GREASE IS THE WORD – When I was seven-years-old my father took my two sisters and me to see Grease, a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The story is about two lovers in a 1950’s high school. The film was successful both critically and at the box office, and it’s soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best selling album of the year in the United States.
During the summer of 1958, Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer ends, Sandy – who is from Australia – fears that they may never meet again. But guess what? Spoiler alert. They do meet again at Rydell, a high school in which Sandy’s parents decide to enroll her, and where Danny already attends. When they bump into each other, Danny is forced to maintain his bad-boy attitude in front of his pals to look cool, and upsets Sandy, who storms off with the girls.
Danny tries to make it up to Sandy over the course of the film, and eventually they find their way back to each other through song and dance.
This film had everything a seven-year-old girl could ask for. Romance, catchy tunes, poodle skirts, malt shops, and DANCING. Did I mention the dancing? Watching John Travolta twist and shake his little bottom during the song, ‘Greased Lightening’ sent my serotonin levels shooting through the roof. Happiness was an understatement. And when the whole gang came out for the final scene at the carnival singing, ‘We go together,’ I thought I would lose my mind from sheer joy. I wanted to jump into the screen and join the gang singing, “We go together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong. Remember forever as shoo-bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom. Chang chang changity chang sha-bop, that’s the way it should be. Wah-oooh yeah!
Grease is one of the best movies there ever was. So if you haven’t seen it, go do it now! And if you have, well, it’s time to pull it out and experience the ‘summer nights’ all over again, because as everyone knows, ‘Grease is the word.’
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