Grease (film)

For the original stage musical of the same name, see Grease (musical).

Grease
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Randal Kleiser
Written by	Musical: Jim Jacobs Warren Casey Screenplay: Bronte Woodard
Produced by	Robert Stigwood Allan Carr
Starring	John Travolta Olivia Newton-John Stockard Channing Jeff Conaway Didi Conn
Cinematography	Bill Butler
Edited by	John F. Burnett
Music by	Jim Jacobs Warren Casey Sha-Na-Na
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	June 16, 1978 20th Anniversary March 27, 1998
Running time	110 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Box office	$394,589,888

Grease is a 1978 film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Jim Jacobs' and Warren Casey's musical, Grease. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, and Eve Arden.

Plot

The film opens with an animated credits sequence accompanied by the theme song, "Grease", composed expressly for the film by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and performed by Frankie Valli.

In 1958, during their summer vacation, Danny Zuko (Travolta) and Sandy Olsson (Newton-John) meet at a beach and begin to fall in love. Instead of returning to Australia at summer's end, however, Sandy enrolls at Rydell High School as a foreign-exchange student, where Danny is a student. So is Sandy's new friend Frenchy (Didi Conn), a member of the schoolgirl clique "The Pink Ladies". Danny is the leader of the boys' gang, "The T-Birds". Kenickie, second-in-command of the T-Birds (and Danny's best friend), encourages Danny to tell them about his holiday experiences, while the Pink Ladies likewise persuade Sandy. This results in "Summer Nights."

Encouraged by a preppy school spirit girl, Sandy joins the Rydell cheerleaders. The Pink Ladies decide to reunite Danny and Sandy, but Danny wants to protect his cool image, and his behavior towards Sandy causes her to storm off in tears.

Frenchy attempts to cheer Sandy up by inviting her to a sleepover at her house with the rest of the gang, but Betty Rizzo (Channing) soon gets fed up with Sandy's goody-two-shoes behavior. Frenchy announces that she is dropping out of Rydell and going to beauty school. Rizzo lampoons Sandy, singing the sarcastic "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee". When the T-Birds arrive outside Frenchy's house, Rizzo and Kenickie (Conaway) flirt then leave. After the party splits up, Sandy decides that she still loves Danny, in spite of everything, and sings "Hopelessly Devoted to You", a poignant love song that was added for the movie and was a big hit as a single. Rizzo's and Kenickie's passionate back-seat love-making is interrupted when the leader of a rival gang, Leo (Dennis Cleveland Stewart) of The Scorpions, and his girlfriend, Cha Cha DiGregorio (Annette Charles), damage Kenickie's car.

Whilst repairing the car, the T-Birds fantasize about what it will look like after a paint job, singing "Greased Lightning".

Danny meets Sandy at the Frosty Palace, and tries to apologize for his actions. When he sees that Sandy is sharing a soda with a jock (Lorenzo Lamas), Danny decides that he's going to join the jocks to impress her. After disastrous performances in basketball, wrestling, and baseball - where he keeps losing his temper when he loses - he finally finds his ideal sport in cross country, until the sight of Sandy distracts him and he falls. Sandy comes to see if Danny is all right, and they are seemingly reconciled.

Danny attempts to go to the Frosty Palace with Sandy so that they can be alone and not worry about ruining his image in front of his friends. But the T-Birds and Pink Ladies are already there, and Danny finds it hard to charm Sandy without looking like a sissy in front of his friends. After everyone leaves the malt shop, Frenchy imagines a guardian angel telling her what to do with her life, and Frankie Avalon sings "Beauty School Dropout".

Later, Danny takes Sandy to the school's dance, where the TV show National Bandstand plans to broadcast live from the school. When Kenickie asks Cha Cha to the dance, Rizzo retaliates and asks out the rival gang's leader Leo. The dance features several well-known songs from the '50s covered by Sha Na Na. During the dance-off, Rizzo leaves in a huff, seeing Kenickie dancing with Cha Cha, and Danny and Sandy are one of the few still in the dance-off. But soon, Sonny pulls Sandy away from Danny, and Cha Cha starts dancing with Danny. Sandy realizes that Cha Cha was one of Danny's past girlfriends — and a much better dancer. Sandy leaves the gym upset, and Danny and Cha Cha win the contest. When they share their spotlight dance, the T-Birds (minus Kenickie) run in front of the camera and moon the crowd as "Blue Moon" is playing.

Later, Danny takes Sandy to a drive-in movie, apologizes for leaving her, and gives her his class ring. Inside the drive-in toilets, Rizzo tells Marty that her unprotected sex with Kenickie has come back to haunt her — she has missed a period. One of the T-Birds overhears and gets the story, leading to a chain effect that makes it common knowledge. When Kenickie asks Rizzo why she didn't tell him about it, she lies out of anger and tells him it isn't his. Back in the car, Danny starts trying to make out with Sandy. She raises a ruckus, throws back his ring (which she calls a "piece of tin"), and leaves. Danny laments losing Sandy again, and reveals the true extent of his feelings for her in the song "Sandy" — he is helpless without her.

Because of a mishap before a race in the Los Angeles River, Danny races Leo in Kenickie's place while Sandy sits on the hill watching. While she is happy to see Danny win the neck-and-neck race, she has misgivings about her own image, reflected in the song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise)". As the T-Birds and Pink Ladies (Betty Rizzo did not show up) celebrate with Danny, Sandy asks Frenchy's help in winning Danny's heart.

On the last day of the school carnival, Danny has followed through on his track jock plans and arrives in a preppy letter sweater. However, Sandy arrives in full greaser-girl apparel — no more goody-two-shoes. Danny falls at her feet and the two reunite, singing the upbeat "You're the One That I Want" (another song added for the movie, and a hit single before the movie even came out). Rizzo and Kenickie get together after Rizzo has screamed from the Ferris wheel that she is not pregnant after all, and everyone sings the big finale, "We Go Together." Sandy and Danny fly off in a car and disappear into the sky.

Cast

• John Travolta as Danny Zuko
• Olivia Newton John as Sandy Olsson
• Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo
• Jeff Conaway as Kenickie
• Barry Pearl as Doody
• Michael Tucci as Sonny
• Kelly Ward as Putzie
• Didi Conn as Frenchy
• Jamie Donnelly as Jan
• Dinah Manoff as Marty Maraschino
• Eve Arden as Principal McGee
• Dody Goodman as Blanche Hodel
• Annette Charles as ChaCha DiGregorio
• Frankie Avalon as The Teen Angel
• Joan Blondell as Vi
• Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine
• Sid Caesar as Coach Calhoun
• Alice Ghostley as Mrs. Murdock
• Sha-Na-Na as Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
• Susan Buckner as Patty Simcox
• Lorenzo Lamas as Tom Chisolm
• Eddie Deezen as Eugene Felsnic
• Dennis C. Stewart as Leo
• Ellen Travolta as waitress
• Michael Biehn (uncredited) as Mike (On the basketball team)

Production

Casting

Singer Olivia Newton-John had done little acting before this film. She appeared in the 1970 film Toomorrow - a science fiction musical that pre-dated her initial chart success with 1971's If Not For You. Cast with Newton-John and three male leads in an attempt by Don Kirshner to create another Monkees, the film failed miserably; this led Newton-John to demand a screen test for Grease to avoid another career setback. The screen test was done with the drive-in movie scene.

Two actors who were seen for the film were Henry Winkler and Marie Osmond. Winkler, who was playing Fonzie on Happy Days, was originally chosen to play Danny, but, having twice already played similarly leather-clad 1950s hoods in 1974's The Lords of Flatbush as well as Happy Days, turned down the role for fear of being typecast. Osmond turned down the role of Sandy because she did not like the fact that Sandy had to "turn bad" to get the boy. Adult film star Harry Reems was originally signed to play Coach Calhoun; however, producers got cold feet weeks before filming and replaced him with Sid Caesar.

Dinah Manoff passed her audition without being given a singing or dancing tryout. Her skills in those areas proved limited, so she was moved into the background during the song numbers.

Costumes

• Danny's blue windbreaker at the beginning of the film was intended as a nod to Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
• Because of a zipper breaking, Olivia Newton-John had to be sewn into the pants she wears in the last sequence (the carnival at Rydell), and was unable to remove the trousers until the filming of that scene was over.
• Stockard Channing's original costume was going to be a purple blouse and green skirt. Unfortunately, it was a bad fit and she had to wear black.
• Didi Conn was originally to dye her hair golden, but refused. She also refused to have her hair dyed blue at the Carnival ending, stating in the DVD that she was supposed to explain to the group that she got into a pool that contained too much chlorine (referencing a joke from the original play) and colored her hair into a bright blue color. She refused, stating in the interview "Don't turn me into a joke."

Controversy

• In November 2002, Camille Paglia asserted in an Interview magazine [1] with Donna Mills that the character of Sandy in Grease was based on Mills' experiences as a Chicago-area teen, even though no interview questions covered the subject.
• Randal Kleiser hated the opening title song, "Grease" (he thought that the cynical lyrics and disco beat were inappropriate for a film set in the 1950s) and the song "You're The One That I Want" (saying it "sounded awful").

Reception

Although Travolta was already famous from the movie Saturday Night Fever and the television sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, Grease reconfirmed his status as a superstar. Newton-John's fame also reached new heights after the movie released. The movie received five Golden Globe Award nominations in 1979 highest grossing (US) movie of 1978.

The movie's soundtrack was a number one album in many different countries. The song "You're The One That I Want" was released as a single prior to the film's release and became an immediate chart-topper, despite not being in the stage show or having been seen in the film at that time. In the United Kingdom, the two Travolta/Newton-John duets, "You're The One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", were both number one hits and appear 6th and 21st respectively in the official all-time UK best-selling singles list issued in 2002. The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy Award (1979) for Best Music - Original Song. The movie's title song was also a number one smash hit single for Frankie Valli.

Grease spawned a sequel, Grease 2 (1982) (with the only cast members from the original movie being Blanche, Coach Calhoun, Eugene, Frenchy, Leo (the Scorpions' gang leader), and Principal McGee) that was much less successful. Patricia Birch, the original movie's choreographer, directed the ill-fated sequel. It would be the only movie that she would direct. After the success of the original, Paramount intended to turn Grease into a multi-picture franchise with at least three sequels planned and a TV series in the pipeline. When Grease 2 flopped at the box office, all the plans were scrapped.

This movie was re-released to theaters in 1998 to mark the 20th anniversary. It also ranked number 21 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.

Voted the best musical ever on Channel 4's 100 greatest musicals.

Soundtrack

Main article: Grease (soundtrack)

• The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" references Sal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer to Elvis Presley instead. The Troy Donahue reference is in the original stage version.

(The song order on the soundtrack album does not match the order in the movie (common practice in those days for movie soundtrack records). The number in brackets below indicates the order from the movie. Some of the songs were not present in the movie.)

1. [02] Grease — Frankie Valli
2. [03] Summer Nights — Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies and the T-Birds
3. [04] Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee - Rizzo and the Pink Ladies
4. [05] Hopelessly Devoted to You — Sandy
5. [06] Greased Lightning — Danny and the T-Birds
6. [22] You're the One That I Want — Danny and Sandy
7. [18] Sandy (Music by Louis St. Louis, Lyrics by Scott J. Simon) — Danny
8. [09] Beauty School Dropout — Frankie Avalon / Angels
9. [07] It's Raining on Prom Night — Radio
10. [08] Alone at the Drive-in Movie (instrumental, see below for details)
11. [17] Blue Moon (Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart) — Johnny
12. [11] Rock n' Roll is Here to Stay (D. White) — Johnny
13. [12] Those Magic Changes — Johnny and Danny
14. [14] Hound Dog (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) — Johnny
15. [15] Born to Hand Jive — Johnny and Cast
16. [13] Tears on My Pillow (S. Bradford and A. Lewis) — Johnny
17. [16] Mooning — Jan and Roger
18. [19] Freddy, My Love — Marty
19. [10] Rock n' Roll Party Queen — Radio
20. [20] There Are Worse Things I Could Do — Rizzo
21. [21] Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee (Reprise) — Sandy
22. [23] We Go Together — Danny, Sandy, Rizzo, Kenickie, Marty, Sonny, Jan, Putzie, Doody, Frenchy, Eugene, Patty, Miss Mcgee, Mr Lynch and Coach
23. [01] Love is a Many Splendored Thing (Instrumental)
24. [24] Grease (Reprise) — Frankie Valli

Also appearing in the movie are La Bamba by Richie Valens (sung by Rizzo and Marty in the school lunch yard) and Whole Lotta Shaking Going on by Jerry Lee Lewis (juke box at Frosties) but these songs do not appear on the sound track.

Releases

Grease was originally released to theatres on June 16, 1978. It was released in the U.S. on VHS during the 1980s; the latest VHS release was June 23, 1998 as 20th Anniversary Edition following a theatrical re-release that March. On September 24, 2002, it was released on DVD for the first time. On September 19, 2006, it was re-released on DVD as the Rockin' Rydell Edition, which includes a black Rydell High T-Bird jacket cover or the Target-exclusive Pink Ladies cover. It was released on Blu-Ray on May 5, 2009.

External links

• Official site
• Grease at IMDb
• Grease at AllMovie
• Grease at Box Office Mojo