Grease (1978)

A summer romance can seem like the real thing, until school starts and everyone's trying to fit in. Randal Kleiser's "Grease," adapted from the hit Broadway musical, rode the wave of 1950s nostalgia that swept America in the 1970s, fueled by TV's "Happy Days" and George Lucas' "American Graffiti," and became both a box-office smash and a cultural phenomenon. Its bright colors, campy, irresistible songs, including "Greased Lightnin'," "Summer Nights," "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "You're the One That I Want," and its splashy, widescreen musical numbers are essential to its appeal. Without them, the film would have to rely on a silly, cliché-filled plot we've seen countless times. As it is, this episodic story of the romantic ups and downs of a group of high school seniors at Rydell High in 1958 remains fresh, fun and wonderfully inventive. John Travolta, fresh from "Saturday Night Fever," plays Danny Zuko, the cocky leader of the leather-jacketed T-Birds, who fell for sweet, wholesome Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), a newcomer from Australia, over the summer. When Sandy turns up at his school, Danny struggles to balance his tough-guy image with his true feelings. The lively young cast brings chemistry and energy to the material. Travolta struts, swaggers, sings and dances with star charisma, and Newton-John is charming as the innocent Sandy. But it's Stockard Channing who nearly steals the film as Rizzo, the sharp-tongued, tough-as-nails leader of the Pink Ladies. Didi Conn and Jeff Conaway co-star, and Frankie Valli sings the title song.