# Grease (1978)

### reviewed by
Jamie Peck

GREASE Reviewed by Jamie Peck

Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****) Paramount / 1:50 / 1978 / PG (language, innuendo, brief nudity) Cast: John Travolta; Olivia Newton-John; Stockard Channing; Jeff Conaway; Barry Pearl; Michael Tucci; Kelly Ward; Didi Conn; Jamie Donnelly; Dinah Manoff; Eve Arden; Sid Caesar; Frankie Avalon; Joan Blondell; Edd Byrnes; Alice Ghostley Director: Randal Kleiser Screenplay: Allan Carr; Bronte Woodward

Those print and television ads trumpeting that "'Grease' is still the word" are right on the money. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, this quintessential movie musical is getting the royal treatment reserved for classics like "Star Wars" -- a well-deserved, red-carpet rerelease. That's fantastic, especially when considering of all the classic characters and scenes the film has served up -- who can forget aspiring beautician Frenchie (Didi Conn) being serenaded by her tell-it-like-it-is guardian angel (Frankie Avalon)? Or the hard-nosed principal (Eve Arden) reminding the student body to "be an athletic supporter" by rooting for the home team? Or National Bandstand emcee Vince Fontaine (Edd Byrnes) flirting with Marty (a pre-"Empty Nest" Dinah Manhoff)? And these are all probably considered minor moments ...

A very skinny John Travolta and a very young Olivia Newton-John have the respective leads of Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson, and their pairing still ranks as one of screendom's most effervescently charming. For those eight of you who aren't familiar with the story, here's a brief recap: Greaser bad boy Danny and Aussie good girl Sandy are reunited for their 1959 senior year at Rydell High after a brief fling during the summer; both thought she was going to return to her native continent before school started, but both were wrong. Sandy tries to rekindle their relationship, but Danny's too cool a cat to fall for her wholesome appeal in front of his T-Bird buddies (including Jeff Conaway). So Sandy hooks up with a gang herself -- the Pink Ladies, headed by sassy, sexy Rizzo (Stockard Channing, just superb as an independent woman well ahead of her time) -- and Danny, who still really feels love for her, attempts a compromise of ideals in order to win her back.

The drag race finale is yet something of a drag, and I never have thought much of "Greased Lightening," the film's big "guy" number (that choreography -- ack!), but "Grease"'s flaws amount too few to carp. The movie's first showpiece is "Summer Nights," where Danny and Sandy separately recount wildly different versions of their fun-in-the-sun romance. Not only is "Nights" tremendously catchy, but it's also a smart look at how men and women see the same events with varying eyes. There has yet to be a live-action musical sequence that rivals the one-two punch of "You're the One That I Want" and "We Go Together," "Grease"'s euphoric cappers. All this and some of the most pleasing moments come from the smaller, quieter moments; the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You" is a lovely showcase for Newton-John, and Channing's lamenting ballad "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" is one of "Grease"'s most unjustly overlooked tunes.

The soundtrack is remastered (though Travolta still hits that awful high note at the end of "Nights") and the restored widescreen allows us to see previously pan-and-scanned-out choreography, but nothing else has changed -- no computer-generated backgrounds, no outtakes or new musical numbers, no Jabba the Hutt cameos. And it's a testament to "Grease"'s timeless success that nothing needs to be changed -- it's the same all-around blast it's always been, with an appealing cast in a fun story told with great music. To '90s viewers, "Grease" will probably recall disco and bellbottoms as much as it made its original audience nostalgic for doo-wop and poodle skirts. But regardless of what decade it transports us to, we can all agree on one thing -- without a doubt, "Grease" is still the word.

© 1998 Jamie Peck E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/ "Suggestions, please, for the fourth movie in the series. How about ‘Look Who's Talking Back,' in which the audience gets its turn?" -- Roger Ebert on "Look Who's Talking Now"

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews