Welcome to 1950's Rydell High School for those white kids in their late 20's/early thirties.

A bit like Porky's without the penis jokes, and with lots of chart topping music: Go chicks go!

A skinny, untanned, John Travolta (Danny) before he got 'that body'. Olivia Newton John plays goody two-shoes Sandra Dee.

Boy meets girl on romantically lit, orchestra-accompanied flashback to beach-summer holiday... but when they get back to school, Danny tells everyone she's a hot chick, she tells her friends he is a 'gentleman'. Oops.. Then they meet...

Sandra is a nook (we think this is 1950's Australian speak for an innocent, but can't be sure) so she decides to have a bad girl makeover to get her man (and thus sewing the seeds for daytime makeover shows well into the next millennium.)

"Oh, for those wonderfully innocent High School slumber parties that I am still technically prevented from watching in my binoculars by that annoying court order."

"Oh, back to a time when the term hand jive had an innocent tone. Or was it just we hadn't met with bad boy masturbation yet?"

"Bravisimo for a production so innocent, so filled to the brim with top chart music of the 1970's. Indeed, it is almost a complete soundtrack of a typical retro 1970's reunion school disco, but there's not a Bee Gee in sight, wonderful!"

"Is this the first all-of-the-family movie to deal with split condoms and blond wig-wearing without the blond jokes? Oh, such wonderfully innocent times."

"John Travolta confused a whole generation of boys who, after this movie, believed they could wear white socks with black trousers and shoes with impunity. Apart from that he was the coolest of cats, if a little skinny."

"Some of the cleanest motor mechanics in Hollywood history."

"Sid Caesar, as the coach, had such perfect lips to blow on that whistle so. A triumph!"

"I saw a black guy at the dance! How did that happen? Did he sneak in the back?"

"The accuracy of the National Bandstand production annoyed me so. Back in the 1950's TV cameras were the size of a average size SUV, they could only be moved by a small elephant. How could this scene have happened in real life? I want my money back."

Danny eventually accepts that she is 'the one that he wants' and they go off into the sunset bonking like bunny rabbits. (Not really, folks). This is good, wholesome, all of the family entertainment - even take your dog!

A must see, if only as an excuse to sing-a-long to a musical in the cinema. Take your whole family to watch 'our' Sandy falling so hopelessly in love with everyone's favorite bad boy John Travolta - even old Aunt Mable who hasn't been out of the house for years will be humming along in all of the quiet places within ten minutes of the lights going down.

One of those pop-musicals which everyone remembers who actually went to the cinema in the late 1970's (not that there were many of those then), before John Travolta's bad-boy image baddened another level when he played characters who took heroin without remorse (Pulp Fiction).

A sweet, chewy, bubbly-gum movie peppered with moments of the mildest of satirical comment on youth: Wunderbarr! Yes, I remember those High School dances well. Just like from my own recollections, a combination of hand jiving and professional wrestling - without the ladders and buckets!

"That's my name don't wear it out."

"You're the one that I want oooo oooo oooo."

"Is that all it takes, 15 minutes?"

Five packs of bubble gum.

As if in a traditional 'Happy Days' coffee shop seat-and-table of the 1950's (ie at perfect right-angles).

Whilst there are a few back-flips in this movie, there are not nearly enough.

This could be due to the amounts of bubble gum consumed during the production. A missed opportunity, but at least nobody choked to death.

Watch out for the worst lip synching in movie history in the Frankie Avalon, Beauty School Drop Out, number (don't fear: his lips catch up by the end.)

Remember that the FBI can trace you if they have a picture of your bare naked butt. Therefore, attempt not to show it off in front of nationally televised audiences.

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Tarantula spiders will copy most of the dance steps, especially the bit when that guy off Taxi does the suggestive hand jigging on the floor. Ensure enough small crunchy tarantula food is on hand for snacking purposes.

Rare sleepy-eyed Persian cats may watch with one eye open. The cat family are all fans of Olivia Newton John in her innocent incarnation. However, they may be frightened by the frizzy haired Newton John at the end - ensure a saucer of milk is on hand at all times.

Tropical fish with sharp pointy fins could become stuck in some of the more leafy underwater foliage during the dance scenes. Ensure a pair of tweezers are on hand for emergencies.

A teddy bear with an Elvis hair cut.

No. It did win awards for the blowing of bubble gum bubbles however.

An almost harmless movie-mixture of romance and bubble gum. A just slightly offensive, wholesome family experience. A profitable antidote to the outrageously cheap fashions of the time (the late 1970's) which included punk.

The music is singable, and today it can be played at High School reunion type disco's of the 1970's where everyone is guaranteed to know the words, and possibly some dance steps, although the more erotic hand jiving scenes may only be attempted after too much alcohol.

Had we reviewed this at the time of its release we would have put it in the popcorn strand... But it has weathered the test of time well, probably due to the fact that you can see a young John Travolta in his pre-iconic singy-dancy days.

Stockard Channing also puts in an engaging performance; she must have been about 30 in this movie (still at High School babe?)

Olivia Newton John could not have been more perfectly cast.

September 26, 2002