''Grease'' (1978 movie)- Review

Directed by: Randal Kleiser
Released: 1978
Country: United States

Genres: Musical, Romantic drama

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review

Grease stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the lead roles. Danny (Travolta) and Sandra (Newton-John) meet when they are both spending their summer in a beach. They fall in love, and when summer ends, Sandra has to go back to Australia, but they promise to remain friends.

This is followed by the credits, which are shown with an animated background, which is quite well-made. After the credits, the story shifts to the Rydall High School. Danny is a student there, quite the ''popular guy''. We come to guess from the conversations between Danny and his friends that he has had several girls in his life before, but we also come to know that Danny had sincerely fallen in love with Sandra, and wishes to meet her someday again.

On the other hand, Sandra has also started school at Rydall High. She becomes friends with the girls belonging to the popular ''Pink Ladies'' group. Sandra tells her new friends how she fell in love with a wonderful boy at the beach. When the girls ask her the name of the boy and she replies, the girls are amused. They know about Danny, as he is very popular in their school, and they seem to think that he can never be serious about a relationship. However, they don't tell her that Danny is a student of that very school.

That evening, the girls take Sandra to Danny. Both are extremely surprised and delighted to see each other, but when Danny starts expressing his pleasure to see Sandra, he notices his friends standing behind him, and thinks that his image might be affected if he shows before everybody that he really loves Sandra. He thinks that this will make him look ''uncool''. Danny behaves very rudely with Sandra, leading her to think that Danny is ''fake and phony'', and she angrily leaves.

Over the next few days, Danny tries to reconcile with Sandra, apologizing for his behavior, and Sandra forgives her, and they try to rekindle their relationship, but have to face a few obstacles...

The film also focuses on several supporting characters, and it has several subplots, and two major subplots are about two girls of the Pink Ladies, ''Frenchie'' and Rizzo. Frenchie dreams to be a beautician, and drops out of high school to get into a beauty school, which turns out to be a complete disaster, and she falls into a dilemma about what to do with her life. Rizzo, on the other hand, becomes the subject of whispers and criticism when a rumor spreads that she is pregnant.

I agree that the film was really very entertaining. It really was. And I felt that it was really engrossing and wonderfully presented, a lot of fun. Some of the songs were really wonderful. But the main thing that prevented me from absolutely loving this film was that it drifted away too much from the two central characters. Sure, the main focus is always on the two main characters, but, however, the depth that should have been present in their relationship doesn't seem to be present. Sure, when they are shown together, it looks really sweet, and there is some depth, indeed, and some of the songs are really deep and emotional, but however, I thought that the two lead characters should have spent more screen time together. But, however, it does portray the romance really well, and though it is not that deep, it's really sweet.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton John's performances were really memorable. Especially, Olivia Newton John is so sweet! Travolta is also excellent in his role. There are a lot of important supporting characters. Especially Stockard Channing (as Rizzo), Jeff Conaway (as Kenickie) and Didi Conn (as Frenchie) were really very memorable.

The film had a lot of funny and hilarious moments, several really sweet moments between the protagonists, and several subplots, and it was filled with really wonderful performances. Some of the songs were really memorable (for example, ''Summer Nights'', ''Hopelessly Devoted to You'' and the concluding reconciliation song), but overall I think that the film should have given more depth to the two protagonists, they should have shared more screen time together, but nevertheless, this isn't a film that one can forget in a short time, because it's really entertaining, sweet, and with a lot of wonderful performances, several wonderful songs, and quite a good screenplay. It's definitely not one of the best musical films I have seen, but it's really good and recommended!

3.5 out of 5