Grease (Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over twenty years since we watched the DVD of the 1978 film ‘Grease’. We saw it at the cinema in the late 1970s, and then acquired the DVD in 2005 when we started collecting them. We watched it soon afterwards. But it’s been sitting on a shelf since then. I remembered the basic outline of the story, but had forgotten most of the details. It was clearly time to rewatch it.

We meet Sandy (Olivia Newton John) on a beach in the United States, saying a long farewell to her holiday romance boyfriend, Danny (John Travolta). These principal actors must have been 30 and 24 respectively, but are quite believable as 17-year-olds about to embark on their final year of high school. 

Sandy is Australian, and expects to return home with her parents. But plans change, and she enrols at the local high school, not knowing that it’s the one attended by Danny. But he’s in a group of friends who are quite tough and don’t treat girls particularly well, so when they do finally meet, he’s distant and abrupt with her. 

I had forgotten what a ‘teenage’ film this is, reminding me at times of ‘Mean girls’, but without the humour or thought-provoking subplots. 

Sandy is considered very ‘pure’, and dresses like someone a bit younger. But she’s a likeable character, and makes friends with Frenchie (Didi Conn) and is accepted by others in Frenchie’s group, though I never really distinguished them or recalled any of their names. They somewhat make fun of her at first, and one of them - who tends to be promiscuous - doesn’t much like her at all.

Until we saw ‘Mean girls’, I hadn’t understood that American high school students organise themselves into different groups - sporty ones, nerdy ones, weird ones and so on. Indeed, I assumed it was fictional until more than one American friend told me that these groups really do exist. Sandy is happy to have friends but seems oblivious to the undercurrents of the groups, as I probably would have been in her shoes. 

Danny, on the other hand, seems rather insecure, as do his friends (and I never figured out any of their names). They’re rather crude, and three of them keep making apparent jokes but I didn’t find them funny. Perhaps I wasn’t supposed to.

So the main plot is a low-key romance that goes wrong; it also follows, to some extent, the ambitions and actions of some of the groups involved. Danny’s group restore an old car and take part in an unofficial race; Sandy’s group experiment with make-up. It’s very stereotyped. 

The film is actually a musical - I believe it was based on a stage show - so there are songs, every so often, disrupting the action. They’re well done, and there’s some great dancing that is never so long that it becomes boring. At the end is the classic, ‘You’re the one that I want’ with excellent choreography.

When I watched it a couple of decades ago, I can recall being disappointed in the ending - that Sandy feels the need to change personality and outfits in order to fit in. This time it seemed to fit with the rest of the superficiality of the characters. 

I’m glad we rewatched ‘Grease’, and can see why it was such a hit. It may still appeal to some teenagers. But it’s quite a basic and obvious storyline, with some very shallow characters, so it’s not one I’m likely to want to watch again.

The rating is PG; that reflects the lack of anything explicit, although there are some implicit scenes that would go over the heads of younger children. There's some tension, too, and some mild bad language. I doubt if young children would find it interesting, though. It would be of more interest to older children or teens, as it's very much a teenage story.  

There are a few extras, but we’d had enough by the time the film finished, so we didn’t watch them. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's DVD Reviews