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Grease (1978)

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NOTE: This commentary is only available on the September 2006 "Rockin' Rydell Edition".

Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director Randal Kleiser and choreographer Patricia Birch Rating:7.3/10 (3 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by The Cubist on November 29th, 2006:Find all reviews by The Cubist
He points out that the opening credit sequence originally had a different song but one of the producers managed the Bee Gees and got Barry Gibb to write a song but Kleiser felt that the lyrics were too dark. Many of the cast members were also involved in various incarnations of the stage production, including John Travolta and Jeff Conway who had originally played Danny. Birch had worked on the Broadway incarnation and talks about the differences between it and the movie while Kleiser tells a lot of filming anecdotes.
Reviewed by luvlee on June 11th, 2009:Find all reviews by luvlee
This commentary is poor. There are long pauses and minimal insider information disclosed. There is also an awkwardness between the director and the choreographer, as though they had differing opinions during the filming. The choreographer is true to the play and seems to dismiss anything that wasn't in the orignial play while the director tries to be diplomatic and prompt her for memories though she gives very little. It should have been a great commentary for a great movie.
Reviewed by Agressor on August 11th, 2013:Find all reviews by Agressor
I found this to be quite the decent commentary. True, Birch doesn't add much of value, often interrupting Kleiser to blurt out ŽLook there's JohnŽ or something equally inane. She does have unique insight into the stage-history of Grease though and provides some useful knowledge about what's been changed in the transition from stage to screen. She doesn't have total recall though and sometimes Kleiser seems to have better recollection than her about certain things.

Other than that it's an enjoyable journey through the production of Grease with them pointing out trivia (like what background actors became famous later), their own visions (Kleiser wanted a Ben-Hur like car-race) and mistakes that went unnoticed in the shooting (the light switch).

Basically, I had a good time listening to this commentary. It probably would've been better if Kleiser was alone or at least had someone else than Patricia Birch accompanying him but I'd still recommend this to anyone who likes Grease and would like to know more about it's history and production.
Reviewed by Magneat-o on August 18th, 2015:Find all reviews by Magneat-o
I would only repeat what aggressor said before me. Choreographer Patricia seems a little abrasive and often goes off on her own tangents. It's not quite a collaboration or conversation. Both her and the director seem to be content just pretending to listen to each other half of the time.