"ramma lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong"

Grease stars John Travolta (Welcome Back Kotter, Saturday Night Fever, Look Who's Talking 1-3, Pulp Fiction, Face/Off, Battlefield Earth, The Punisher, Bolt) and Olivia Newton-John (Xanadu, Sordid Lives) as Greaser Danny Zuko and sweet and innocent Australian exchange student Sandy Olsson. The pair had met during the summer before their senior year in high school, and as summer has just drawn to a close, they reminisce in song about their romance that they both thought wouldn't last past the summer, as Sandy was supposed to return home to Australia. As it turns out, Sandy appears at Danny's high school and while they both clearly want nothing better than to be together again, they each are too mired in trying to preserve their reputations to acheive this easily in any public way, so in staying cool or chaste in front of others they instead push each other away until, come graduation, they finally meet in the middle and *SPOILERS* …exit the movie in a flying car.

Grease also stars stage superstar Stockard Channing (Batman Beyond, The West Wing) as Betty Rizzo and Jeff Conaway (Taxi, Babylon 5) as grease monkey Kenickie, Didi Conn (Grease 2, Benson) as Frenchie, and various era icons Frankie Avalon (The Alamo, Beach Blanket Bingo, Fantasy Island, Renegade), Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks, Grease 2), Dody Goodman (Grease 2, Splash 1 & 2, Alvin & the Chipmunks), Lorenzo Lamas (Fantasy Island, Renegade, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus), Eddie Deezen (Grease 2, WarGames, Punky Brewster, Dexter's Laboratory) and Sid Caesar (Grease 2, Vegas Vacation, Comic Book: The Movie).

I didn't see Grease in the theaters for it's intitial, or for that matter any release, but cable TV brought it into my life not long after, and by the time I was cast in the play in high school I was at least familiar with the songs, characters and plot. Of course I was a skinny guy cast as Roger, a character that was supposed to be fat playing opposite a skinny Jan who was also supposed to be fat. Roger was changed to "Putzie" in the movie who sang a song that wasn't in the movie at all. Even so, this musical transcends character types and most importantly stands the test of time. Even after over 30 years, the original film still holds up musically and thematically.

Extras
Song-wise, Grease is like Sandy's outfit in the final scene: stuffed full of joy. While I'll always be mooning for the omitted "Mooning", this film version of Grease has a ton of singable songs that still hold up over 30 years later, which is why it's awesome that now we finally have Grease in Dolby Digital True-HD Audio, not to mention the clearest video we've ever seen at 1080p HD resolution. Extras on this Blu-ray edition include:

• Commentary
• Rydell Sing-Along – Kareoke lyrics just in case you don't already know absolutely every lyric already!
• 11 Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes – But they're in black and white, which is kind of disappointing on a Blu-ray edition.
• A Musical Reunion and Grease Memories with John and Olivia filmed at the first DVD release event in 2002.
• The Moves Behind the Music – with choreographer Patricia Birch.
• Thunder Roadsters – a hot rod featurette

ComicsOnline gives Grease – Rockin' Rydell Edition on Blu-ray 5 out of 5 T-Birds Forever!