Rebecca Redshaw

“Grease”
1978
“I got chills/They’re multiplyin’/And I’m losing control/Cause the power you’re supplying/It’s electrifyin’.”
Maybe not one of the greatest lines in cinematic history, but one of the most identifiable.
Danny Zucko (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) had a “summer love” and now it’s time to go back to high school. Greeting the new girl are the Pink Ladies, led by Rizzo (Stockard Channing), and Kenickie (Jeff Conaway), a greaser friend of Danny.
Whether you were a teenager in 1978 or a teenager now, the staying power of “Grease” is as durable as, well, the grease in Danny’s hair.
Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, the movie made changes hoping for a broader appeal: adding new songs (including an opening animated number written by Barry Gibb of the then-popular BeeGees) and casting Newton-John, who topped the record charts in the 1970s. The changes worked.
Not exactly “Romeo & Juliet,” the plot is based on two young lovers trying to fit in and the music makes it fun. It doesn’t hurt to cast comic legends Eve Arden and Sid Caesar along with 1950s teen idol Frankie Avalon as “The Teen Angel.”
“Grease” was the first feature directed by Randy Kleiser and it went on to become one of the most successful movie musicals ever made.* Now with the advent of the experience of the “Sing-a-Long Grease”** movie events (where audiences are encouraged to be vocal), who knows how many more generations will enjoy the “chills” that are multiplyin’?
*The budget for “Grease” was $6 million. The estimated gross worldwide is almost $380 million.
** For more information on a local screening, check the Olympic Theatre Arts website http://olympic-theatre.tripod.com/ and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce website www.sequimchamber.com/listing/olympic-theatre -arts/.

“Win Win”
2011
If you don’t know Thomas McCarthy, allow me to introduce you to one of the best writer/directors of the past decade. In between his first feature, “The Station Agent” (2003), followed by the equally charming and insightful film, “The Visitor” (2007), McCarthy spent time as a working actor whose face you may have difficulty putting with the name. No matter.
It’s been four years since his last feature and McCarthy’s work once again graces the screen. “Win Win” is a grown-up movie about a sad high school wrestling team coached by Mike (Paul Giamatti). Actually, the coach is sad, too, because his law practice is floundering, his wife is busy with his two young daughters and there’s not enough money coming in to cover things like basic utilities or pay essential bills like health insurance.
Mike’s legal client, Leo (Burt Young) is suffering from early onset dementia, so Mike decides to assume guardianship to help with his nonexistent cash flow. When Leo’s teenage grandson arrives on the doorstep, Mike’s fortunes change. The boy, at first uncommunicative, turns out to be a champion wrestler and the plot thickens.
McCarthy has assembled an excellent supporting cast. Along with Young, Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor round out the “coaching” staff, Amy Ryan (Academy Award nominee for her stellar work in “Gone Baby Gone”) plays Mike’s tough New Jersey wife with a heart of gold. Almost stealing the picture is Alex Shaffer, making his film debut as the young wrestler with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Win Win” is exactly that — a funny, thoughtful romp in the lives of a mélange of characters who are brought to life by an excellent cast and, oh, yes, writer/director Tom McCarthy, a name to remember.

“Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”
2009
Whether you, your mother or your grandmother remembers the black-and-white sitcom, “The Goldbergs,” the documentary “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is a walk down memory lane and an excellent history lesson. The documentary has ample footage of Gertrude Berg, the creator of what became her alter ego, Molly Goldberg. Berg’s charm and sophistication seemed no less genuine than her character’s ability to relate to all levels of society, first on the radio beginning in 1929 (and running daily for 17 years) and then introducing the situation comedy format to television audiences in 1949.
Berg wrote and acted in every episode and her lifetime accumulation of scripts totaled more than 12,000.
Noted relatives and distinguished guests comment throughout the movie, including current Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, NPR commentator Susan Stamberg and Norman Lear, producer and creator of ground-breaking sitcoms himself. Clips of Edward R. Murrow’s interview at the height of Berg’s career are edited throughout.
But what looms so amazing about Berg’s accomplishments is the time in history when she succeeded. In the 1930s, anti-Semitism was on the rise, city neighborhoods were “unofficially” segregated by their ethnicity and women were not readily embraced in any workplace, including the entertainment industry. But Gertrude Berg never blinked. She was the first woman to win an Emmy as Best Actress and she won a Tony for her dramatic performance on Broadway in “A Majority of One.”
“Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is not only an enjoyable history lesson but also a reminder of what an individual can accomplish with intelligence and determination.

Rebecca Redshaw is an author and playwright who worked for 25 years in the film industry in Los Angeles. Copies of her book, SOFA CINEMA: An Easy Guide to DVDs, may be purchased at the Sequim Gazette. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.