Grease
1 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance despite their eccentric friends?
What critics thought
First reviews were genuinely split: some found it a witty, energized fantasy that transcended its B-movie source material, while others dismissed it as strident, ugly, and spiritually closer to Ken Russell's excess than the innocent decade it claimed to celebrate. Nearly everyone agreed that Travolta was the film's engine, and nearly everyone disagreed about whether the rest of the movie could keep up with him. Decades later, the debate has shifted terrain — popular affection has only grown while a newer wave of critics has pushed back hard on the film's gender politics and whether its ending can be excused as period artifact or should be read as genuinely regressive.
“a contemporary fantasy about a 1950s teen-age musical—a larger, funnier, wittier and more imaginative-than-Hollywood movie with a life that is all its own”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“exciting only when John Travolta is on the screen”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
“the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified by Ken Russell, minus Russell's slick visual style [...] I've never seen an uglier large-scale musical”
Gary Arnold·The Washington Post
“Too often, Grease is simply mediocre, full of broad high-school humor, flat dramatic scenes and lethargic pacing. Fortunately, there's nothing flat about John Travolta”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“an average musical, pleasant and upbeat and plastic”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Comedy, Musical, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorRandal Kleiser
StarringOlivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl
ComposerJim Jacobs, Warren Casey
Grease
1 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance despite their eccentric friends?
What critics thought
First reviews were genuinely split: some found it a witty, energized fantasy that transcended its B-movie source material, while others dismissed it as strident, ugly, and spiritually closer to Ken Russell's excess than the innocent decade it claimed to celebrate. Nearly everyone agreed that Travolta was the film's engine, and nearly everyone disagreed about whether the rest of the movie could keep up with him. Decades later, the debate has shifted terrain — popular affection has only grown while a newer wave of critics has pushed back hard on the film's gender politics and whether its ending can be excused as period artifact or should be read as genuinely regressive.
“a contemporary fantasy about a 1950s teen-age musical—a larger, funnier, wittier and more imaginative-than-Hollywood movie with a life that is all its own”
Vincent Canby·The New York Times
“exciting only when John Travolta is on the screen”
Gene Siskel·Chicago Tribune
“the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified by Ken Russell, minus Russell's slick visual style [...] I've never seen an uglier large-scale musical”
Gary Arnold·The Washington Post
“Too often, Grease is simply mediocre, full of broad high-school humor, flat dramatic scenes and lethargic pacing. Fortunately, there's nothing flat about John Travolta”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“an average musical, pleasant and upbeat and plastic”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Genres
Comedy, Musical, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorRandal Kleiser
StarringOlivia Newton-John, John Travolta, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl
ComposerJim Jacobs, Warren Casey
Rent/Purchase