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Director Randal Kleiser
Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway
Cert PG
Film ****
The one-two wallop of Grease and Saturday Night Fever put John Travolta top of the star tree in the '70s (before his slide into talking-baby drivel). Fever (also out this month, though no review copy was available) is the grittier dramatic showcase but Grease is more fun: a joyful musical romp that's retained its power to make you grin from ear to ear and pipe along to the chirpy tunes.
As Rydell High rebel Danny Zuko, striving to keep his cool when golden girl Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) enrols, Travolta has the charisma and sinewy dance moves to make even his honey-voiced co-star look like she has two left feet. Add in Stockard Channing as caustic stirrer Rizzo, a nostalgic melting pot of '50s youth clichés (drag races, stuffy teachers, leather jackets, sock hops...) and some of the catchiest numbers - - including 'Summer Nights' and 'You're The One That I Want' - - ever caught on celluloid, and you've got a song-and-dance standard-bearer.
DVD EXTRAS
A thumbnail documentary, The Grease Yearbook, cobbled together from interviews done for the 1998 re-release, intercut with a smidgen of archive footage. Very disappointing. |
