Monday 2 April 2012

Grease (1978)

Rating: 8.2/10

"Why, this car is Auto-matic. Its System-matic. Its Hyyyyydro-matic. Why, its Greased Lightning!"

Whilst America was in a turmoil over the war with Vietnam in the late 1970s, another genre seemed to bloom out of nowhere, reminiscing the golden days of Hollywood-land; 'Grease'  is the word, as Frankie Valley would sing in the intro of one of the most well-known musicals of all time.

'Grease' was not just a musical of the time, it became a trend, an escape from the suppression that the youngsters felt in the 1970s. What truly is amazing about 'Grease' is that beyond all of the dancing and singing it had a very real message to deliver to its contemporary audience; friendship lasts a lifetime and it can overcome even the most adverse situations.

Starring the very hankie-macho type John Travolta, alongside the newly-presented-to-Hollywood-lan Australian actress/singer Olivia Newton-John. The pair is a match-made in heaven. Fantastic chemistry, witty exchanging of vocals, spirited plot-line of high-school kids of the 1950s.

'Grease', not only offers a trendy and unique style of musical numbers but also it set up a whole trend based on the production design with it's sp8nky fashion and it's leathery costuming. Bouncing through the screen are all the good-old-cheesy-comedic scenes without them being too far-fetched or tiresome, even for today's audience. The spark between all of the cast members is resonating in the big screen and it made for a timely atmosphere between groups of friends.

Albeit the film version is based on the original stage version of the Broadway musical, it did not fail to become the top grossing film of 1978 and was for quite a few years the top grossing film behind Jaws (1975) and Star Wars: Episode IV - New Hope (1977).

The story is "A musical about teens in love in the 50's! It's California, 1959 and greaser Danny Zuko and Australian Sandy Olsson are in love. They spend time at the beach, but when they go back to school, what either of them don't know is that they both now attend Rydell High. Danny's the leader of the T-Birds, a group of black-jacket greasers while Sandy hangs with the Pink Ladies, a group of pink-wearing girls led by Rizzo. When they clash at Rydell's first pep rally, Danny isn't the same Danny at the beach. They try to be like each other so they can be together." (www.imdb.com)

The cast, the costumes, the music, the dance, the friendship, the love...everything in this film is a cult classic and it would be an overwhelming task to try to get it out of people's minds with a remake (hopefully Hollywood will not be that naive or greedy), since it's been well imprinted for the iconic style it brought.

Watch it if you love the 50s, well-made teen flicks, music to shake your boots off, and singing that will make you dance and feel happy! Albeit it not everyone's cup of tea, it is a classic musical and a favourite one.

Enjoy the music!

"-'Dany: Sandy!'
 -'Tell me about it, stud.'"



Grease (1978)

2 comments:

  1. δεν είμαι ιδιαίτερα φίλος των μιούσικαλς αλλά εν ένα που τα λία που μου αρέσαν, τζαι πάντα σιέρουμαι να ακούω τα τραούθκια.... :)

    τζαι όπως ανάφερες τζαι συ είχε πολλά μηνύματα...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oKPYe53h78
    epic!!!! :ρ

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  2. Χαχαχα ναι να σου πω, ούτε ο παπάς μου εν πολλά των μιούζικαλς αλλά τούτο εν κλάσσικ τζιαι με πολλά κάτσι μουσική! :)

    Τέλειο σονγκ τζίνο πάντως!

    ReplyDelete