For the next few weeks, we will be counting down our 25 favorite blockbusters! Read all of the entries here.

10. Grease (dir. Randal Kleiser, 1978)

by Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer

I solve my problems and I see the light
We got a lovin’ thing, we gotta feed it right
There ain’t no danger we can go too far
We start believing now that we can be who we are
Grease is the word

What better way to open a nostalgia-filled 1950s-set high school musical than with an anachronistic Barry Gibb-penned disco track over an animated set of some of the rudest caricatures you’ve ever seen? It wasn’t until I had seen Grease at least one hundred times that it even dawned on me that there might be something off about one of my favorite movies. But it wasn’t just that intro – what about all of those innuendo-filled jokes going over my 7-year-old head? And why did some of the high school students look like AARP members? As I got older, the absurd aspects of Grease became hilariously clear, but somehow, they only made me love the movie more.

They think our love is just a growing pain
Why don’t they understand? It’s just a crying shame
Their lips are lying, only real is real
We stop the fight right now, we got to be what we feel
Grease is the word

Released in 1978, six years into the stage musical’s blockbuster Broadway run, Grease was a sensation, topping the summer box office and finishing its run second only to Superman as the highest grossing film of the year. By the time I went to see the 1998 20th anniversary rerelease for a friend’s 8th birthday party, I had already committed most of Grease to memory. In my mind, there is no time before Grease. Every detail has been etched onto my brain forever thanks to watching it over and over and over again with my sister (and later, with our brother too, once he could sing along to “Sandy”).

Grease is the word, it’s the word that you heard
It’s got groove it’s got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling

In the transition from stage to screen, Grease lost some of its edge, acquiring a veneer of family-friendliness. But an edge still remained, even if at first, I was too young to notice. It’s a movie obsessed with sexuality and desirability, and Grease deals with both with the frankness and vulgarity a real-life teen would. As a child, it was easy to let myself remain confused by, “Were her jugs bigger than Annette’s?” (which I’d mishear as “Were her jugs bigger than her nets?”) when “Summer Nights” was right around the corner. But when I rewatched it as a teenager, my eyes widened when I finally figured out what the hell Rizzo was talking about when she says she feels like a “defective typewriter.”

We take the pressure and we throw away
Conventionality belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believing now that we can be who we are
Grease is the word

And was it even a middle school dance if you didn’t hear the Grease megamix? Who among us did not have their dramatic sigh and creakiest falsetto ready to sing, “Bu-ut (sigh) those suh-hum-mer niiiiiih-hights”? Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s songs are infectious, and once you know them, you can’t help but sing along. Every song is its own little world – a slumber party makeover in “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” a homoerotic auto shop in “Greased Lightnin’,” a cafeteria turned Greek chorus in “Summer Nights.” And even the songs added for the movie match the intent if not the sound, leaning into disco for “Grease” and pure 70s pop balladry on “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

Grease is the word, it’s the word that you heard
It’s got groove it’s got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling

While these silly details about Grease are fun to notice, they’re essential to the movie. It’s far from a Mad Men-style, perfectly detailed representation of an era. Instead, director Randal Kleiser chooses to maximize the amount of sheer entertainment in every moment. Certainly, there’s an element of looking back at the 50s through the lens of the 70s, but Happy Days had already been doing that for years! Grease didn’t have to. Instead, John Travolta can dance like Tony Manero on National Bandstand because – why not? The fun of the movie lies not in its perfection, but that you can point out the Pink Ladies dancing in the background of “Beauty School Dropout.” 

This is the life of illusion
Wrapped up in trouble, laced with confusion
What are we doing here?

To me, everyone in Grease is primarily known for being in Grease. But let’s talk about this crazy cast for a minute. Fresh off a star-making performance in Saturday Night Fever and three seasons into Welcome Back Kotter, the 23-year-old John Travolta made a natural fit as the lead of a high school musical. 29-year-old Olivia Newton-John had a rockier road to playing Sandy. After struggling to make a name for herself in American pop music and losing Eurovision to ABBA, the British-born and Australian-raised Newton-John finally hit it big in the United States with the incredibly-titled country-pop albums If You Love Me, Let Me Know and Have You Never Been Mellow. On top of the adult contemporary charts, the natural move was for Newton-John to play a wholesome teenager (with an added Australian backstory to explain the accent). 

We take the pressure and we throw away
Conventionality belongs to yesterday
There is a chance that we can make it so far
We start believing now that we can be who we are
Grease is the word

And Newton-John wasn’t the only cast member who would’ve already had their 10-year high school reunion. Jamie Donnelly (Jan) was 30, Michael Tucci (Sonny) was 31, and of course, Stockard Channing played too-cool-for-school Rizzo at 33-years-old. And, obviously, Rizzo is iconic! So what if Channing doesn’t have Gabrielle Union’s ability to convincingly play a high school student well past her teenage years? Does that stop her from destroying everyone she sets her eyes on and then jazzily revealing the pain she feels inside? Of course not. 

Grease is the word, it’s the word that you heard
It’s got groove it’s got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion
Grease is the way we are feeling

Sometimes I wonder if I was predisposed to love Grease (I am gay after all), or if my love of Grease had a profound influence on my life. Would I have started acting and singing as a kid if I hadn’t been quoting and singing along to Grease as long as I can remember? And as an adult, I spent seven years working in theater, working with the manager of all three Broadway productions of Grease. Coincidence? I’m not sure. What I do know, however, is that as recently as a few months ago, my sister, my boyfriend and I landed on Grease while flipping through channels at my parents’ house. So naturally, we sat there with my mom and dad and spent two hours watching Grease. And it was just as good the 500th time. I think it is safe to say that…

Grease is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word
Is the word