A school high - Grease Reviews

Randal Kleiser's 1978 GREASE, provides us with a second look at this generation's greatest movie musical, and a curtain call for one of the best-loved cinematic genres of the 20th Century. In the spirit of the best of them, GREASE recaptures the feeling of a bygone era -- in this case, the rocking 50s -- and paints the ordinary experiences of graduating high school seniors with the imaginative colors of movie magic. The film is the screen-adaptation of a long-running Broadway musical; the story of an Australian transfer-student (Olivia Newton-John) and her chronically-cool, reluctantly-romantic beau (John Travolta), and how she gets him to "gravitate in [her] direction," even while he holds-off a rival gang's advances on his turf and ruminates over his devotion to his male buddies. Taking aside the romanticism of revisiting the last specimen of an extinct genre (musicals), GREASE stands on its own for its inventive use of camera techniques, by cinematographer Bill Butler -- who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and also worked on Jaws (both 1975) -- and for the dynamic choreography of the dance routines by Patricia Birch. The "Greased Lightning" sequence in which Travolta and his gang fantasize about a suped-up car exemplifies the vibrant cinematography of GREASE. The bleachers scene in which Travolta recalls his hot summer fling epitomizes the superb choreography. Virtually all of GREASE's songs have become cult favorites because everyone associates them either with the era that is depicted -- for those that are old enough to remember -- or, at the very least, with youthful memories associated with the original release of the movie -- for the rest of us. The cast also enhances the appeal of this film with their spirited performances, and Travolta's easy charm is especially well-captured in the two-hours of celluloid covered by the film ("Don't make me laugh; hah, hah, hah," he mocks, with Jackie Gleason-like intonation and timing) , as are Newton-John's expressive vocal performances. Although it is a stretch to believe that these twenty-something cast-members are high school students, the chemistry of the assembly of actors works. This movie is chock-full of delight, including memorable big-screen performances by icons of the era depicted, including small-screen notable Cid Caesar (of the golden-age-of-television classic, "Your Show of Shows"); and Frankie Avalon who has a cameo, and musical performance, as well (his swan song before turning to "that malt-shop in the sky"). Also endearing are various musical numbers by the once-ubiquitous rockabilly mavens, Sha-Na-Na. To find any defects in this movie, you'll have to look very hard -- the peripheral, anachronistic traffic on the riverbed race sequence, maybe? (The sequence was shot in my hometown of Huntington Park.) (Carlos Colorado)