Nows and Forevers

Call me whatever you want, but I have used two movies as a litmus test for picking friends: Wim Wenders’ “Wings of Desire” and Whit Stillman’a “Last Days of Disco.” We can still be friends if you don’t like these two movies, but it’s gonna be harder.

I have been a fan of “The Last Days of Disco” ever since I saw it in 1999. It tells a very specific story about a group of friends in Manhattan in the early ’80s, at a time when disco was on its way out. (Hence the title.)

Scenes in “The Last Days of Disco” takes place in a night club, but it’s not really about disco. Stillman is an acute observer of class and relationships. It has a good soundtrack, even if you don’t like disco. (Although you should, because disco brought a lot of good to the world and its smashing in the late ’70s and early ’80s was both racist and homophobic.) It’s really about being out of college and living in New York City.

It’s a great movie. Yet it’s kind of a cult movie. And until the Criterion Collection DVD came out in the mid-2000s, it was almost impossible to find on either video or DVD. A friend of mine and I loved this movie so much that in 2005 she and I scoured stores in Manhattan to try to find even the VHS copy, to no avail. The other of Stillman’s trilogy, Metropolitan (1990) and Barcelona (1994) are pretty good too, but I like “The Last Days of Disco” the best. And there are common actors and even characters between the movies.

Don’t go expecting laughs. It’s not that kind of film. (Neither are “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona.”) But the end credits of “The Last Days of Disco” is my favorite ending to a movie ever. It’s fun, it’s well choreographed, and if you’ve ever lived and worked in New York City (and I have), the credits a tremendous homage to the subway and Manhattan itself. What a great use of the awesome 1975 No. 1 hit for the O’Jays, “Love Train.”

Anyway, it won’t hit as much if you haven’t seen the whole movie. But after the heaviness of “Last Days” and “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona,” the end credits are an amazing release and a joyous celebration of New York City.

As the O’Jays sing: “If you miss this train at the station, I feel sorry, sorry for you.”