Grease (1978) Reviews

• Grease Will Always Be The Word...

  Theater_Princess192005-05-31

  How do I start? I love this film! It has a great plot line and incredible music. It is a fun musical that makes you want to get up and dance. Grease is the story of Danny Zucko and Sandy Olsen (or Dumbruski) two high school seniors who fall in love over the summer. They have a wonderful summer together and are sad to see it end. The first day of school arrives and little does Danny know him and Sandy would soon be reunited. But Sandy is shocked to find the nice guy she meet at the beach is the leader of a greaser gang called 'The T'birds' Meanwhile Sandy is trying to fit in with her new "friends" the T'birds female counterparts The Pink Ladies. Will Sandy and Danny ever be together again? Along with this plot comes song that will be stuck in your head for centuries. Such songs include Summer Nights, Beauty School Dropout and the now famous song Greased Lightining. Grease is a timeless classic that will have you singing and dancing by the end of the movie.

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• 'It's Still the Word'

  ks_archer2004-05-05

  Sandy and Danny, their names alone mean nothing, together they represent the film we all know and love that brought us 'Summer Nights' and 'Greased Lightnin'. Grease is an infamous musical-play turned film, adapted and produced by Allan Carr, chartering the summertastic rock 'n' roll of the 1950s, centring on the highs and lows of a group of teenagers at high-school, Rydell High. The film begins with two people having a summer romance, Sandy (Newton-John) an uptight, naïve, nerdy Australian girl and Danny (Travolta), a 'jack-the-lad' 'T' bird. After the opening credits which are amusing cartoons of the main characters we see the two well known groups of teenagers, the Pink Ladies and the 'T' Birds going back to school after summer vacation. The rest of the film centres mostly on the relationship of Sandy and Danny, the problems they face, and the ups and downs of their high school chums. The main characters and the unusual pairing of Sandy and Danny makes for comfortable viewing. My favourite part of the film is the music, this film has such a brilliant soundtrack. If you have the chance to watch the film on DVD you get the added bonus of a songbook. However with a musical film you do find some parts unrealistic when they sing, why would a group of lads sing Summer Nights for example? Yet that aside the songs, mostly corny love songs are addictive and easy to pick up unfortunately will be in your head all day. Grease may not have had a lavish budget like films made today, but this 1978 film directed by Randal Kleiser still manages to have great audience appeal. Its' scenes and costumes are basic and probably didn't break the bank to produce but this all adds to the realism of the film. I like the film and could watch it over and over again. Newton-John's debut performance is excellent but her character Sandy is too 2D and has no depth. Travolta's performance is to perfection and this film benchmarked his film career. Danny is 3D, he can be loving, self obsessed, a saviour and a winner, whereas Sandy to me is just a bore. All characters bring something different to the film making it a success. Rizzo is the hard nosed cow, bitchy about Sandy, possibly jealous, who seeks revenge on her boyfriend by going out with his arch enemy. There is also Marcy who loves the men and has lots of boyfriends, and Frenchy who becomes Sandy's best friend who is caring. This uplifting, audience grabbing film may be slightly cheesy but there is just so much to love about it, especially the soundtrack and dance moves! This gives it longevity making it such a great film that could be the best musical ever made. This classic film deserves a 5/5 just for being groovy! But I just can't stop thinking why is it called Grease?!

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• The Moral Corruption of Sandy

  CalvinValjean2007-03-28

  Grease definitely has a fun energy to it, and all of the cast has great chemistry. That's the main reason that this film, despite being nearly 30 years old and set 20 years earlier than that, still manages to appeal to young people of today who laugh and have fun with it, and of course, sing those timeless songs. So hats off to Grease for that. Now that being said: the movie is incredibly stupid! It's basically a 90 minute episode of Happy Days or Saved By the Bell in which we follow various plot lines in a high school, strung together by the fun songs. We're treated to such stupid dialog as: "This year, I don't take no crap from nobody." "Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." "Hey, it's Eugene!" In one plot line, Frenchy (who's a memorable character but dumber than a bag of nails) becomes a beauty school drop out. However, aside from being an excuse for Frankie Avalon to sing that song, the plot line goes nowhere and she still magically graduates high school along side everyone else. Who knew it was so easy to drop out and get back in? But then there's the main plot line: two youths named Danny and Sandy fall in love one summer, which is just fine in the real world, but once back in high school, they realize they're in different social cliques; he's a greaser and she's a goody-goody. Throughout the school year their relationship takes several turns, before arriving at an absurd ending in which all problems are magically solved by Sandy getting a makeover and becoming "cool." The message here is so superficial that it's actually funny: "Give in to peer pressure and be whatever kind of person you need to be to make your boyfriend or girlfriend happy." Considering Sandy has been celibate through all of the movie till now, I think it's implied Danny will get a nice surprise that night; a message to give to young girls, ha ha. So, to wrap up this little review, Grease certainly has its moments, and IS a well-made movie musical, or else it wouldn't have the audience it does. It's a feel-good movie; it just has zero substance.

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• This movie is the best..... a true classic

  lysraypec092005-06-26

  Since I am still just a teen, I know that many others might say I am not one to criticize a movie, and in most cases I might disagree, but with this movie... what is there to criticize? The atmosphere of the movie, the charisma of the actors, the addiction to the awesome songs in it, even the what could have been outdated costumes instantly became a Halloween fave... I myself dressed up as "new" Sandy when I was little... and I still wish I could have been in the movie. I admit, the sequel to it seemed horrible to me after watching the original, and I wished they had kept all of the original actors, and well, not tried to even make the sequel, but, well a movie like that can only be made once I suppose. Anyways, I just want to give my props and admiration to all of the directors, actors, and others who helped with this movie, (being an ITS member myself and LOVING acting) I think that anyone who has not seen this movie needs to go right to the store and find it.... otherwise they really missed out. :)Thanks for reading this, hope you agree!

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• One of the best musicals brought to the big screen.

  uhmyeahhbrooke2007-07-21

  Although it is old, Grease is still loved and watching by adults and children alike. Once you watch Grease you just want to get up and dance! Grease is the story of bad-boy Danny and good-girl Sandy meeting each other over summer break then happen to returning to the same school. There's a great mix of kids, they all are very different and have one thing that separates them very much from each other. There's a great mix of songs too; slow and very fast. Also, the dancing is amazing. The end also blows your mind and just makes you so astonished, but in such a good way. The up-beat fun never stops and makes you want to watch the movie again and again. Grease is a definite must see for everyone!

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