"Grease" (USA, 1978) A Film Review by James Kendrick
Director: Randall Kleiser Screenplay: Bronte Woodard and Allan Carr (adapted by Carr from the musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Case) Stars: John Travolta (Danny), Olivia Newton-John (Sandy), Stockard Channing (Rizzo), Jeff Conaway (Kenickie), Didi Conn (Frenchy), Eve Arden (Principal McGee) MPAA Rating: PG Review: *** (out of ****)
After the phenomenal success of the re-release of "Star Wars" last year, the fifties'-style musical "Grease" seems like a logical flick to bring back to theaters. Not only was it an enormous hit back in 1978, but like "Star Wars," an entire generation of kids have grown up with it on video, but have never seen it on the big screen. Not to mention, John Travolta is even hotter now than he was in '78, the public is hungry for seventies' memorabilia, and the music is still an ageless trip. The soundtrack continues to sell well after twenty years, and a year ago the "Grease Megamix" (a souped-up re-mix of bits and pieces of all the hit songs) was one of the most requested tunes on pop stations around the country.
So now "Grease" is back on the silver screen, and watching it again feels like going to a class reunion. Seeing Travolta back in his early twenties, with a lean body and greasy black ducktail makes it all the more amusing to drop next door and see him playing a gray, overweight Clinton clone in "Primary Colors." In both movies he radiates off the screen like a true movie star, but in "Grease" it's a more primal, teen-angst kind of stardom, like the kind Leonardo DiCaprio is currently enjoying. And, like DiCaprio, Travolta was not only desired for his physical attributes, but also for his talent -- he rode into "Grease" on the critical and commercial success of "Saturday Night Fever," for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
In viewing "Grease" today, we are effectively in the late nineties watching a film that was made in the late seventies reminiscing about the late fifties. When "Grease" was made, there was a strong nostalgic feel for the innocence and joviality of the late fifties; as the turbulent seventies were coming to a close, with the emphasis on Vietnam, Watergate, racial tension, and general unpleasantness, it was a nice returning to a time when black leather, fast cars, and necking in back seats were harmless means of being bad. Movies at the time were gritty, urban tales of corruption and moral ambiguity, and "Grease" made itself out to be the absolute antithesis.
Of course, the fifties portrayed in "Grease" is a time period that never really existed. It's more a whimsical version of how we think it was -- filled with shiny hot rods, black leather jackets, hip diners, clueless principals, and gangs with names like the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies. Everything is simplified down to its barest essentials, and that what's so nice about the movie. It doesn't demand much of anything from the audience, other than they check their problems at the door and have a good time. The story about the good greaser Danny (Travolta), and his love for the squeaky-clean new girl in town, Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), is a kind of ageless high school myth.
"Grease" would probably never get made today (musicals are pretty much dead, even when they're starring Madonna). Based on the hit Broadway show by Jim Jacobs and Warren Case, "Grease" is imaginatively campy, kind of goofy, but always energetic and fun. The music, ranging from the disco-inspired opening song by Frankie Valli, to the infamous "Greased Lightning" with all its automobile-inspired sexual innuendo, was hot stuff then and still is now.
The songs, brought to life by the lively performances by Travolta and Co. and the fantastic choreography by Patricia Birch, have a campy, timeless quality that always makes you want to sing along with them, no matter how cheesy (how can you not at least tap your feet to "Summer Nights" or "You're the One That I Want"?). In fact, the musical sequences will be the most eye-opening to those who have never seen "Grease" on the big screen before. Those poor souls who have been stuck with lousy pan-and-scan copies on video will be amazed seeing it in widescreen for the first time, which finally allows full viewing of Birch's dance numbers.
Probably the only let-down of "Grease" is how little it did for its performers. It's easy to assume that a hit like this would be a launching pad for its twenty-something actors and actresses, but in fact, almost none of them went on to meaningful film careers. Jeff Conaway, who was so good in the role of Danny's best friend Kenickie, went nowhere. Didi Conn, who played the unforgettable Frenchy, didn't even get that far (she was desperate enough to show up in "Grease 2"). Even Stockard Channing -- whose performance as Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies, gives "Grease" the closest thing it has to real drama -- had a mostly uneventful movie career until she resurfaced in the early nineties with her Oscar-nominated role in "Six Degrees of Separation."
And what of the leads? How did Olivia Newton-John's career take off? Does "Xanadu" ring a bell? And even Travolta, whose career seemed infallible at the time, made one good film ("Blowout"), one okay film ("Urban Cowboy") and two really bad films ("Staying Alive" and "Two of a Kind") before sinking into a fifteen-year rut until 1994's "Pulp Fiction" set him free.
Nevertheless, "Grease" was a huge success for its time because it bucked the trends and gave moviegoers something they hadn't seen in a long time. Upbeat, funny, occasionally witty, and always enjoyable, "Grease" is no great piece of art, but with its complete lack of pretension, it is about as fun a movie experience as you can get, even with inflated ticket prices.
©1998 James Kendrick
Visit "Charlie Don't Surf!" an eclectic collection of film reviews by James Kendrick http://www.bigfoot.com/~jimkendrick E-mail: jimkendrick@bigfoot.com
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