Discover the most popular movie the year you were born

1978 – Grease

Grease is a summertime musical hit, but it doesn’t come without its issues. For avid fans, the film based on the stage musical offers good time vibes and carefree songs. For those who recognize the many problematic lyrics and scenes, Grease is a reminder of how much cinema, and society, has changed (granted, we still got a long ways to go, folks).

John Travolta plays Danny Zuko, our lead greaser, and Olivia Newton-John plays Sandy, the innocent girl from Australia. When Danny and Sandy fall in love one summer, they think that’s the end of their relationship. But then Sandy moves to Rydell High, she’s reunited with Danny and they struggle to figure out how their relationship will work with Danny’s friends.

The whole thing ends with a car driving off into the sunset. Sorry, drive is the wrong word. It flies.

Love, laughter, and their senior year, the kids of Rydell high are all clearly adults playing teenagers. If we can get past essentially all of the issues of the film, we can admire Newton-John’s adorable Jeff Conway playing Kenickie.

While the film was super popular during its time, we know better now than to sing summer anthems if they have lyrics like, “Did she put up a fight?”