A Few Words About A few words about…™ Grease — in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

What a welcome review (especially in terms of the audio).

Would you suppose they use the same transfer for the new standard Blu release?

I'm 99.9% sure both come from the same transfer. I compared the 2 and found them to strongly seem to stem from identical sources...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

No one brought it up yet, but the "blurred Coke signs" are gone - sort of.

One still exists in the background of a shot, but that's the only evidence of Coke.

Another Coke image just gets deleted, while other Coke signs are now Pepsi signs!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I would have rather they just left it the way it was, given that the crude alterations were part of the original prints. This solution might seem sleeker, but it still reeks of revisionism.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I would have rather they just left it the way it was, given that the crude alterations were part of the original prints. This solution might seem sleeker, but it still reeks of revisionism.

I guess. This seems like something along the lines with removing the reflection of the snake in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to me, though - fixing something that technology couldn't correct at the time.

It remains unclear to me whether or not the film ever ran with the Coke signs intact. Many people claim it didn't, but I found this picture.

Maybe this was Photoshopped, but it not, it offers evidence that the film ran without blurs:

 

[Mike Frezon]

I can't remember that scene (if the Coke ad was on the wall)...but I seem to remember a huge Coke sign behind the bleachers at the school (maybe during the Summer Nights sequence?).

I haven't kept up with this discussion about home video releases of Grease (and Coke signage).

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I can't remember that scene (if the Coke ad was on the wall)...but I seem to remember a huge Coke sign behind the bleachers at the school (maybe during the Summer Nights sequence?).

I haven't kept up with this discussion about home video releases of Grease (and Coke signage).

I'm certainly no expert - I did an Internet search while I wrote my review.

The consensus seems to be that the producers had a deal with Pepsi and altered the Coke signs to honor that - though they still let one slip through.

Others claim that Coke wouldn't give the producers permission to show the Coke signs - rather than reshoot the scenes, they blurred them via pre-digital technology.

Many claim the changes were made before the movie ever hit screens in 1978, others say they didn't happen until the movie came out on video.

I have no answers for any of this - but I do know what I saw on the new Blu-ray and 4K!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

According to Kleiser, producer Allan Carr made a product placement deal with Pepsi but the set decorator never got notified. The disconnect didn't come to light until Carr started seeing Coke products in the dailies. They were forced to use crude optical printing techniques to hide the Coke references. My guess is that this happened after the film was color-timed, which is why that unblurred shot from Technicolor exists.

They couldn't come up with a method to hide the Coke cooler that wouldn't significantly detract from the scene, so they left it in and hoped that Pepsi wouldn't notice it (they didn't).

 

[TonyD]

I was going to skip this, but now....

"A Few Words..." posts always cost me a few dollars!

Me Too

 

[PMF]

No one brought it up yet, but the "blurred Coke signs" are gone - sort of.

One still exists in the background of a shot, but that's the only evidence of Coke.

Another Coke image just gets deleted, while other Coke signs are now Pepsi signs!

Thankfully, no one messed with the BD release of "One, Two, Three".

 

[Wayne_j]

Today's fathom event was strange. There was no Fathom pre-show, I was about to go downstairs to complain that something was wrong when the maskings suddenly opened and the movie started playing. There were no TCM host segments before or after the movie. The movie sounded great but the image could have been better. Not sure if it was a problem with the transfer or with the projector. The "Coke" signs were Pepsi signs.

 

[Mike Frezon]

There were no TCM host segments before or after the movie.

I was at a showing of I Can Only Imagine in East Greenbush, tonight, Wayne. There was a trailer for the Grease Fathom Event and they sure made it look like there'd be some participation by Ben Mankiewicz.

 

[Wayne_j]

My guess would be that they had some trouble receiving the content from Fathom and obtained a DCP of the movie instead.

 

[PMF]

I was at a showing of I Can Only Imagine in East Greenbush, tonight, Wayne. There was a trailer for the Grease Fathom Event and they sure made it look like there'd be some participation by Ben Mankiewicz.

Life without Ben would be difficult to Fathom.

 

[Carlo_M]

I have always been disappointed in the audio/video quality of prior Grease home video releases. As others have said, RAH's review has now guaranteed I'm going to buy this on 4K. Excited to see how great it can look now that they've gone back to the OCN.

 

[Daryl L]

I have the Blu-ray disc released in 2009 and I have the DVD that came in a little faux leather jacket released in 2006. Because I was always disappointed in the video quality and somewhat the sound quality of those releases I skipped the two following blu-ray releases. I was going to skip this 4k release because I figured it would just be a duplicate of the previous Blu-ray's just upscaled. But after reading this review I'm going to jump on this release. So glad to hear they went back and got a better video and audio version to release on 4k. And native 4k at that!

 

[warnerbro]

I'm thrilled to hear that they finally are correcting the horrible audio and picture on this fun film. I never get tired of watching it even though the technical quality was the worst. Can't wait for this! Thank you!

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Since I have the new Saturday Night Fever, now with this disc I can retire my SNF/ Grease combo Blu-ray ;-)

 

[David Weicker]

Has there been confirmation that the new Blu-Ray will have the corrected (I.e. original) audio?

 

[Will Krupp]

This will be my first 4K title!

 

[PMF]

This will be my first 4K title!

'cause its the one that Will wants...Ooo, ooo, ooo.
P.S. Mine was "The Revenant". It's electrifying.