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Grease (Widescreen Edition)

Grease (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cool Movie!
Review: Grease is a great movie about cool high school students in 1959 California and it stars John Travolta as the ulta cool Danny and Olivia Newton John as his sweet girlfriend Sandy who is labled as a goody two shoes type, the movie also stars Jeff Connaway as Zuko's best friend Kenickie, Stockard Channing as Kenickie's tough cookie girlfriend Rizzo plus many other great actors including Dinah Manhoff.

The songs are great too!

I highly recommend this movie, I have watched over 14 times.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: PC's Special
Review: It is a classic for many people including myself with great music, but let's talk about the whole movie. It is extremely sexually explicit, with indecent refrences the whole way through; it is so offensive that I will not buy the video because of the PG rating. I will record it off of TBS or TNT. The same uncut version on the video on TNT, is rated TV-14 (which is still an understatement) and I still have a hard time watching it. I am waiting for this movie on TBS to record because they edit the unneccessary content, and believe it or not, it is STILL rated TV-14! Because of this, I think "How can the MPAA consider this PG?" Great music, but I will not watch a dirty classic or dirty movie whatsoever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Rama Lama Lama Kadingy, Kading-a-dong!"
Review: In 1971, writers Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey wrote and composed the music for a musical entitled "Grease". It appeared first as an amateur production in Chicago, but eventually went to NYC as both off-Broadway and Broadway productions. With the musical's Broadway success, Paramount Pictures produced it on film in 1978 under the direction of Randal Kleiser, whose previous directorial experiences had been primarily TV series and made-for-TV films.

The story for "Grease" is simple: in circa 1959, an uprooted teenaged girl from Australia, Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), meets and has a summer romance with a local American boy, Danny Zuko (John Travolta). At the end of summer, her family remains in America instead of returning to Australia. She is enrolled in a local public high school, Rydell High School, which just happens to be the same high school that Danny attends. When she runs into Danny, his persona changes to what his friends expect: cool, uninterested and a practical joker. Sandy is naturally upset, but she doesn't yet understand the dynamics of his friends, who are in two exclusive cliques, the T-Birds (the guys) and the Pink Ladies (the gals). One of the Pink Ladies, Frenchy (Didi Conn), befriends Sandy and Sandy gets to spend some time with other Pink Ladies, who include Betty Rizzo (Stockard Channing), Marty Maraschino (Dinah Manoff) and Jan (Jamie Donnelly). The T-Birds include Kenickie (Jeff Conaway), Doody (Barry Pearl), Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Putzie (Kelly Ward). The principal of Rydell is Principal McGee (Eve Arden), who is assisted by they bumbling Blanche (Dody Goodman). Other characters include football coach Calhoun (Sid Caesar), auto-mechanics teacher Mrs. Murdock (Alice Ghostley), Vince Fontaine (Edd Byrnes), Cha Cha DiGregorio (Annette Charles), older malt shop waitress (Ellen Travolta) and a cameo by Frankie Avalon as the Teen Angel. The musical group Sha Na Na is also featured.

Casting for "Grease" continues to be an issue for many people after 25 years because the average age of the actors who portrayed the Pink Ladies & T-Birds (including Olivia Newton-John) was 28. (The oldest was 34 and the youngest was 20 when it was filmed.) Of these, Stockard Channing performed best, followed by Didi Conn and Jeff Conaway. Eve Arden and Dody Goodman work very well together in the film. The most memorable scenes in the film include Sandy meeting the Pink Ladies & finding Danny, the sleep over, trips to the malt shop, the drive-in, Frenchy's dream, the school dance, the drag race and the carnival. My ratings (out of 5 stars) for some of the songs in the film include:

* "Grease" (4, sung by Frankie Valli.) Title song.
* "Summer Nights" (4.5, sung by Olivia Newton John & John Travolta.) On the first day of class.
* "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" (5, sung by Stockard Channing.) At the sleep over.
* "Hopelessly Devoted To You" (5, sung by Olivia Newton-John.) At the sleep over.
* "Sandy" (4, sung by John Travolta.) At the drive-in.
* "Greased Lightnin'" (4, sung by John Travolta & the T-Birds.) At the high school auto-mechanics shop.
* "Beauty School Dropout" (5, sung by Frankie Avalon.) Frenchy's dream.
* "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" (5, sung by Stockard Channing.) At school.
* "You're The One That I Want" (4, sung by Olivia Newton John & John Travolta.) At the carnival.
* "We Go Together" (4.5, sung by entire cast.) At the carnival.

"Grease" was never intended to be a serious film. Instead, it was intended to be a silly, fun and entertaining comedy with rock-n-roll music from the late 1950's. Overall, I rate "Grease" with 4.5 (raised to 5) out of 5 stars for its fun music and great entertainment value. Some problems plagued the release of "Grease" on DVD, such as the royalties lawsuit filed by Olivia Newton-John in 1998 and the need that Paramount had to blur product signs in the malt shop (which some viewers may find offensive). The film is not perfect, but it is still a very entertaining and I highly recommend it.

Following "Grease", Randal Kleiser went on to direct the ill-fated 1980 film "The Blue Lagoon" and Olivia Newton-John starred in the 1980 box-office bomb "Xanadu". John Travolta went on to star in the very popular 1980 film "Urban Cowboy", but his acting career suffered until his role as a mobster in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" revived it. Olivia Newton-John and Randal Kleiser worked together again on the 1996 film "It's My Party".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You CAN right a movie about rock&roll!
Review: Most people would think that you could'nt write a good movie about rock&roll. This movie sure proves them wrong. The songs are great, and the movie is great.
I said that the songs were a great part of the movie. Here they are.
1. Grease-5/0
2. Summer Nights-8/10
3. Hopelessly Devoted To You-3/10
4. You're The One That I Want- 10/10
5. Sandy-1/10
6. Beauty School Dropout-5/10
7. Look At Me, I'm Sandra D.-7/10
8. Greased Lightning-9/10
9. It's Raining On Prom Night-3/10
10. Alone at the Drive-In-Movie-1/10
11. Blue Moon-9/10
12. Rock "N" Role is Here To Stay-8/10
13. Those Magic Changes-10/10
14. Hound Dog-4/10
15. Born To Hand Jive-4/10
16. Tears On My Pillow-2/10
17. Mooning-2/10
18. Freddy My Love-0/10
19. Rock "N" Role Party Queen-8/10
20. There Are Worse Things I Could Do-3/10
21. Look At Me, I'm Sandra D.(Reprise)-5/10
22. We Go Togeter-10/10
23. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing-4/10
24 Grease(Reprise)-5/10

As you can see, there are some VERY bad songs, but for the most part, the songs are pretty good. The whole movie was even better than the songs. The whole idea of the movie is a senior high schooler comes to the U.S. and goes to a cheap high school. There, she runs into a guy she met in the summer, who is in a car gang that is against another car gang. Throughout the year, this girl ( her name is Sandy) and her friends deal with the guy(his name is Danny) and his friends. The movie pretty much told about the "typical" high scholl senior's problems, except in a more 60's background. The movie actually took place in the 70's. At the end, Danny's car gang beats the rival gang in a car race, and at the end of the movie, the whole gang of guys and girls gets back together without any problems at the end of the year. The movie is all in all VERY good. Buy it today.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: How can you have a movie about rock and roll...
Review: with no black people in it anywhere? How does that work, exactly? As for the movie, pedestrian, high school theater fodder. There it is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Grease -is- the word.
Review: Probably the greatest musical of all time, Grease (starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta) shows us the fun of its generation. With the acting, the story, and the flawless music featured in Grease, it's no wonder why it has gotten such critical acclaim.

When Danny Zuko (Travolta) and Sandy Olsen (Newton-John) fall in love over the summer, Sandy delivers the news that she'd be leaving back to her home in Australia. But as the new year at Rydell begins, Sandy has a change of plans and stays in the U.S. Once re-united with Danny (thanks to Rizzo, played by Stockard Channing), Sandy is delighted to once again see Danny, and Danny is just as overwhelmed. But he believes that his masculinity and his leadership is being questioned when he has trouble expressing his love for Sandy in front of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, so he decides to play it cool - which would end up in Sandy becoming confused and seeing Danny in a different way, yet she remains in love with him. But eventually, things do work out between Sandy, Danny, the Pink Ladies, and the T-Birds - this movie is packed with great acting, not to mention the great songs featured in it.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta shocked viewers everywhere when they broke out into song. Catchy songs such as "Greased Lightning" (sung by John Travolta), "Summer Nights" (sung by Olivia and John), and "You're The One That I Want" (sung by Olivia and John) - which is the signature song of the movie, became instant national hits. Olivia's solo song "Hopelessly Devoted To You" shows how much of an angel she is, pouring out her sweet voice to beautiful lyrics.

This movie was well excecuted. It's a legend of its own time. This is a must-see, and of course, a must-have for any lover of great movies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A CLASSIC FOR ALL TIME
Review: I own this movie. I love it. Never get tired of watching it. This movie allows us to see the talent of John Travolta before he started generating Hollywood movie mill junk like Swordfish. Olivia Newton-John is a lovely, classy lady with a great set of pipes! Stockard Channing rocks as a fifties "bad girl". The tunes here are fantastic. Best thing about it is that its appeal is cross generational - my teenagers like it too! To my favorite "Grouchy Reviewer" - yeah, Halle Berry would have been an interesting replacement as Sandy. Perhaps another sequel is in order. Halle sings, dances, and I also hear she acts a bit as well. Any doubts? See her in The Dorothy Dandridge Story. Back to Grease; anyone who likes musicals should have this in their film library. It's that good!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Greatest Musical of All Time!
Review: I went to watch this movie in 1998 when I was 11 when it came out in theatres to celebrate it's 20 year anniversary (I believe.. was it 25th?). Now, more than five years later, I still haven't forgotten how captivated I was watching that film on the big screen.

Since then, I have purchased the film, but I still find it hard to believe that it's an "old" film. The plot is simple, but the music makes it work. The script (the acting seems fine to me, although others have commented it as being mediocre) is flawless; every character's own personal story and turmoil is written perfectly into the big picture.

All the songs are great. I love the songs sung by the main cast (ex. Greased Lightning, Sandy...). The soundtrack is a great one, too. I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves a good flick. Even if you don't like musicals (and I don't), you'll fall in love with this movie time and time again. It just doesn't get old.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This dvd is "NOT THE WORD"
Review: I wanted to preview this dvd before I bought it and thank goodness I did. The big dissappointment was lack of extras. Has hollywood gone very greedy. I say yes. The only extras are interviews. BIG DEAL. What about commentaries, Making of,maybe bloopers. I thought because it took such a long time for this to be released, the studio would have been working on a nice package with plenty of extras. Not so here. Hollywood is just so greedy I'm sure they might wait til they get suckers to buy this and then they will come out with a big package.

Another big problem ,in some scenes the ads in the background are unable to read. The picture and sound are not up to DVD quality also. Thank god I didn't have to pay to preview it either. My advice is keep your VHS version.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: THE ONE THAT YOU WANT, NO WAY THAT I WANT IT!
Review: "Grease" is the phenomenally successful musical that made John Travolta a legend, put Olivia Newton-John on the US pop charts and brought hot pants back into vogue. It's the seventies slant on fifties pop culture and it moves like gangbusters. The songs are "electrifying" and the energy generated by all of the cast members is "greased lightning". Unfortunately, Paramount has given us the film in a really lack luster edition that is doomed to disappoint from the start. The print, although restored, exhibits grain, dirt and digital grit, along with aliasing, shimmering and edge enhancement problems that really distract from the presentation of this film. There's also a couple of curiosities. Watch for the scenes that take place at the malt shop between Danny and Sandy. All the background ads (presumably Coke or Pepsi advertising) has been digitally altered or blurred so that it can't be made out. Like the Warner release of "The Devil's Advocate" one can only assume that whatever was hanging on those walls, Paramount did not own the rights to and was thus forced to do some digital manipulation to satisfy a law suit before releasing the movie to home video. The manipulations are obvious and horrible, drawing attention to themselves with aliasing, hard edges or halos appearing around characters as they walk back and forth in front of the obscured art work. The audio has also not been well represented. Dialogue is strident, scratchy and soft while the musical numbers explode from the 5.1 mix with too much bass and side channel information that drowns out the lyrics represented in the center channel of one's home theater system. Extras? - true to its penny pinching, Paramount gives us the same old tired featurette that accompanied its laserdisc release. That's it. All of Paramount's marketing has gone into hailing this disc as "The one that you want, the way that you want it." I assure you, this isn't the case.


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