Beyond Barbarino

Even at the height of my "Welcome Back, Kotter" obsession, I was never a huge John Travolta fan. Still, before he became a punchline I LOVED many of the films he was in and maintained a certain fascination with him, going so far as to have really awkward sex in the Hollywood Hills with former Major League Baseball umpire Dave Pallone in a feeble attempt to find out if Travolta was the "major star" he claimed to have had an affair with in "Behind the Mask." ("Oh, did you want to have dinner first?" Pallone asked after he'd jumped me upon my arrival for a dinner date, apparently surprised that I actually wanted to continue the conversation we'd started a few nights before at the Mother Lode. Um, I probably wouldn't have cared too much about the meal or the conversation if you'd kept your baseball cap on. ...)

While Vinnie Barbarino didn't do much for me, "Grease," "Urban Cowboy" and "Blow Out" were three of my favorite movies growing up. (Michael adores "Saturday Night Fever" and finally got me to watch it recently, and I thought it was great.) Whether you're a fan or not, Dave White's article about 10 Must-See John Travolta Performances is a fun read, namely because "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" made it (LOVED IT!) -- and so did "Battlefield Earth"(!):

Once I realized that he was an actor and not a tiny doofus who lived inside the TV, I was obsessed with the idea of seeing an R-rated movie about disco where he did a lot of exciting dancing and grown-up swearing. And as a very young person who hadn’t seen too many R-rated movies yet (this was back in a time when people didn’t routinely take 6 year olds out to multiplexes at 10:00 p.m. for screenings of “Hostel”), I was genuinely shocked by all the misogyny, rape, F-words, C-words and underwear bulges. (Via MSNBC)

"Grease" (1977): It was and still is the word

"Urban Cowboy" (1980): I still think Bud's a Sissy

"Blow Out" (1981): It's been ages since I've seen it, but I remember a hint of Chappaquiddick and a killer performance by Nancy Allen