Grease Was The Word Then

Rating: 7/10 (25 September 2009)

Grease followed Saturday Night Fever as one of the films of the seventies that contained a soundtrack specifically orchestrated to sell records and the movie of course. Some songs were dropped and added/changed in order to capitalize on the use of Olivia Newton-John, who was hot stuff at the time. John Travolta, who was becoming a star in Saturday Night Fever, was cast as her counterpart in this ode to 1950's nostalgia. They have a summer romance, recapitulated in the song "Summer Nights". Eventually they bump in to each other at Rydell (reference to idol Bobby) High School. Here the typical teenage romance is played out while the lead characters are surrounded by a strong supporting cast, especially Stockard Channing as Rizzo and Didi Conn as Frenchy. Along the way, the cast is peppered with several faces from the past, including Sha Na Na as the musical group in the gym, Frankie Avalon as the teen angel (yikes!), Eve Arden as Principal McGee, Sid Caesar as Coach Calhoun, Edd Byrnes as the perverted Vince Fontaine, and old stalwart Joan Blondell as the diner's waitress Vi.
The film is an odd blend of 1950's nostalgia and 1970's production values, a clash between the squeaky clean era it depicts and the racy touches placed on it by the era it was made in. The slick production numbers make the film seem much better than it really is. The Oscar-nominated ballad "Hopelessly Devoted To You" was a huge hit but seems out of place a bit with its arrangement for the era, just like the disco-flavored title song by Frankie Avalon. All of this aside, the film is an incredibly shallow depiction of teenagers and comes off as very campy (due to the advanced ages of the cast members playing teenagers), silly, and superficial. "You're The One That I Want" is one of those songs from the film that radio beat to death to the point where you ran from any room when it came on. It was a summer of 1978 meg-a-hit after repeat viewings were in vogue the year before with Star Wars. The undeniable energy of the film makes it endure nevertheless, despite it's simplistic views and misguided message. *** of 4 stars.