Flicks you skipped: ‘Grease’ : NPR

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

And now it can be time for flicks you skipped.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

HUMPHREY BOGART: (As Rick Blaine) Here is wanting at you, kid.

CLARK GABLE: (As Rhett Butler) Frankly, my dear, I never give a damn.

MARLON BRANDO: (As Terry Malloy) I could have been a contender.

BETTE DAVIS: (As Margo) Fasten your seat belts.

CUBA GOODING JR.: (As Frank Sachs) Exhibit me the money.

ROBERT DE NIRO: (As Travis Bickle) You talking to me?

ESTELLE REINER: (As More mature Girl Consumer) I am going to have what she’s getting.

OPRAH WINFREY: (As Sofia) I ain’t in no way believed I experienced to struggle in my very own property.

BRANDO: (As Stanley) Stella.

SIMON: This week, souped-up cars and trucks, poodle skirts, large school drama and a great musical rating.

(SOUNDBITE OF Tune, “GREASED LIGHTNIN'”)

JOHN TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko, singing ) Go Greased Lightnin’. You are burning up the quarter-mile.

JEFF CONAWAY ET AL: (As the T-Birds, singing) Greased Lightnin’, go Greased Lightnin’.

SIMON: “Grease,” the 1978 musical with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as sweethearts at Rydell Significant in the ’50s, a musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. You know it, ideal? Who won’t? Nicely, Dori Bell of Houston in no way saw “Grease,” but she watched it for us this week. First of all, Dori Bell, thanks so significantly for remaining with us.

DORI BELL: Thank you for possessing me. I enjoy it.

SIMON: How did you overlook “Grease”?

BELL: Properly, when we had been escalating up – I grew up in rural southwest Louisiana. And we had an antenna. And we experienced just one local Television set channel that we would watch. And then we performed exterior most of the time. So if it wasn’t Saturday morning cartoons or, you know, a series on NBC, we missed it – or a Disney movie. We watched pretty a several Disney flicks. But yeah, form of missed us.

SIMON: You saw it with this dialogue in thoughts this 7 days. What was your rapid in general effect?

BELL: When I first concluded it, I was like, what did I just view? (Laughter) Like, I considered it was so peculiar. And I thought it was seriously odd. And it was not at all what I thought it was likely to be. But I will say that when I went to mattress that evening, I was singing the music in my head, and the music variety of received stuck with me and…

SIMON: Ha.

BELL: …Stuff like that. So I did like the music. Some of the tracks I considered were being rather good.

SIMON: Effectively, which is a excellent sign. Permit me talk to you about some of the fantastic factors mainly because more than the a long time, several people today have reported some of the actors who performed higher college college students appeared like alternatively they should really have been in “On Golden Pond”…

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: …That they just glimpse way too outdated to enjoy higher university young ones. Did you notice that?

BELL: I completely found that. I took some notes. And one particular of the initially notes I wrote was, these folks are way way too outdated to be in higher college, dot, dot, dot. And then later on in the film, when – I think they are at the dance…

SIMON: Yeah.

BELL: …And that other man will come in, who’s, like, from a rival large university or what ever. He walks in. I virtually claimed to myself, that is a grown male.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Effectively, it’s possible he just experienced complications finding via large college, Okay?

BELL: Yeah.

SIMON: It transpires to some of us.

BELL: I was like, who are these people today?

SIMON: Oh, my word. What about John Travolta? A single of the excellent movie dancers of all time, correct?

BELL: I truly preferred his dancing. I favored – I appreciated observing him dance. I am a major lover of “Saturday Night time Fever.”

SIMON: Oh, yeah.

BELL: So I considered he was a little bit goofy by the motion picture. I imply, all the characters are. Like, that was one of the notes that I took. I assumed all people was kind of goofy via the complete factor.

(SOUNDBITE OF Film, “GREASE”)

TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko) Sandy, what’s a issue with you? I considered I intended a little something to you.

(SOUNDBITE OF Car or truck Doorway SLAMMING)

TRAVOLTA: (As Sandy Olsson) Meant a thing to you? You consider I am heading to remain in this article with you in this sin wagon? You can take this piece of tin.

TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko) Sandy, you just cannot wander out of a travel-in!

BELL: But I genuinely enjoyed viewing him dance. That was a whole lot of exciting.

SIMON: Olivia Newton-John?

BELL: She was my favourite. Really, I wrote that down. Like, she was my favorite character. I imagined she was really grounded. I considered she was probably the most actual out of all the people. And I really liked her singing voice. And I considered she was extremely rather. I preferred her a good deal.

SIMON: Yeah. So what did you assume of the songs? I have a most loved, but I’m likely to conceal it from you for a second.

BELL: I basically seriously appreciated the opening track, the one particular that’s overlayed on the cartoon when it opens. I appreciated that tune.

SIMON: Yeah, I like that music, far too. Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF Track, “GREASE”)

FRANKIE VALLI: (Singing) I noticed my challenges, and I’ll see the light-weight. We acquired a lovin’ thing. We bought to feed it appropriate.

BELL: Yeah. I appreciated that 1. But then I also appreciated the – “You might be The A single That I Want.”

(SOUNDBITE OF Tune, “You might be THE 1 THAT I WANT”)

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN AND JOHN TRAVOLTA: (As Sandy and Danny, singing) You might be the one that I want – ooh, ooh, ooh – honey – the just one that I want – ooh, ooh, ooh – honey.

BELL: I have listened to it prior to in karaoke bars at, like, 2 in the morning. But, like, I have never ever read it in the context of the movie. And I seriously loved it with the dance scene and the complete, like, carnival thing. Like…

SIMON: Yeah.

BELL: …I favored that a large amount. That was possibly my most loved scene in the movie.

SIMON: All appropriate. I bought to inform you my beloved music.

BELL: Yeah. What is actually your favorite tune?

SIMON: My beloved song is “Summer time Nights.”

(SOUNDBITE OF Song, “Summer time Nights”)

TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko, singing) Summer season lovin’, experienced me a blast.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: (As Sandy Olsson, singing) Summer season lovin’, happened so quickly.

TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko, singing) I met a lady insane for me.

NEWTON-JOHN: (As Sandy Olsson, singing) Fulfilled a boy adorable as can be.

NEWTON-JOHN AND TRAVOLTA: (As Sandy and Danny, singing) Summertime days drifting away to, uh-oh, these summer time nights.

BELL: She sounds so fantastic on that. Yeah.

SIMON: Sure, isn’t going to she? Yeah. I like that tune. Would you look at it yet again?

BELL: Probably not (laughter). I would check out clips on YouTube if…

SIMON: Oh.

BELL: …I preferred to revisit some selected scenes, like the dancing at the stop. If I wished to see it yet again, I would rewatch it. I would not sit via the complete motion picture once more, while. No.

SIMON: Allow me – because you are, I consider, a really perceptive critic, did you uncover a significant be aware about human civilization and human knowledge in “Grease”?

BELL: Of course. And truly…

SIMON: You did? I was inquiring the issue as a joke. But permit me hear this. Alright.

BELL: Sure. And the reason I say that is simply because I didn’t think the movie was extremely very good total.

SIMON: Yeah.

BELL: I can see why individuals like it. But I failed to know the musical preceded the movie. I assumed that it was a movie, and then they created it a musical. I didn’t know it was a musical beforehand. So I really did not know if perhaps when you go see the musical, possibly if it is sort of one of all those points the place it truly is a engage in on, you know, superior university and the working experience and how you can be from somewhere else, and you arrive to superior faculty and it can be all the very same. Like, she’s from Australia. There is no mention of society shock in any respect for her. Like, she’s thrown into this enjoy tale, you know? And there is certainly all these, like, petty fights and matters like that. So definitely, I was like, probably that’s what they’re stating. Like, that is variety of what I got from it.

SIMON: Aw. That is pretty reflective. I…

BELL: I’m reaching. I am reaching for this means in this article (laughter).

SIMON: Well, welcome to our globe.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Which is the task often. Dori Bell of Houston, who viewed “Grease” for us and mirrored on it – thank you so much for getting with us.

BELL: Thank you for acquiring me. It was so great meeting y’all.

SIMON: And if there is certainly a movie you’ve got missed and you would like to look at it for us, you can go to n.pr/moviesyoumissed.

(SOUNDBITE OF Tune, “WE GO Alongside one another”)

NEWTON-JOHN AND TRAVOLTA: (As Sandy and Danny, singing) We go collectively like ramma lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong, remembered forever like shoo-wop sha whada whadda yippidy boom da increase, chang chang, changity chang shoo bop.

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