Staying Alive (1983)

Steve Inwood: Jesse

Quotes 

• Jesse : You wanna dance? You follow my rules! This is not a democracy! You know, you're not exactly the greatest dancer ever to hit Broadway!

• Tony Manero : Everybody uses everybody, don't they?

  Jesse : Go to hell, Manero!

• Laura : [Spinning Laura by her arms during the show]  Tony? Whaddya doin'? Put Me Down!

  [Tony hurls her and screams] 

  Jesse : [Tony abandons the script and does a solo dance in frustration]  I didn't tell him to do a solo.

• Tony Manero : [motioning to Jackie, who leans back onto stage]  I just wanted to tell you, if I don't see you again you got beautiful legs.

  Jesse : [to the dancers]  You gotta improvise...

  Jackie : [giggling, to Tony]  So do you.

  Jesse : [to Jackie]  Listen up! If you're finished dancing, move off stage!

  Tony Manero : [whispering to Jackie]  You're always causin' trouble, now get outta here.

• Jesse : What we're having here is a conceptual interpretation problem. Which is easy to overcome if you just forget the fact that you're dancers working for a couple of bucks! You're translators of body language. That's all dancing is, it's body language. So don't waste my time going through the motions of emotions. You gotta *feel* what the hell you're doing here.

• Jesse : If it's gonna work, you've gotta bust your asses!

• Jesse : If you had half a brain in that thick skull of yours, you'd stop worrying about trying to change other people - and start worrying about changing yourself!

• Jesse : When you step in front of that audience tonight, just remember: You're not one of them. You dance for them. Don't dance for yourself, Tony.

• Jesse : The show is the thing, Manero. Not you. The show. You remember that.