TL;DR: The camera doesn't have to be Super-8, but the character using the camera probably wouldn't be sophisticated enough to pick up something that he couldn't walk into a general electronics/Sears store in '72 and buy, though he does have expensive taste. I figured the low-lighting would kill the images of the nightclub, but I'm either going to try to add more light in the night club (by writing it in), or think of another away around it because it would be better if the footage when watched today wasn't an indecipherable mess. I appreciate all the suggestions so far, and I'll be looking at the links and other cameras recommended here.
Thanks for all the replies so far. Basically, no, the camera doesn't have to be Super-8, but I'm trying to give the character who is "shooting" in the nightclub a popular "amateur" camera for the pedestrian/at-home filmmaker in 1972 - early 1973.
The thing about this character is he's rich, and can afford all the gadgets and toys he wants to play with, but he wouldn't have the knowledge to pick out an excellent camera to shoot with. He's a young, spoiled playboy-type who's the equivalent of someone today who would buy the most expensive DSLR they found in a general electronics store, without doing any research, and then take it out with him to parties and clubs trying to make a "movie." The character I'm writing could end up with another camera, but it would have to qualify either as a luxury object (to motivate him to buy it without having to go out of his way for it) or just the camera he was most likely to end up with at that time (i.e. the bestselling in 72-73). He doesn't know a camera might shoot poorly in low lighting conditions.
I did figure it would be too dark in the nightclub, and- I was going to use the highest ASA I could get in the camera (again, that isn't specialist, hard to buy stock). I was looking for approximate low-lighting footage with the Kodak XL 55, and the closest I found was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JwyOzdWXzc. The person here is shooting outside at night with the camera, and seeing how most of the light sources are blown-out and surrounded by darkness, I figured the footage in the club would be terrible because there you also have movement and tight space. I'm thinking of solving it by basically allowing a mix of a) turbulent shots of bodies writhing in a suffocating darkness semi-illuminated at points by the dance-floor lighting, disco balls, gel-hued moving spotlights, etc, and also ii), then having shots of a nearby bar/lounge area that is much better lit, without being too bright, where everyone is sitting static on stools or couches and you can see the characters better.
I'm going to try to have the dance-floor footage not look like blurred, indistinct crap, but this is the character and context I'm working with.
Thanks for the suggestions about the other cameras. I'll look into them, but hopefully I can determine whether or not an amateur would be sophisticated enough to end up with something different at the time.