strutting down the street with his can of paint tell the story to come in four glorious minutes.

First the aerial shot takes us across the bridge from Staten Island, with the Twin Towers of downtown Manhattan in the distance. Then the subway train takes us past crumbling tenements to Bay Ridge, the westernmost tip of the arse end of Brooklyn.

And here’s Tony, swaggering along in his shiny shoes and tight trousers, swinging that can of paint as he carries out an errand for his boss in the hardware store, swivelling to check out passing girls, who’ve seen and heard it all before – just another loser with a dead end job.

But come the weekend it’s a different story.

Out there on the dancefloor Tony’s the disco king, with moves the guys can only dream of emulating. Out there he’s an object of desire for ALL the girls – and, in all probability, the boys .

It’s every blue-collar fantasy – the American Dream come true.

So which came first – the chicken or the egg? Or, in this case, the song or the film? I would have guessed the film came first and turned the song into a hit but it seems to have been the other way around.

Stayin’ Alive was released in December 1977 and reached its peak of No.4 in February 1978. A month later Saturday Night Fever got its UK cinema release with this song soundtracking that memorable opening scene.