My Memories Of Grease (1978)
The year is 1978. Riding high on the incredible success of Saturday Night Fever the previous year, John Travolta was about to score a double whammy, with the movie adaption of a stage musical comedy set in the “doo wop” 1950s, concerning a good old fashioned High School romance, and featuring a host of unforgettable, catchy, toe tapping tunes. Grease starring Travolta in the lead as “Greaser” Danny Zuco, and Olivia Newton John as Australian transfer student Sandy, was about to take over the entire world.
I remember that Summer so well. It was scorchingly hot, i’d just secured my first paid job after leaving school earlier that year, and i was still a bit down at not being able to see Saturday Night Fever in the cinema, due to it’s well earned “X” certificate. What i didn’t see coming was this relatively small budget, musical comedy, which was about to become the biggest movie on the planet. It went up against blockbusters such as Superman The Movie, The Swarm, Jaws 2, Convoy and many others to become the highest grossing movie of the year.
Word began to come over from America via newspaper articles, pieces written in movie magazines etc, about a new movie starring John Travolta, set in the 50s and co starring Olivia Newton John, in her first major film role. We certainly knew of her, thanks to the many times her records had charted in the U.K, but to most of us she was an Australian born country music singer. Little did we know she was about to be catapulted to superstardom, in the role of a lifetime.
It’s sometimes difficult to appreciate just how huge Grease was back in the day. It was absolutely everywhere, and could not be escaped however hard you tried. The movie played to packed cinema’s everywhere, the soundtrack topped the album charts worldwide, and every single track released from the album, hit the Number 1 spot, and those that didn’t had no trouble cracking the Top 5. There was also the merchandise which included magazines, books, posters clothing and household items such as mugs, anything with the Grease logo printed on it was stripped from the shelves. As for the film itself, what can i say that hasn’t already been said. It’s a total classic, and for me the last of the great musicals. I’ve seen it countless times, and over the years i’ve owned it on VHS, DVD, Bluray and now 4K. It’s a feelgood 70s staple, guaranteed to make me smile on the worst of days, and will continue to do so for many years to come, and everytime i watch it. i’m taken back to that scorching Summer of 78. Happy days……
To be fair it’s a great film, just not sure how we were all made to believe 30 year olds were in high school – but they managed to get suspension of disbelief on a world wide scale – that is hard to pull off.
You know what, i didn’t even think of that. Well spotted mate. Remember the series Please Sir from the early 70s. They did the same thing, most of the so called kids were well into they’re 20s. Again i didn’t even think of it at the time.