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Apr 2021
Well the title pretty much says it all. What's your opinion on this flick?

This musical came out in my birth year and I remember at primary school 4th grade doing a Grease tribute, 6th grade something Star Wars like and me and my classmates being in 5th grade did some dance at the song "Straight Up" from Paula Abdul. One of the Kindergarten classes did a Ghostbusters theme on the well known song.


Anyway about Grease it didn't really trigger me checking out the movie until recently. Sure I had seen something in that period with my family that reminded me of the story with different songs and a guy falling for a popular gal in school but she wanted a biker as lover. Much later I found out that was Grease II.

But the original Grease with John Travolta and Olivia Newton remained a unknown even though I had heard most of the songs thanks to various revivals and them being played on parties. Organising a 70s movie challenge however was a chance to give myself the challenge to finally tackle this classic. I mentioned this to Onyx she promptly gave me the heads up reaction saying she found it overrated. Well I can understand the frustration when you got promised to watch a horror movie and they decide to play Grease instead emoticon

Well I wouldn't actually call myself a Travolta fan but than again it's not that I have seen that many movies. While most people probably remember him as the 'cool' Danny in Grease I remember him mostly as dickhead Billy Nolan in Carrie. And actually thinking about it he plays pretty much an ass in Grease as well. The other cast members well I possibly have seen them in other movies but just like Travolta not any of them showed me a memorable performance.

I don't say the acting was bad. There is only so much you can do with a weak script. It doesn't allow for deep characters, it all remains pretty shallow and stereotypical. The only character who seemed to have a bit more depth was the girl being called a slut lying to her boyfriend she was pregnant.


I'm not so fond of the SJW's and feminists but I wouldn't blame them for criticising the movie severely. It's an all white movie, there is a few homophobic comments and the girls are portrayed as being helpless without a man. Ok this fictional story took place in the 50s so we are supposed to accept that's how it was. Still this is sending a rather weak (and not really hopeful) message to girls and is viewed a bit too much from a male perspective.


Now wait Danny did an half-assed attempt to get Olivia's attention and love back after giving her the cold shoulder because he didn't want to come across as a sissy towards his hyperkinetic friends who somehow were convinced their silly walk was supposed to look cool. He tried a few sports which I have to admit was a bit amusing. The only other time I could express a smile was the monkey face he made when he proposed to Olivia with a cheap ring which was just an excuse to get into her pants. That Olivia actually fell for this little trick and would believe Danny being a good boy (as in not having sex) until marriage, it's hard to take serious and not wanting to bash her head against the wall for such naivity. Again not her fault but the ones writing such nonsense.

Another good example of this weird script is during the dance contest. It's easy to predict that Danny and Olivia would win the contest not because they are the best dancers or have the best chemistry. They are the protagonists you know. But towards the end some other girl shows up to push Olivia away and stupid Dany so full of himself (as he remains throughout the whole movie) didn't even notice even didn't seem to mind.


You wonder after all these stupid actions from Danny's part how he can win her love back. Oh yehaw he won a race against the school's biggest macho man (he wasn't supposed to do the driving but surprise surprise his friend was unable so Danny got a chance to impress his driving skills, huh what where did he learn that?). Ok his rival was possibly even a bigger ass and womanizer than Danny but if he tuned his own cars I gotta say respect. Of course Danny wins and Olivia noticed. Will they fall into each other arms, apologies I was such a dick and oh you are my hero, nope.

The movie reserves the reconciliation for the final scene at graduation day. Danny surprises everyone presenting himself as a jock (now hey didn't he suck at sports). Anyway he could just have borrowed a jacket from a friend. If the viewer didn't endure enough silliness the last and biggest insult came when Olivia showed up having transformed into a supposedly cool girl. Of course she needed to drop the nerdy girl act so Danny would love her again. And so we are back to where we started if you want your dickhead boyfriend back just change in something you are not. Because even if he is a jerk it's better than having no boyfriend. A tribute to shallowness...


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Box_a_Hair says:
#1

Apr 2021
I'm not surprised that you don't like this movie. As far as musicals go, this is definitely in the handful that I like. Travolta was great in the 70s and early 80s, but his arrogance in Saturday Night Fever takes the cake. Being R-rated, that one is more of a trash epic than Grease, but Grease is still far from the worst high school musical out there.


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Johan_WoW says:
#4, Reply to #1

Apr 2021
Yeah ok you like it but I'm curoious why and what you like about it.


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Box_a_Hair says:
#5, Reply to #4

Apr 2021
Cuz Travolta is the man, duh! The songs don't make me want to throw up, and that's a plus. Been a while though. I might pop the dvd in and give it a rewatch with a more recent opinion.


Apr 2021
Comment Deleted


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Tromafreak says:
#6

Apr 2021
I don't know. Sounds a bit faggy if you ask me. Maybe I'll check out The Greasy Strangler again soon though.


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Johan_WoW says:
#7, Reply to #6

Apr 2021
That's the most simple but pretty accurate way to describe the movie. Travolta's gang the T-Birds are supposed to be the cool macho guys but still sensitive even though they just remain dickheads to the end. They are just poor James Dean rebel without a cause imitators with what you could desbribe as faggy behavior (even though that would be an insult to real gay men). The hyperkinetic actions, the way the walk and worried about hey is my hair not in a mess. The irony is they make fun of a guy who is supposed to be gay. The guy gets picked on a few times. As one of the only guy wearing glasses he is presented as the nerd (glasses = nerd, nerd gets bullied, nerd = gay, all cichรฉs that are often just plain wrong). They make fun of him when the announcer of the dance contest explains the rules saying all couples must consist of a boy and girl. The T-Birds laught with the nerd and say oh too bad you can't participate now. I was like oh yeah if there was 1 big fag on the dance floor it was their beloved leader Travolta. Even than I think the actor himself was into guys as well.


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Box_a_Hair says:
#8, Reply to #7

Apr 2021
You know you're being a bit hard on Travolta, right? You pointed out yourself that this is a period piece set in a time when civil rights were barely a thing, but you're comparing it to today's ultra PC standards.


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Johan_WoW says:
#9, Reply to #8

Apr 2021
Even if I would ignore these things the biggest issue I have with the movie is that it is painfully shallow. I don't think there is too many arguments against that.


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Box_a_Hair says:
#10, Reply to #9

Apr 2021
Aren't shallow movies the best movies?


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Johan_WoW says:
#11, Reply to #10

Apr 2021 *
Not if you don't find almost no redeeming or fun elements. The movie is just tedious most of the time. Ok I gave enough arguments now you come something better than Travolta is the man and songs that don't make you cringe emoticon


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Amon_101 says:
#12

May 2021 *
I like the movie. I saw it when it originally was released (at the tender age of 12), and a number of times since as well. The story is pretty generic, granted. And a lot of your complaints are valid. But as a whole, in my personal opinion, it came together very well and makes for an enjoyable movie experience.
I like the songs ("Summer Loving" and "Hopelessly Devoted to You" are my favorites), and I think Travolta/Newton-John played well off each other.
I'm not going to try and convince you that Grease is a good movie, or even an average. Or make any arguments as to why it's a good movie. There would be no point, as your mind is made up. And that's fine.
There are a LOT of people who think "The Warriors" is a great movie. I thought it sucked old withered up donkey balls. Maybe I will try and watch it again and try to see what others are seeing.
"Wayne's World," "The Town that Dreaded Sundown" (76), "In the Loop" (which I turned off not even halfway through) "Amazon Women on the Moon" (another I had to turn off pretty early). Even "The Godfather" I think is highly overrated. Maybe a 7 at best.
So I'm not going to make any arguments why Grease is a good movie, because as I said,, it would be a waste of everyone's time. Instead, I'm going to close with a funny Grease story.
I was at a USHL hockey game a few years ago, and it was Girl Scout night, where girl scouts got in free. Between periods, they play sponsor spots and music. Well, they just happened to choose to play the entire, unedited "Greased Lightning."


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Johan_WoW says:
#14, Reply to #12

May 2021
I think nostalgia plays a big part as to why you and others like the movie. I guess I have a few movies were nostalgic reasons play a part but there is also enough movies I liked in the past and now find pretty average. It's not my favorite genre anway even though I still think West Side Story is pretty cool. I know it's pretty much a standard Romeo & Julia story. But the T-birds are pussies and would be eaten alive by both the Jets and Sharks emoticon


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Tommix says:
#13

May 2021
I have read somewhere that Grease was never exactly intended to be taken seriously, in the way that I think you might be trying to take it. It was supposed to be a musical mockery or a parody of teen movies from the 50s and early 60s, in which everyone was supposed to be squeaky-clean, morally upright, chaste, and possibly members of some kind of real world, actual Upright Citizens Brigade.


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Johan_WoW says:
#15, Reply to #13

May 2021
Teen movies from the 50s and early 60s. I don't think there were that many in that period so doesn't seem there was much material that could be parodied there. Teenagers were often played by twens yeah but that is something that went on for a long time after Grease as well. Wasn't Grease more of the starting point of high school dramas and movies aimed at teenagers because frankly I struggle to find many from the period the article mentioned. Rebel without a Cause yeah and a few horror flicks where teenagers play an important role (The Blob for example) but I doubt the average Joe who ain't American can list even 5. Personally I think the claim is rubbish and just a cheap selling point for a shallow story with a few pretty misogynist and homophobic messages.


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Tommix says:
#16, Reply to #15

May 2021
I pretty much agree with you Johan. Grease really doesn't work for modern mvoie-watchers, there is really a hell of a lot of offensive stuff. My brother wouldn't let his kids watch it. Wait a sec, here, this Wikipedia article mentions the kind of thing I was trying to remember. I do not know how popular the movies it mentions ever were. Dammit, this is not gonna be clickable, and I have to go do stuff right now. I will come back and clickify it later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(film)#Critical_reception


@ am
You have reached the end of Trash Epics.