Grease
Randal Kleiser, USA, 1978o
While on vacation in the USA, Australian schoolgirl Sandy falls in love with pompous rock'n'roller Danny. At the end of the vacation, when the summer romance seems to be over, it just so happens that Sandy stays in America and goes to the same high school as Danny. She soon realizes that Danny is a completely different person here - namely the leader of the T-Bird. Disappointed, she joins the Pink Ladies girls' group, but her prudish image doesn't go down well here either. Time for a change.
The musical is being revived not because it is invaluable, but because it contains an invaluable cultural icon: the singing, dancing performance of John Travolta. It is now clear that, slumps or not, comebacks or not, Travolta is an important and enduring movie star whose presence can redeem even a compromised "Grease.'' This is not one of his great films - it lacks the electricity of "Saturday Night Fever'' or the quirky genius of "Pulp Fiction'' - but it has charm. If Travolta lacks the voltage of Elvis Presley (his obvious role model for this film), at least he's in the same ballpark, and Elvis didn't make such great movies, either.
Roger EbertGalleryo
