You can't walk out of a drive-in!"The lower-half of a double bill with Dirty Dancing at the Carolina Theatre. It was merely a coincidence that Olivia Newton-John's tragic passing coincided with this screening, but the classy programmer offered a toast and included a brief tribute before the opening credits. After a few sniffles, we were ready to launch into the movie that broke box office records and briefly brought the movie musical roaring back after a decade of gargantuan flops. I'm looking at you, Lost Horizon and Sgt. Pepper.
Watching the amusing documentary The Fabulous Allan Carr is a solid reminder of how the flamboyant producer's kooky sensibilities briefly synced-up perfectly with a nation hungry for a fluffy, fun distraction from the wreckage of Vietnam, Watergate, and the energy crisis. Carr got the lion's share of the credit and became a major Hollywood player while director Randal Kleiser, who'd go on to make a handful of other biggies like The Blue Lagoon and Flight of the Navigator (a personal favorite) was brushed aside, despite being responsible for guiding a film that could easily have spun way out of control due to a massive cast and complicated production numbers.
The musical sequences themselves are truly the highlight. In fact, Grease tends to wander a bit in its second half and only huge set pieces like "Hand Jive," "You're the One that I Want," and "We Go Together," gloriously staged by Patricia Birch and photographed by ace DP Bill Butler, keep it from going off the rails. The cast is funny (Stockard Channing is particularly saucy) and committed to the loony, occasionally camp energy, and Newton-John and John Travolta are ideal leads. Especially Travolta who, thanks to seeing this on the big screen, exemplifies what it means to have 'star power.' You can't take your eyes off of him and he knows exactly how to play a scene; even his physical comedy stuff is pretty damn funny. Grease is STILL the word.
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