It use to be very common for successful Broadway musicals to be turned into movies. Many of those movies were also very successful, with some of them even winning Oscars. Grease was the last movie version of a musical to be successful until Chicago was released in 2002.
Sandy Olsson, a girl from Australia, met Danny Zuko during the summer at the beach and the two had a romance. Sandy was heartbroken when summer ended because she was going to be leaving. Something ended up changing for her and Sandy ended up starting school at Rydell high school, the school where Danny went. Danny was a member of a group called the T-Birds and had a reputation around school, so he acted like a jerk to preserve that reputation when he and Sandy first met again. She was very hurt, but started to get over it when she started dating another boy. That bothered Danny and he decided that he wanted to be with her again. He even joined the track team to try to impress her.
Grease was based on the musical of the same name that debuted on Broadway in 1972. The show was popular enough to run for many years and since then there have been successful revivals that have included well known actors and actresses in some of the roles. I have never seen the original stage version, so I’m not sure what was changed for the movie version. I did read that some songs from the stage version were cut and a few others were written specifically for the movie.
The plot for Grease wasn’t complicated. It was mainly focused on the relationship between Sandy and Danny and the changes it went through once she ended up at Rydell. Only a few minutes were taken at the very beginning of the movie to show Sandy and Danny at the beach during the summer. Sandy was happy to see him again and very hurt when he acted like a jerk to keep up appearances for her friends. I was interested in how things would work out between them and I wasn’t bored by anything that happened. There were some subplots connected to other characters as well that didn’t seem as important. The most notable were connected to Frenchy dropping out to go to beauty school and a pregnancy scare that one character had.
Obviously since Grease was a musical, there was a lot of singing throughout the movie. Many different characters sang songs. There were a few bigger production type of numbers that involved most of the cast. The music was fun and upbeat for the most for the part. A few of the songs were slower and more serious, which did fit in with the mood when they turned up. I did think all the songs worked well and helped to progress the plot forward and add more development for the characters as well. Danny and Sandy probably did more singing than the other characters, but that makes sense since they were the main characters. People that don’t like musicals should avoid this movie.
Relationships played a huge part in Grease. There were a lot of sexual remarks and situations throughout the movie. One character even had a pregnancy scare. When Danny was telling his friends about his summer, he exaggerated and implied that he and Sandy had done much more than they really had. There really weren’t any actual sex scenes, but it was made very clear that some characters, like Rizzo and Kenickie, were sexually active. They were shown making out and at one point, they were just moments away from having sex. A few other couples were shown kissing or making out a little. I did read that the stage play contained even more sexual references that had to be removed from the movie to get past the censors. I was fairly young when I first saw the movie, and I didn’t get all the sexual references at that point, so it is possible that children will miss those things. Even with all the sexual content, the movie was rated PG. This really isn’t a movie for children because of the sexual content.
All of the main characters in Grease were high school students with only a few adults even being shown. Almost all of the cast was much older than the age of the characters they were playing. I didn’t pick up on that when I first saw the movie. It stands out to me now though since they clearly don’t look like high school students. Two of the characters, Marty and Tom, were actually played by people who were nineteen. Everyone else was in their twenties, or in the case of Rizzo, thirties. From what I know about the Broadway productions, the people cast in them were much older than the parts as well.
Danny and Sandy were the main characters with most of plot being connected to their relationship. Danny was a bit wild and the leader of the T-Birds, a gang of boys who liked to act tough. Danny could be nice, but he could also be a jerk if he thought it would help his image. John Travolta was already well known before playing Danny. His popularity was a big reason why he was cast in the part, and this movie just made him a bigger star. Olivia Newton John was known as a singer when she was cast as Sandy. This was her first big movie part and she did fine with the part. She and Travolta did work well together.
Kenickie was another member of the T-Birds. He was really the only other member that was developed much at all. He did seem to have some authority in the group. Jeff Conaway, who had actually played Danny in the stage version, was fine in the part. I have read that he wanted to play Danny in the movie as well, but that the part went to Travolta because of his popularity. At that point, Conaway really wasn’t known. The other members of the T-Birds were just sort of around and weren’t developed.
The Pink Ladies was a group of popular girls who were connected to the T-Birds. It was never explained how someone got in either group. Frenchy became friends with Sandy and was helping her to make friends at Rydell. I thought that Frenchy was the nicest of The Pink Ladies. Frenchy was planning to drop out of high school to go to beauty school. Didi Conn was good in the part. Jan and Marty were two other members of The Pink Ladies. Jan seemed a bit out of place in the group compared to the other girls. Marty had a bunch of male pen pales, including a marine.
Rizzo seemed to be in charge of the girls because she could be bossy. She was the wildest and liked danger at times. She would seem to be nice at times, but she was really rather rude and mean most of the time. She had great fun in teasing Sandy and doing something to hurt her on purpose. Rizzo did go through a few changes by the end of the movie. She was probably the least likable character. Stockard Channing was good as Rizzo even though she was entirely too old for the part. Tom, the boy that Sandy started dating, was only briefly shown and he didn’t do anything. He just seemed to be a jock. Principal McGee, Blanche, Coach Calhoun, and Mrs. Murdock were really the only adult characters shown much and none of them did much of anything.
Main Cast
Eve Arden - Principal McGee Frankie Avalon - Teen Angel Cid Caesar - Coach Calhoun Stockard Channing - Rizzo Jeff Conaway - Kenickie Didi Conn - Frenchy Alice Ghostly - Mrs. Murdock Doody Goodman - Blanche Lorenzo Lamas - Tom Dinah Manoff - Marty Olivia Newton John - Sandy John Travolta - Danny
Randal Kleiser - Director
I have seen Grease several times over the years. Most of those times have been on television. I think that some things have been edited when the movie has been on some channels. I recently saw the movie again on HBO. It has been released in a few different DVD versions. I know at least one of them is still available now. I’m not sure what extras are included on the DVD.
Grease had a few problems, but it was still a fun, entertaining movie. People that enjoy musicals may also like this one.
This film adaptation of GREASE is the zippy smash hit translation from the Broadway musical tribute to the fabulous 1950s. As a new school year begins...More at Family Video
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