Grease
Oftentimes, the best movie musicals are the ones where the storyline means absolutely NOTHING and is continuously secondary to the songs themselves and the energy displayed with the dancing and big numbers, so it is little surprise that this much revered 1978 release falls right into that category. It also remains the highest grossing musical of all time, reigning supreme as the number one movie in the year it was released which was fueled no doubt by the momentum of John Travolta’s career trajectory coming right off his breakthrough smash hit Saturday Night Fever. Certainly there are some pretty major flaws with the movie including rampant miscasting of most of the major characters with actors that are simply and obviously way too old to even be on the set most notably with 33 year old Stockard Channing playing an 18 year old high school senior, but the sheer, overwhelming popularity of the film was enough to keep director Randall Kleiser working long after he had dabbled in mainstream kiddie porn with The Blue Lagoon in 1980 even as nothing he ever did afterwards would be remembered as much as this film. It is true that the story is hardly any great shakes: A teenage couple meet and have a romance during the summer only to unexpectedly meet up at the same high school come the fall before fighting and breaking up and finally getting back together again for the happy ending. Changes were drastically made from the Broadway stage version (the original intent was to have all the players get an equal amount of focus and in some cases their own solo songs) but nothing as blatantly disrespectful as Travolta using his newfound clout to push co star Jeff Conaway (as Kenickie) out of the way and not only commandeer Kenickie’s big musical number (Greased Lightning) for himself but to have the story rewritten where his Danny Zuko takes part in the big drag race against Kenickie’s rival Craterface (Dennis Stewart, who later died of AIDS) when the original plotline had always called for Kenickie to play that role, instead rendering Kenickie to being knocked stupid prior to the race itself (in an incredibly contrived moment) so that Travolta as Zuko can be the big hero which he was never meant to be. Conaway would complain about this development for the rest of his life (dying at age 60 in 2011) and his complaints were entirely justified being that the Kenickie character as written was ALWAYS supposed to be of an equal stature to Zuko and not just another lapdog type like the other T-Birds. And on that note, the casting of the other three T-Birds results not just in three overage guys playing members of a teenage high school gang, but also in giving us three VERY unfunny “comic relief” characters who take things just a little bit too far in that department with their forced schtick and (unlike Conaway) are not really all that likable to begin with. Fortunately, things are quite a bit better on the female side of things when it comes to the ostensible Pink Ladies, with Channing as Rizzo at least living up to her reputation as being a consummate performer (unlike the horrific stunt casting of Rosie O’Donnell in the part during a later stage revival version), the hyperactive chipmunk girl Jan (Jamie Donnelly) getting one bit that is so random and bizarre that it borders on surreal, Didi Conn hitting all of the right notes when it comes to being sweet and ditsy as Frenchie and Dinah Manoff bringing an underrated sex appeal (despite having zero ability to sing and dance which is why she’s noticeably kept offscreen during the big musical moments) to the role of Marty a.k.a. the girl who seems to be attracted to all of the older guys. And on that note, with this film being the peak of the 1970s’ “nostalgia” movement (i.e. a love for all things related to the 50s), the filmmakers managed to dig up several still living (at that time) relics of that decade in order to cast them in the adult roles of Rydell High’s faculty members (bearing in mind that no parents are ever shown onscreen being portrayed as actual characters) including Eve Arden as The Principal, Sid Caesar (Your Show Of Shows) as the haggard old football coach with perpetually losing teams, Joan Blondell as a tired old waitress even as the real actress would die in real life shortly after in 1979, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes as an ultra sleazy TV dance show host and best of all Frankie Avalon as the legendary Teen Angel, imploring Conn’s Frenchie to go back to high school instead of being a beauty school dropout (although the rumor is that Elvis Presley was actually offered the part and turned it down being that he was still alive at the time). Then of course, there is the recently passed Olivia Newton-John as Sandy, the virginal apple of Danny Zuko’s eye and already established as a successful recording artist which made her perfect for the role even though her being Australian required some rewriting of her character’s backstory (the original Sandy from the play was conceived as being a Polish American girl). However, she is CLEARLY the most talented performer in the film even as Hopelessly Devoted To You had to be composed specifically for her so that she wouldn’t be stuck doing little else but duets and singalongs with the rest of the cast even while Travolta and his insanely off the charts charisma takes charge during the other key points in the film. Is this whole thing a lot of fun and charming as hell? Well, yes it is and even as the powers that be tried and failed to recapture that magic with a Grease 2 (introducing the world to Michelle Pfeiffer at least), this one remains a high water point in cinema history not just for musicals, but also for so called “chick flicks”, continuing to remain at or near the top of the lists of favorite films for women everywhere (and always guaranteed to sell tickets and draw a crowd when a new version is being done onstage) with the rousing final number helping to bring everything together even with the shorting of Conaway’s participation and the wrong age range for much of the casting…
8/10