RYDELL HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS OF 1959

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2001)

In 1959 I was 17 years old and a junior in High School. How do you cast actors to play 18-year-old high school seniors about to graduate? You don't look for actual high school seniors - that's how! Because, the industry would not have such acting talent available with the experiences of singing, dancing, and acting to make this film.
Solution? You cast, 34 year old Stockard Channing, 30 year old Olivia Newton-John, 31 year old Annette Charles, 28 year old's Jeff Conaway and Michael Tucci, 27 year old's Didi Conn and Susan Buchner, 24 year old John Travolta, 22 year old Kelly Ward, 21 year old Eddie Deezen, and 20 year old Dinah Manoff to play the roles of high school seniors. Believable? YES.

You can get away with the 45 year old Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine and the 38-year-old Frankie Avalon as the teen idol. Joan Blondell was a 72-year-old waitress! Eve Arden was a 70-year-old principal? Dody Goodman was 63 and still a school secretary. Sid Caesar was 56 and still coaching? Alice Ghostley was a 52-year-old auto shop teacher?
No kudos to TBS who broadcast an edited version on 12/26/01 eliminating some of the great sophomoric comedy scenes from the film. An example is Sid Caesar's "admonition" to the senior class at the gym before the dance was to be televised. The comedy was that he "laid down the rules" and the students in student fashion broke them during the dance contest. But, this scene was not shown. Edd Byrnes scene trying to "put the make" on Marty Maraschino was also cut as well as some of the attempts by Sid Caesar to find a sport that John Travolta could "letter" in. High school comedy is replete with "innocent sexual innuendoes." Such is a transition from juvenile to being an adult -- which is what high school is all about, anyway! Don't eliminate them for the sake of a "G" rating. Just show Grease after the kiddies go to bed!
Now, although the entire cast garners praise for this movie performance back in 1978, the real show stopper is Stockard Channing. Without her Betty Rizzo character as a subplot there would be major weakness in this screenplay. Ms. Channing's performance is the strongest acting of all the "student" players. She brought to the role the struggles of typical high school students who don't always fit into the peppy, socialite, "Patty Simcox" roles where everything is provided to spoil the student; where her daddy doesn't buy her a fancy car; where her clothes are functional and not typical "coming out" wear. But, Stockard Channing makes this role believable. She is sympathetic to understanding her character. She is a decent person trying to find her identity on the brink of adulthood. She is searching for a good love relationship and absorbs the heat thrown her way by fellow female students who are "boy teasers." Rizzo is real. Ms. Channing's rendition of the song, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" solidifies her character in song. Without that song there would have been a terrible "gap" in this film. Ms. Channing "carried" all her scenes and deserves the ultimate praise for helping to make "Grease" the hit movie that it is! When you watch Grease again, make sure you catch an unedited version to fully appreciate it!
If a cable station is going to play "marathon" movies back to back then there is no reason to make them fit into a neat time slot. Fit the commercials in, if one must, but let the movies run full time! Cutting films is not the act of "preserving" good quality motion pictures for future generations!
Once again, the highest accolades to Stockard Channing. She will always be remembered for her Rizzo role in Grease! Well done, Ms. Channing.
When I was a senior you were a sophomore... hummmmm!