Grease has been established as a film musical institution. The songs are memorable, the cast is superb and the story serves as the perfect connection to string you along from one melodic fix to the next. Even if it's weird to watch a collection of 20-somethings act like high school kids and sing about beauty school, summer nights and Sandra Dee, you'd be hard pressed to deny that Grease doesn't pull it off with a charming level of panache. Converting a play to film often comes at some expense to the material (this remains true in Grease), but the final product of Grease excels rather than falters. Director Randal Kleiser found the perfect formula for stage to film translation; as a result Grease has lingered as a classic musical beloved by adolescents and adults alike.
Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny Zuko (John Travolta) had a summer together that, if they wouldn't remember it for the rest of their lives, they'd at least sing about on their first day back at high school. Under the impression that Sandy's family would be moving away, the two youths had a few months of blissful romance before returning to the socially charged high school atmosphere. However, as Sandy soon discovers, Danny Zuko isn't exactly the guy she thought him to be. Despite his romantic summer exterior, once submerged back in the midst of his friends Danny resumes his bad boy nature and sends Sandra all sorts of confusing signals. Sandra falls back on Rizzo (Stockard Channing) and the Pink Ladies for support. Fast cars, school dances and all sorts of shenanigans make the senior school year one of the most memorable times of their lives.
Here was John Travolta in his prime. Blending a comic acting ability with a remarkable singing talent, Travolta replaced Jeff Conaway as Danny Zuko (Conaway played Zuko in the stage version) and became a teenage girl idol. Sure, Swayze might have stolen his thunder nine years later with Dirty Dancing, but until then Travolta's hips had girls swooning. Watching Travolta as Zuko today just reminds us how good Travolta can be compared to the projects he's worked on most recently.
Olivia Newton-John recalls walking out of her trailer after first being outfitted with her black wardrobe and makeup for the final musical number and flooring everybody. No one could believe her transition from wholesome school girl to rebellious tart - and that's exactly why Grease's finale feels so charged. The change was legitimate. The crew knew it and so did the audience when she first strutted onto camera. The fact that Olivia can shift so completely from fussy to feisty was one of the major contributors to Grease's long-term success as a musical film. Her performance throughout the movie just shines.
Commenting on the video and audio for this presentation of Grease on Blu-ray feels somewhat absurd. I'm almost positive that this is a direct transfer of the original DVD version of Grease: Rockin Rydell Edition and so I'm not sure if the video and audio were actually remastered specifically for the Blu-ray release. But as it stands the video seems to top out at just a bit above standard definition while the audio needs a bit of retooling. The soundtrack issues that were present on the DVD edition remain for the Blu-ray. When the soundtrack was remixed the balance of certain songs was thrown off. Most notably, the ever popular "Summer Lovin'" feels slightly bass-heavy at times with the rest of the instrumentals being drowned out. What an unfortunate remastering that renders some of the musical numbers as inferior to older copies.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The extra features on the Blu-ray version of Grease: Rockin Rydell Edition are exactly the same as the DVD. Nothing gained, nothing lost. On that note: I'm somewhat annoyed. Maybe Paramount felt they'd achieved the pinnacle of possible packages to be offered to Grease lovers, unfortunately that makes the Blu-ray version a hard sell. Why shell out the extra few bucks for the Blu-ray version when absolutely nothing has changed from the DVD copy? The extras give us lots of retrospective pieces like scenes from the Grease DVD Launch Party and interviews with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The part I found most interesting was the documentary featurette which discussed the production and studio expectations of Grease.
"Grease: Rockin' Rydell Edition" is on sale May 5, 2009 and is rated PG. Musical. Directed by Randal Kleiser. Written by Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey. Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Jeff Conaway, Stockard Channing, Michael Tucci.
