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It’s been years since I last sat down to watch the movie musical Grease—mostly because of an old college roommate, who loved the movie so much that she made me watch it over and over again, until I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Now that it’s been released on Blu-ray, though, I decided to give it another chance—and I found that the old saying is true: absence does make the heart grow fonder.
For Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), it all began with an idyllic 1950s summer romance. But at the end of their dreamy summer, they’re forced to go their separate ways…or maybe not.
Danny heads back to school at Rydell High, where he’s the leader of the T-Birds, a leather-clad gang of greasers. Little does he know, though, that Sandy’s plans have changed—and now she, too, is a student at Rydell. And on her first day at her new school, she’s taken in by the Pink Ladies—the T-Birds’ female counterparts—who reintroduce her to her summer love at the school’s pep rally.
Sweet, innocent cheerleader Sandy soon finds that the T-Bird Danny is nothing like the guy she met on the beach. Falling for a girl like Sandy would destroy his image—so he tries to play it cool. But when it looks like he might lose her forever, he decides to find a way to prove his love.
Filled with singing, dancing, and innuendo, Grease is teenage hormones put to ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll music. It’s a story of love, peer pressure, hot rods, and the never-ending quest to get to second base. It may be set in the ‘50s, but it’s a story that just about everyone can relate to—the highs, the lows, and the pressures of being in high school.
Though the songs are sometimes excessively saccharine (Oscar nomination or not, I still roll my eyes whenever I hear “Hopelessly Devoted to You”), many of them are the kind of catchy, bubbly, singalong-worthy songs that you just can’t get out of your head, no matter how hard you try. And most of the musical numbers are just plain fun (my personal favorite: Frankie Avalon’s “Beauty School Dropout”).
And while most of the cast is quite clearly way too old to be playing teenagers (Stockard Channing was 34 when she played high school senior Rizzo), these overgrown high schoolers make the classic that it’s become. From Jeff Conaway as Kenickie to Didi Conn as Frenchy—and, of course, Travolta and Newton-John (who’s lovably sweet and naïve as Sandy)—the film is strangely but perfectly cast.
So it may be cheesy—and a little bit sappy—but if you’re in the mood for a lighthearted musical blast from the past, Grease is the word.
