Grease (1978) (PG)

Grease (1978) (PG)

Directed by Randal Kleiser

Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway

Daughter Says:

I’m sure that all of you know what Grease is about, but just to refresh your memory I’ll tell you anyway. Grease is about a boy and a girl who fall in love on the beach during the summer, but just won’t be able to be together because the girl lives in Australia and he lives in Rydell. But when school starts back up who could guess that those two would end up at the same school. Now Sandy and Danny have to face Rydell’s cliques and groups (You know the usual High School drama.)

This is one of the most original musicals. Grease, just like Mary Poppins, is a one of a kind film. No one has or can trump Grease. High School Musical has tried but failed, and even the second Grease was a disaster. Once you have created greatness it’s hard to beat it.

Before I’d seen Grease I had been a huge John Travolta fan. I started loving his acting ability in Pulp Fiction, so when I heard he was in Grease I just had to see it. Now I’m an even bigger fan of Travolta. He did such a fabulous job playing Danny. I also didn’t know he was decent singer too. I really enjoyed watching him dance around a car singing Grease Lightning. Olivia Newton-John did a semi-decent job playing Sandy too. Her and Travolta did such a great job working together. They really made this movie something else by putting their own personalities into their characters. It was great.

Now for the downers of the movie. Some of the songs didn’t really make much sense in the movie. I didn’t quiet understand how Beauty School Drop Out had anything to do with Sandy and Danny. It was kind of an odd scene too. I just didn’t quite get it. Another problem I had with Grease was that Sandy and Danny changed themselves to better fit each other. I find it wrong that either of them had to change to better fit the other person. If a guy doesn’t love you the way you are, he doesn’t really love you that much.

Other than that this movie was great. I really enjoyed watching this movie and if you haven’t seen it yet go get it. Grease is one of those movies that you should see before you die.

Rating for Grease: ****1/2.

Daddy Says:

I know I'm showing my age but I was only 13 when this movie came out originally, two years younger than my daughter is right now. I was too young to see Saturday Night Fever in its original "R-rated" version (I had to wait and see it in the highly edited "PG" form that was released in theaters later), and I can remember being very excited to see a John Travolta musical in its unedited form. Yes, I know that sounds very uncool these days, but back in Summer of '78 this movie was considered to be a big event. Does it stand up today, over thirty years later? Boy, do I feel old some days...

The answer is yes, it holds up remarkably well. I think a big reason it does is because it wasn't timely to begin with. Grease is a throwback to the '50s, but with modern (at the time anyway) dialogue and sexual themes. Some of the lines in songs like "Greased Lightning" still get censored when the film is shown on television even today.

Speaking of the music, with only a couple of exceptions, the music in Grease is incredible. There's a reason the studios are re-releasing this film in a "sing-a-long" format, and it's not just to make more money. Okay, it is just to make more money, but besides that, the songs are so much fun to sing along with. I can't count the number of times I found myself doing that very thing.

The casting for Grease is perfect. John Travolta is the epitome of cool, swaggering greaser youth, a dangerous bad boy, but not the kind you couldn't bring home to meet your parents. While I'm not a huge fan of Olivia Newton-John, she plays the role of good girl Sandy very well. Somehow over the years, the role that's grown on me the most is Stockard Channing playing Rizzo. Her spotlight number "There are Worse Things I Could Do" didn't really send me when I heard it the first time. My guess is that I didn't really hear the lyrics the first couple of times. Now, my eyes get misty every time she sings that last line.

The movie has an incredible energy that doesn't let up from the opening animated credits through to the all-out musical romp finale. It's a fun-loving view of life from a time long since gone, with an innocence that I don't think will ever return. Enjoy it while you can kids.

Rating for Grease: ****1/4.