Grease - a great 50's parody!

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2006)

Fun, fun, fun till Daddy takes the T-Birds away! This is a great, great movie...if you take it at face value: as a musical parody. If you read the comments about this movie, people either love it for the music (or Olivia and Travlota) or hate it for the cheese. But that was the whole point of the film and the original play it is based on!
I suspect most people commenting on this haven't actually seen many of the pop movies of the 50s that this play is based on. But from the opening sequence at the beach, to the dance sequences (thank you John Travolta), to the final two "events" of the movie (Danny vs. Leo and Danny & Sandy), this has 50's pop film all over it. And that's what makes this so great. It was supposed to be a parody of 50's Hollywood and culture.
Some examples: Sandy's character is based on real-life 50's actress Sandra Dee, Travola and Kenickie are based on James Dean, the intermission clip showing on the drive-in in the background behind Danny's ballad "Stranded at the Drive In" is the actual intermission that drive-ins used up until the early 80's (which I remember seeing), the "angel" singer in the "Beauty School Dropout" is Frankie Avalon, who starred in the king of 50's cheese movies "Beach Blanket Bingo" with Annette Funicello (which is who Rizzo refers to when singing about Sandra Dee at the girls' overnighter), and the coach (Sid Caesar) is a comedian from the 50's who used to have his own radio show and eventually TV show in the early 60's.
This movie is a must see for a slice of 50's pop culture, a truly enjoyable musical, and doesn't take itself serious at all. We've had great fun introducing our kids to it (I've probably seen it several dozen times since first seeing in theatres in 1978 - front row, first night!). But enjoy it for that: music and great cheese!