Has anyone not seen the movie Grease? Well, maybe some people. For me, it holds the distinction of being the *very first movie* I ever saw at the movies with my friends. That means my parents dropped me off and picked me up, but I got to watch the movie with my friends. In other words, Grease made History in my Personal History Book. I loved it so much that I saw it two times at the theatre, bought the record, and my best friend and I choreographed a dance routine to Greased Lightning and took 3rd place in the local talent show. Yeah, that movie is a Stand Out for me. I do believe that I posted early on about my love for Cher as a young person. I loved her songs, her hair, and even pretended to be her with the help of a towel (for my hair). I pretty much felt the same way about Olivia Newton-John after Grease.
Nicole, over at The Madlab Post Blog, is back at it with her regular Monday Feature at the movies. Today she is asking everyone to think about characters who smoke in the movies. This is not a brain bender. Of course, everyone smoked in the movies in the 1950s and 1960s... just like so many people were doing in real life. It was still fairly prevalent in the 1970s. All kinds of smoking go for this meme... that means cigarettes, cigars, and even weed.
I am choosing Grease because it is a movie done in the 1970s about the 1950s. Of course, almost everyone smoked. The smoking was a "sign of the times." Cigarettes were not known by any of their current monikers. No one called them cancer sticks, for instance. In fact, the opposite was true. Smoking was considered classy and sophisticated. In the 50s, the marketing was still working fabulously. Who smoked? Rich people. Successful people. Movie stars. Who didn't smoke? Naive people. The unsophisticated. In other words, smoking didn't have any negative social stigma attached to it yet. And no one had an inkling that it HARMED you in any way.
I love this clip of Sandy attempting to pull off her her show of joining the club of the elite. She is "moving on up." She is about to nab her man and let him know that she is no longer a naive little girl. First up in her bag of tricks: I have mastered smoking... sort of.
This is an excellent use of smoking as a plot device because it works. She has no idea what she is doing and it SHOWS. She is completely out of her element with that cigarette. And that is how every movie should use any prop, be it a cigarette, or anything else... deliberately.
For the record, Danny loved Sandy before she was all big hair, skin tight black clothing, and a smoker. When the furor dies down he will still love her. He loved the girl from Summer Nights. She is the one who is real... even though this is a great song. And Olivia Newton-John totally pulled off the outfit...
What movie can you think of that used smoking as a plot device really well? Did you see Grease and love it or hate it? Was there a movie from your youth that goes down as a Stand Out for you?
