John Travolta: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. Danny Zuko - Grease (1978)

It's easy to forget that Grease wasn't subject to universal adoration upon release. As enormously popular as it was with audiences, critics largely found it more amiable than groundbreaking. But if critics and audiences clashed on the strength of Grease as a whole, they joyously united in celebrating John Travolta's performance as Danny Zuko, a slick-haired high school senior with enough charm to rival The Fonz for the title of Coolest American Kid of All Time. Travolta's performance as Zuko is infectious all over, the actor oozing charm with his catchy singing and effortless hip-swinging. At the age of 23, it was a gamble to cast Travolta as a 1950s high school senior, but the star pulls it off effortlessly, strutting through the movie with a smirk and a slur that instantly evokes a comparison between Zuko and the biggest cultural icon of the years before Grease: Mr Elvis Presley. Campy, catchy and unabashedly exaggerated, Grease as a movie doesn't aim to reach for cinematic gold, and neither does Travolta. Both the movie and its main star have an agenda to be catchy, cool, and upbeat - it's as simple as that. Both succeed admirably.