31 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
31 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
the question isn't why has grease been reissued .
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the answer to that one is easy : to celebrate the movie's 20th anniversary and to make more bucks for paramount's coffers because john travolta is once again a hot commodity .
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no , the question that ought to be asked is : should grease be reissued ?
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the answer is not an easy one .
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grease is a fun movie , an entertaining fantasy of the '50s , embodying all the cliches of that era .
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the music is lively and the dance numbers , choreographed by patricia birch , are energetic and high-spirited .
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travolta was at his pinnacle as a sexual icon , cool , but non-threatening .
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but grease didn't break any new cinematic ground .
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it was not a milestone in movie history such as citizen kane or easy rider .
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what grease is - or has become - is the highest-grossing musical in film history .
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ok , let's not be a spoilsport .
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grease is a fun and entertaining movie , even though it stretches credulity to see such performers as travolta , olivia newton-john , taxi's jeff conaway and the multi-talented stockard channing try to act like high schoolers .
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it's nostalgic to recall how good a dancer travolta was , and it's sad to think of what could have been had not a few missteps sidetracked his career .
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he could have become a musical comedy star in the tradition of gene kelly .
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cinematically , the musical comedy has basically gone the way of the dinosaur .
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between grease and 1996's evita . , you can probably count the number of movie musicals on one hand .
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two reasons have contributed to the demise of the genre : the first is that movie audiences have become more sophisticated , no , make that cynical and jaded .
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today , if a character began to dance and sing with no orchestra in sight , he or she would probably be hooted off the screen .
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today's audiences lack the innocence , that belief in movie magic that is required for a musical to succeed .
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secondly , a lack of talent .
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performers with the charisma , the style , the larger-than-life panache of fred astaire , gene kelly , ginger rogers and judy garland are gone .
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most singers and dancers remain on the stage , and those who do succeed in movies usually wind up in serious dramatic parts .
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a good example is gregory hines , one of the greatest dancers in the world .
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he danced a bit in the cotton club , tap and white nights , but those were essentially dramatic vehicles .
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so , perhaps the reissue of grease can serve a purpose .
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if audiences show enough interest , meaning if the re-release earns the studio enough revenue , it may spark a revival in movie musicals .
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perhaps not original musicals such as singin' in the rain , an american in paris or seven brides for seven brothers , but for broadway properties that have been in the planning stages for film adaptations for several years .
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at one time or another , according to the industry rumor mill , hollywood has been set to create an animated version of andrew lloyd webber's cats , a filming of the popular phantom of the opera as well as les miserables and chicago , the latter reportedly to star madonna .
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so , let this grease be the forerunner of an armada of movie musicals .
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let grease be the word that sparks this revival .
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