Forty years later, ‘Grease’ is still the word
“Grease is the word, is the word that you heard, it’s got a groove, it’s got a meaning. Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion. Grease is the way we are feeling.”
I have no idea what that means.
I doubt songwriter Barry Gibb did either when he whipped off that catchy tune to play over the opening credits of “Grease” in 1978. The fact that a 1950s nostalgia movie was being released at the height of the disco era with a title track penned by Mr. Bee Gee and sung by Mr. Four Seasons (Frankie Valli) could have been a recipe for a big flop.
Instead, the mishmash of eras proved irrelevant.
“Grease” became the topgrossing film of the year, topping such mega-hits as “Superman” and “Animal House.” It also went on to become the top-grossing live-action movie musical of all time, a title it held until just last year, when it was surpassed by “Beauty and the Beast.”
Its multiplatinum double album spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart and served as the soundtrack for the summer of ’78. It spawned two No. 1 singles, “You’re the One That I Want” and “Grease,” as well as two other top-10 hits: “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “Summer Nights.”
Based on the endlessly touring Broadway show, “Grease” hit theaters on June 16, 1978.
The toe-tapping songs were enhanced by the toocute-for-words co-stars: John Travolta, as quasi tough guy Danny, and Olivia Newton-John, as sweet and innocent Sandy. Travolta was in the middle of a super-successful, three-picture deal with Paramount Pictures, bookended by “Saturday Night Fever” in 1977 and “Urban Cowboy” in 1980.
Danny and Sandy were joined by Rizzo and Frenchie (Stockard Channing and Didi Conn), Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) and a host of singers, dancers and bygone stars (Eve Arden, Sid Caesar, Joan Blondell, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes and Frankie Avalon).
“Grease” is a likable, energetic film that never takes itself too seriously. The charisma of the two stars helped smooth over some of the rough patches and cringe-worthy songs (“Greased Lightnin’ ”), and helped audiences forget that most of their fellow “teenage” students were performers in their late 20s and 30s.
The film was the child of an odd trio: music industry kingpin Robert Stigwood, who also produced “Saturday Night Fever”; producer-manager Allan Carr (of “Can’t Stop the Music” infamy); and director Randal Kleiser, whose previous credits included the TV movie “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” (also starring Travolta).
In a savvy promotional move, Stigwood released the Travolta-Newton-John duet “You’re the One That I Want” two months before the film’s release, and its endless radio airplay provided great publicity.
It’s a musical and a love story, although one with a dubious message: In order to land a man, all you need to do is start smoking and wear super-tight black sharkskin pants, as Sandy does in the film’s climactic sequence.
Newton-John once explained that the pants were so tight the costume crew needed to sew her into them for the takes.
Some performers are dialed in. Sandy was “stitched in.”
The original film was rated PG. But Paramount’s “Grease: Sing-A-Long” version, released in 2010, earned the more restrictive PG-13 rating from the MPAA, “for sexual content including references, teen smoking and drinking, and language.”
They didn’t mention the pants.
In honor of the anniversary, Paramount Home Video has compiled a “Grease 40th Anniversary” 4K Ultra HD, and a Blu-ray/DVD/ Digital combo pack. Extras include interviews, featurettes, deleted scenes and a look at the first “Grease” stage production (by the Kingston Mines Theatre Company in Chicago in 1971). The combo pack also includes a 16-page Rydell High yearbook-like booklet.