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GREASE
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1978
Rated: PG
Film Length: 110 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (2.35:1)
Subtitles: English & Spanish
Grease is the word!
Well, it took long enough! For over five years
DVD fans have been patiently awaiting the release
of GREASE on DVD. The blame shouldn't go
to Paramount however --- the DVD was actually
slated to be their very first release to the format
back in 1998. The problem? A lawsuit by Olivia
Newton-John over the song rights held up the
release for four years. Now, finally, Grease
is finally THE WORD!
If you think about the most fondly remembered films
of the 70s era, Grease goes near the top of
the list. Not only was it one of the top box
office draws in 1978, but it made 70s icons out of
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The enduring
popularity of the 50s songs kept the film's
soundtrack at the top of the charts for decades to
follow.
The film begins during the Summer of '58 as Danny
(Travolta) and Sandy (Newton-John) pledge their
love to each other and say goodbye for the Summer,
as Sandy leaves for Australia. As fate would have
it, her parents decide to stay in America and
she finds herself attending the same school as
Danny. Instead of the romantic Danny she met
at the beach, Sandy finds a tough-talking member
of the greaser gang "The T-Birds." Sandy, a sweet
innocent Sandra Dee-type, cannot believe Danny is
the same person she met over the summer.
Filled with song, dance, and dialogue, the film
follows the couple and their vivacious friends
during their last year at Rydell High. There's
Rizzo (Stockard Channing), the Pink Ladies leader;
Kenickie (Jeff Conaway) a tough-talkin' T-Bird;
and Frenchie (Didi Conn), an aspiring beautician.
A rival gang Scorpions want to race the T Birds
car and a National Dance TV show is coming to
Rydell High. What a year to graduate!
GREASE arrives in the most unusual
combination of cardboard packaging with plastic
hub housing that holds the DVD. Beneath the
housing is a picture of Olivia and Travolta
dressed in black.
In the corner left pocket sits a 16-page
colorful songbook. Here you will find
the lyrics to every song from the film complete
with a photo from that song. You'll be happy
to know that none of the racy lyrics from "Greased
Lightening" have been cleaned up.
How is the transfer?
Upon watching this film, I got a little nervous.
The first five minutes of the film doesn't look
exceptionally good. You'll notice a barrage of
blemishes amidst the film's opening with Danny
and Sandy on the beach. These problems continue
with the film's dirty and scratchy opening
animated sequence. In defense of Paramount, I
would put the blame on the source material, but
someone should have taken the time to clean this
up. Following those credits, however, the film
suddenly changes for the better.
What I suddenly found myself watching was a
drop-dead gorgeous transfer of this film unlike
I had ever seen before on any previous format.
Here is this immaculate, well detailed transfer,
enriched with gorgeous, vivid colors. The pink
ladies' jackets have never look so pink -- and
Danny's athletic shirt and ball cap have never
looked so red. The deep jet-black levels of
Travolta's hair, T-shirt and jacket have never
looked so black, adding texture to this film
that I never knew existed. Flesh tones are
amazingly accurate and colors remain stable
throughout. There is a certain amount of film
noise present, reminding you of the age of this
film. Most of the problems are with any shot that
involve bright blue skies. It is there that you
see the transfer's limitations. The darker night
scenes lose none of its fine details. This
transfer falls just short of perfection and you
sort of get the feeling that this transfer could
have been perfect if it were done today instead
of 4 years ago.
Having never been originally recorded in 5.1
digital surround, the mix has its limitations.
This mix actually has two main modes here. The
first is what I will refer to as the dialogue
mode. It is here where the dialogue and action
rest mainly in the center channel with limited
dynamic range. The rears provide a few low-level
ambient noises such as crowd effects during a
pep rally or patrons in a malt shop. Then there's
what I will refer to as the music mode. Here is
where the front channels suddenly come in out of
nowhere with musical numbers that have been
overdubbed with enhanced recording. These musical
numbers are full of deep-heavy bass and wide
dynamic range with excellent detail and stereo
separation in the front channels. Unfortunately,
the rears provide nothing more than low-level
echo and the LFE channel is almost non-existent.
I still found myself tapping my feet along to
such hits as Summer Nights and Hand
Jive -- and wait until you hear how wonderful
We Go Together comes across the front
channels.
Special Features
I am a little saddened that so little has
been included for a DVD we waited 4-5 long
years for. It's almost if Paramount had these
DVDs sitting in the vault for all these years
and have issued them in exactly the same form
they were in at that time. I say that because
everything about this DVD is rather vanilla,
as if we went back in time to 1998 when DVD
was still in its infancy and there was hardly
such a thing as a Special Edition.
The DVD begins with an awfully plain menu
structure. I dunno, perhaps I was expecting
something a little more from a title this big.
Then there's the question of the supplemental
featurette that celebrates the 20th Anniversary
of Grease. 20th Anniversary? That puts us
back to the DVDs original planned release date
of 1998. In any event, this is a pretty decent
retrospect that reunites all the principle cast
members and people involved with the film. The
impression you get from Travolta, Newton-John and
Stockard Channing is that filming Grease was
like being at one big party. Travolta specifically
talks about how he wanted to play a greaser all
his life. Olivia talks about the totally different
standards of schooling she had in Australia (as
compared to Rydell High). Producer Alan Carr talks
about Travolta having the perfect combinations for
the part of Danny, full of charisma and a great
dancer to boot. Olivia Newton-John recalls her
first meeting Travolta at her home, and being very
nervous about taking the part. A screen test with
both actors showed without a doubt that there was
the right chemistry between them. And how were
the actors chosen for their roles? Director
Randal Kleiser and Producer Alan Karr talk about
how inspiration led them to selection. There
isn't much here shown from behind-the-camera
except for a few publicity shots and perhaps mere
seconds of footage. We do, however, get a small
look at the film's premiere at Grauman's Chinese
Theater. Not a bad retrospective, but 4 years
too late.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
The film's original theatrical trailer is
also included.
Final Thoughts
After so many years of waiting for the release
of this DVD, I sort of feel let down. This is
one of Paramount's most requested titles of all
time, and yet, aside from the transfer, the disc
is sort of lackluster.
Personally, I would have opted to wait another
year if it meant a release that contained a
commentary, perhaps some deleted scenes, or
even a brand new retrospect for its 25th
anniversary. I believe that part of the problem
could be is that what we have here was originally
intended for release back in '98 when DVDs had
very little supplemental material added to them.
Still, who is going to pass up buying Grease?
Nobody! This would certainly still be the hottest
selling DVD of the year even if it was sold in a
paper bag. It's one of those films that go down
as smooth as a soda shop malt.
Release Date: September 24, 2002
