[yasr_overall_rating]
Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they’re now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?
“Grease” is a movie I grew up with back in the late ’70s and throughout most of the ’80s. One of the aspects that always intrigued me, was American high school. Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, school there, for the most part, was boring, at least compared to our American counterparts. You didn’t have to wear stuffy uniforms and take the bus or train to school, you drove with your friends and could wear jeans and tee shirts so watching American movies and TV shows regarding high school and college was always fascinating to me. Now, as a movie critic, the one genre I simply cannot get into, is the musical. I find it almost impossible to be watching a film and in the middle of a conversation, the characters suddenly jump up and burst into song, it completely takes me out of the story. Animated films can get away with it because, well, they’re animation, and you can pretty much get away with anything in a cartoon but for live-action movies, for me, it just doesn’t work. That one exception, however, is “Grease,” and to a degree, its inferior sequel, “Grease 2,” mostly a trainwreck but a few inspiring moments. “Grease” captured lightning in a bottle and it came along at the exact right time. The songs, the characters, the settings, everything worked perfectly, and that is still true forty years later.
The story takes place in 1958 at the beginning of a new school year at Rydell High. Danny (John Travolta) is the leader of the T-Birds along with his best friend Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) as well as Doody, Sonny, and Putzie (Barry Pearl, Barry Pearl, and Kelly Ward). The Pink Ladies are led by Rizzo (Stockard Channing) and her best friend Marty (Dinah Manoff) and two of their close friends Frenchie and Jan (Didi Conn and Jamie Donnelly). Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) has just moved to the U.S. from Australia and befriends Frenchie. She starts hanging out with the Pink Ladies, who consider her too pure and innocent to be a part of their clique. At a pep rally one night, Rizzo introduces Sandy to Danny, and we discover that they both hooked up during the summer, under the impression that Sandy was moving back to Australia with her parents. Naturally, they decided to stay and unaware of each other at school, Danny, who was loving and compassionate during the summer months with her, suddenly changes personas to that of a cool, laid-back greaser, showing off in front of his friends, and upsetting Sandy in the process. She storms off and Danny immediately regrets his actions.
Later, Danny and Sandy get back together again, then break up, get back together once more, and then break up again. Woe is high school. We also see Kenickie and Rizzo hook up as well as the remainder of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies. When Rydell High is chosen as the finalist for a big dance-off, which will be televised live, the whole school turns up and is asked by its principal, Ms. McGee (Greta McGee), to be on their best behavior. Naturally, that does not happen but it does not stop the students and faculty from having a blast. When Leo Balmudo (Dennis C. Stewart), the leader of the T-Birds’ rival gang, the Scorpions, challenges Kenickie and his new car to a race, Kenickie accepts but on the day of the race, he is accidentally knocked out and Danny must take his place. The film culminates with Danny winning and the end of the school year coming to a close, in which everyone reunites and lives happily ever after!
The movie is filled with typical teen angst, high school love, sex, pregnancy, breakups, backstabbing, and that’s just the beginning. Compared to today’s content in TV shows and movies, “Grease” pales in comparison but in watching it again for the first time in years, it struck me just how risqué the film was for its time. Watching this as a kid and teenager back home all those years ago, a lot of the subject matter went right over my head but in watching it again from an adult perspective, it made me see it in a whole new light. One of the movie’s most well-known songs, “Summer Nights,” contained so many sexual references, I wondered why I never made the connection before, even as a teenager. Maybe I was having too much fun with the catchy tunes and melodies but throughout the entire movie, there are obvious upfront references as well as many connotations and insinuations. Watching it with my 11-year-old nephew Martin, most of them seemed to go right over his head, just like they did with me when I was his age but of course, when someone said the word “horny,” he asked me what it meant. I told him it was when two people “like” each other, and he seemed satisfied with that. I just hope when my friends from Ireland come over this summer and bring their 8-year-old daughter with them, whom he has a crush on, that he doesn’t remember that word, otherwise, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do.
“Grease” is one of those rare, guilty pleasures where everything works. From the casting, direction, and cinematography, to the musical numbers and costume design, everything about the film is absolutely perfect. There are generations out there who know John Travolta from different decades and various movies like “Look Who’s Talking,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Swordfish,” and “The Taking of Pelham 123,” but if you are a fan, I urge you to go back in time, to when Travolta was first starting out, and take a look at “Grease,” it might just become your favorite Travolta film of all time.
Available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD April 24th
