I’ve got chills. No disrespect to Val Guest’s “Toomorrow” (which I’ve never seen), but this was the world’s proper introduction to Olivia Newton-John, movie star. Travolta was a crush machine after “Saturday Night Fever,” but the minute Newton-John completes her transition to Pink Lady-dom and launches into “You’re the One That I Want” (a showstopper for the ages), the film is hers.
That song and her solo knockout, “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” were written specifically for the film by her frequent collaborator, John Farrar. Sandy is something of a cipher in the original stage musical, so Newton-John essentially single-handedly gave the character a much-needed counterbalance to Stockard Channing’s Rizzo — which is no small feat given that Channing is a powerhouse stage and screen actor. There is, to my mind, only one Sandy.
This performance undoubtedly warped many a brain when it came to high-school dating. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a terrible thing, but Newton-John’s Sandy will forever be the apotheosis of the good girl gone bad. And there was no one who could’ve brought this home with more heat and tenderness than Olivia Newton-John. It’s a shame we didn’t get more, but we got enough “it” to last us a lifetime.
(Currently available to stream on Paramount+.)
