Directed by Randal Kleiser (The Blue Lagoon, Summer Lovers), Grease was based on Jim Jacobs’ and Warren Casey’s musical of the same name. For those of you not familiar with the story, In 1958, during their summer vacation, Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) meet at a beach. Sandy is to return to Australia with her family. She is upset, thinking that this is the end of their romance and that they will never see each other again. Danny tries to comfort her by telling her that “it’s not the end, it’s just the beginning”.
Predictably, Sandy ends up staying and attending Rydell High, the same school Danny goes to. To Sandy’s disappointment, Danny has embraced his high school persona–greaser and leader of The T-Birds; Which of course means he has no time for the white bread, squeaky clean Sandy. But alas, even Danny Zuko can’t hide his real feelings for too long and the two eventually find a way to get together; once again proving the theory: opposites attract.
While the Danny/Sandy romance is the main plot of Grease, the story also has several interesting subplots. While a group of boys make up the T-Birds, there’s a group of girls that make up their female counterparts, The Pink Ladies, led by Betty Rizzo (Stockard Channing) who deals with a pregnancy scare because of her relationship with T-Bird Kenickie (Jeff Conaway). Pink Lady Frenchie (Didi Conn) has to deal with the consequences of leaving high school for beauty school and flunking out. While none of these subplots offer the excitement of the Danny/Sandy affair, they help the audience get a real feel for 1958 America–Frenchie’s problems even allow for a singing cameo from 1950’s star, Frankie Avalon which fits in nicely with the story.
It’s the undeniably catchy songs that score the musical numbers that have made the film an American classic. Numbers like “You’re the One that I Want,” “Beauty School Dropout,” “Greased Lightnin'” and “There are Worse Things I Could Do” jump all over the music-genre map, and manage to tell the film’s tale with more energy and more ’50s feel than any scene of dialogue ever could. It is certainly no mistake that Grease: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack has long been one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The music was simply addictive and easy to sing along to.
I have watched Grease countless times over the years and it never seems to get old. That can probably be attributed to a number of things: it’s a simple story that doesn’t require a lot of pondering, John Travolta and Olivia Newton John have great chemistry and the songs are first rate. Really what it comes down to is. Grease is a feel good movie you can put on anytime, anyplace and it’s bound to bring a smile to your face. So if you’re one of the five people who hasn’t seen Grease before or just haven’t added it to your DVD collection yet, now is the perfect time. After all, Grease is the word!
The Rockin’ Rydell Edition in a standard keepcase. What isn’t standard is the awesome embroidered, faux-Rydell letterman’s sweater that wraps around the keepcase. I don’t normally go for packaging gimmicks, but this is a cute one.
This remastered anamorphic widescreen transfer has produced a remarkably bright and clean picture. The level of detail is fairly good, though some softness around the edges is still in evidence. If you own the initial release of Grease on DVD from back in 2002, it is definitely worth an upgrade. That release had noticeable graininess and dirt that has been wiped away here.
The soundtrack seem to be the same track that was used on the first DVD release, and they do a fine job of delivering the many musical numbers, as well as presenting the dialogue well, just don’t expect a wall thumping performance.
The Grease: Rockin’ Rydell Edition has a few special features:
• Short Video Introduction by Director Randal Kleiser (:24) – He gives a brief summary of what the film is about.
• Audio Commentary – Randal Kleiser and choreographer Patricia Birch provide feature length commentary. Kleiser gives a lot of information about how the film came together–how scenes were shot, some actors selected etc., while Birch talks about the dance sequences. While I wouldn’t call this one of the best commentaries I’ve heard, if you’re a Grease fan, you’ll pick up some interesting tidbits.
• Rydell Sing-Along – Lets you play 11 songs from the movie with a karaoke-style display that walks you through the pace of the lyrics. These can be viewed individually or all together, or you can watch the film with the feature activated, so it appears when the songs begin.
• The Time, The Place, The Motion: Remembering Grease (22 Minutes) – Mixing in some old interview material (and noting it as such) with new sit-downs. The big names, like Travolta, Newton-John and Channing are heard from in older clips.
• The Moves Behind the Music (8 Minutes) – A segment about the dancing in the film.
• Thunder Roadsters (5 Minutes) – Takes a look at car enthusiasts who specialize in the kinds of cars featured in the film.
• Grease Memories from John and Olivia (3 Minutes) – An interview with the pair (This accompanied the first DVD release, back in 2002.)
• Grease on DVD Launch Party (15 Minutes) – The launch party is an entertaining compilation of footage from the shin-dig, including songs the cast sang live on stage at the party. (This accompanied the first DVD release, back in 2002.)
• 11 alternate takes with an introduction by Kleiser. For whatever reason, these are in black & white.
• Four Photo Galleries.
• Clips from the Grease Day, U.S.A. TV special from the time of the film’s premiere, with Travolta, Newton-John and producers Robert Stigwood and Allan Carr.
