Reviews of Grease

Best musical of 1970s and best family musical.

Posted : 11 months, 2 weeks ago on 29 November 2008 09:57 (A review of Grease)

"We have pictures of you so-called mooners. And just because the pictures aren't of your faces doesn't mean we can't identify you. At this very moment those pictures are on their way to Washington where the FBI has experts in this type of identification. If you turn yourselves in now, you may escape a Federal charge."

Directed by: Randal Kleiser

Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl

Genre: Comedy/Family/Musical/Romance

Running time: 110 minutes



My review:

Danny Zuko, leader of the greaser gang "T-Birds" of Rydell High, falls in love with a goody two shoes girl named Sandy Olsen over the summer. They thought she'd be leaving and never see each other again, but to their luck...she begins to attend Rydell High. She is immediately accepted into the group "Pink Ladies" and shortly Danny and her re-meet. Danny has seemed to have changed but in the hopes of winning Sandy back, he changes into the loving, jock Danny Zuko that Sandy met during the summer permanently.

This film is just so beautiful because of the absolutely fantastic songs and well written lyrics and the adorable characters aswell. All of the songs are a complete delight to watch and listen to. My favourite song is Greased Lightning which is sung by John Travolta in the car garage while they fantasize how the T-Birds car is going to come out like. This film was really emotional and was very heartbreaking but the musical genre made it even more of an emotional story because there are some songs that are sung about a particular character. It wasn't just Sandy and Dannys love that was in the air but the 4 other Pink Ladies women and T-Birds men were falling in love. Kenickie with Rizzo, Marty with Sonny (didnt fancy him at first until they eventually got together), Doody with Frenchy and Putzie with Jan. This film made me feel good because I think there wasnt anything seriously wrong with it at all. Not just the music in the songs were beautiful but the music in the scenes were just absolutely brilliant.

John Travoltas performance as Danny Zuko was really good. John Travolta was like a real heart throb in the 1970s. Not only in Grease but also in Saturday Night Fever. John looked like a real greaser in this film who only wants women for sex but he also seems like a nice man with a charming attitude inside him. I could easily feel his lust for Sandy and how much he loved her and how cool he wanted to act in front of his friends. His performance is the best of the film. I think Olivia Newton-John delivers an average performance as good girl geek Sandy Olsen. I thought Olivia had the looks for Sandy and she certainly is a great singer but I couldnt quite feel the chemistry and love for Danny that much which is the main reason why I think she was quite poor in this film. It was mostly how she appeared rather how she played the character. Stockard Channing delivers an awesome performance as Rizzo. Rizzo seems like a real nasty tart but she falls for mens charms really easily. Rizzo is one of those women that has really short curly hair but is a really charming and gorgeous one too which makes Stockard Channing a really excellent choice for Rizzo. Stockard looked like a real gang leader of the Pink Ladies. She acts a bit like an alcoholic aswell as a strong heavy smoker. But Stockard makes Rizzo a really vile bully in other ways too by pressurising Sandy to try some very strong wine and also to try a cigarette too and because she doesnt want to do it she mocks Sandy by singing about her and being sarcastic about who she is. I really liked Jeff Conaway as Kenickie too because he seemed like a real greaser aswell as a real charmer like John Travolta. I could tell of this because Rizzo fell for his charms almost instantly when they saw each other outside a house. Jeff seemed like the leader of the T-Birds at first because he was the biggest and toughest man of all 5 of them but Danny is the real charming one so that sort of makes him the leader of the T-Birds.The direction was really good in all of the songs and were just so cool which is why Greased Lightning is my favourite song from the whole film. I love Summer Lovin too. I really liked the script an awful lot but there were a few light flaws that some of the scenes should have been cut a slight bit. For example, the scene when Danny was in the café and he approached Sandy and was talking to her about what he did to her and then she changed the subject. As far as I am concerned, that line when Sandy changed the subject was a bit pointless. This film made it very different to other musicals because it is set in a high school and is like a teenage musical and also a typical family musical which is what most musicals are: family films. But it is a teen musical classic.

I personally think that musicals like High School Musical try and spoof off Grease but certainly failed miserably. I found the chemistry between Danny and Sandy very strong because they obviously love each other but both fear to admit it to each other because of what everyone else might think. But I didnt feel a very strong chemistry between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy. I could feel it mostly in the songs rather than the actual talking scenes together. I liked Rizzo and Kenickies relationship too because they both seem like they cant resist each other but have a little rivalry and both have very short fuses and will shout at people very easily which makes their relationship obviously personal but quite funny aswell. I really liked Rizzos with Sandy too because I know that they dont really like each other but both do in the end try and help each other which makes it a beautiful relationship in the end. There are twists and turns with Danny and Sandys relationship like their reunion and until one makes a move and the other rejects and there are other numurous twists. There are quite a lot of twists actually but not going to say. This film had quite a bit of sex references but there was only one sex scene and that was Rizzo and Kenickie inside the car and they make out. I thought that there were some words that were a bit too crude for a family film and for little kids.

This film had outstanding sound. I really liked the costume design. It was mostly because they were all general clothing not over the top random clothes. This film was an Academy Award nominee of Best Song (Hopelessly Devoted To You) which was sung by Olivia Newton-John. The nomination should have gone to either Summer Lovin or Youre The One That I Want.

This is John Travoltas second best film after obviously Pulp Fiction. The only mild thing that disappointed me about this film was the quite weak performance from Olivia Newton-John. Apart from that little flaw, Grease is the best musical of the 1970s and for me after Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Grease is the best musical of all time.

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Tell me more!

Posted : 1 year ago on 12 October 2008 08:29 (A review of Grease)

This couple is so high school. All the singing and dancing. All the kissing and whining. Summer lovin' happened so fast!

Danny Zuko ♥ Sandy Olsson


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Classic

Posted : 2 years, 1 month ago on 20 September 2007 03:56 (A review of Grease)

I saw it!! Yess... now im not the only person in the world that hasn't... And yeah, it was pretty cool. Its a classic and definetly one of the best musicals ever.. though i can admit there were a few lame bits =S Oh, and 'You're the one that I want' was the best part!

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Grease review

Posted : 2 years, 5 months ago on 9 June 2007 01:54 (A review of Grease)

I just watched Grease for the first time. It may seem a bit odd that I hadn't seen it before now, but I have never really sought it out and it was just there on TV today. I've come across the songs in many, many places before and frankly I thought they were too annoying. Now, onto the actual review..

What the heck?! I really wonder why this is such a popular film. Bad music, bad dancing, "teenagers" played by people close to thirty, a crap storyline, and filled with really cheesily classic American "culture". It seems to have a message of "change the way you are to get people to love you" which frankly comes across quite silly. It's at the top of plenty of "best musical" lists and I have to say that there are plenty of better ones.

I'm glad I got watching that out of the way. Never again...

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