Grease (film)

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Grease (1978) is the name of a film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's musical, Grease. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Conaway and Stockard Channing. It was originally released to theatres on June 16, 1978. It was released on VHS on June 23, 1998, and on DVD on September 24, 2002.

Plot summary

In the summer of 1959, Danny Zuko (Travolta), member of Rydell High School's boy gang the T-Birds in the United States, meets Sandy Olsson (Newton-John), an innocent girl from Australia, at the beach and they fall in love. When autumn nears, Sandy must return to Australia.

However, Sandy's plans are changed and she ends up attending Rydell High as an exchange student. She meets a group of girls named the Pink Ladies and quickly befriends them. Not knowing what has happened, both Danny and Sandy let their friends know of their scandalous affair over the summer.

Eventually, Danny and Sandy are re-introduced by Betty Rizzo (Channing), the leader of the Pink Ladies, and they decide to revive their romance, but not without constant interference from the T-Birds, Pink Ladies and a rival gang, The Scorpions.

Danny and Sandy are separated again at the school dance contest. Although they arrive together, the T-Birds conspire to get Danny back together with his old girl friend and dance partner, Cha-Cha DiGregorio. They succeed and Danny and Cha-Cha go on to win the contest. Feeling betrayed, Sandy leaves the dance in disgust and heartbreak.

In an effort to reconcile with Sandy, Danny asks her to "be his girl" and offers her a ring. She initially accepts but feels he wants her only for sex. Sandy throws his ring back at him and again leaves in disgust. Meanwhile, Rizzo reveals that she thinks that she is pregnant, and rumors circulate, and Kenickie catches word of this but is sad when he finds out he isn't going to be a father.

Kenickie and the other T-Birds continue working on their car for the big drag racing race against the rival gang, The Scorpions. Kenickie is all ready for the race, but he gets hit in the head by a car door, so Danny needs to race for him. Danny goes on and wins the race.

But at the end of the school year graduation carnival, a new, badder looking Sandy emerges, decked out in black leather and high heels. She seems to have decided to "loosen up" in an effort to be with Danny. Meanwhile, Danny has received a letterman's sweater in track in an effort to impress Sandy. Rizzo reveals to Kenickie that the pregnancy was a false alarm, and they make up. After the last musical number of the movie, Danny and Sandy fly off arm in arm in a shiny roadster, turning the film into somewhat of a fantasy.

Effects

Although Travolta was already famous for the movie Saturday Night Fever, 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. The film was re-released to theaters in 1998 for the film's 20th anniversary.

The movie's soundtrack was a number one album in many different countries. 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 eighth 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 member from the original movie being Frenchy) that was much less successful.

Main cast

• John Travolta - Danny Zuko
• Olivia Newton-John - Sandy Olsson
• Stockard Channing - Betty Rizzo
• Jeff Conaway - Kenickie
• Didi Conn - Frenchy
• Jamie Donnelly - Jan
• Dinah Manoff - Marty Maraschino
• Michael Tucci - Sonny LaTierri
• Barry Pearl - Doody
• Kelly Ward - Putzie
• Sid Caesar - Coach Calhoun
• Eve Arden - Principal McGee
• Dody Goodman - Blanche
• Alice Ghostly - Mrs Murdoc
• Edd Byrnes - Vince Fontaine
• Frankie Avalon - Teen Angel
• Annette Charles - Cha Cha DiGregorio
• Eddie Deezen - Eugene Felsnick
• Lorenzo Lamas - Tom Chisum
• Dennis Steward - Leo
• Joan Blondell - Vi

Trivia

Scenes

• 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).
• Danny's blue windbreaker at the beginning of the film was intended as a nod to Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
• "Greased Lightning" was supposed to be sung by Jeff Conaway's character, Kenickie, as it is in the stage version. John Travolta used his clout to have his character sing it. The director felt it was only right to ask Conaway if it was okay. At first he refused, but he eventually gave in.
• The original stage play had more sexual references than the MPAA wanted to allow. Among these was the use of plastic wrap as protection (during the 50s, some teenage guys used plastic wrap as homemade condoms) To overcome the censors, there weren't any blatant references but Danny rubs plastic wrap over his crotch during "Greased Lightning".
• The scene in Frenchy's bedroom while Rizzo is singing the line about Elvis Presley was actually filmed the same day that Presley died.
• The song "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" references Sal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was murdered a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer to Troy Donahue instead.
• The dance contest scene was filmed during the summer, when the school was closed. The gym had no air conditioning and the doors had to be kept closed to control lighting, so the building became stifling hot. On more than one occasion, an extra had to be taken out due to heat related illness.
• Choreographer Patricia Birch worked with Sha Na Na to ensure that the tempo of the dance contest would be correct. She appears, uncredited, as one of the dancers during the contest.
• Several musical numbers were not used in the film. They appear, however, as jukebox tunes, or band numbers at the high school dance. Among them "Freddy, My Love", "Those Magic Changes", and "It's Raining on Prom Night" all of which were performed by characters in the stage musical (however, Danny does sing along with the band for a few lines of "Those Magic Changes").
• In the scene where the cast are near the bridge after the drag race, the water on the ground was stagnant and dangerous. Some cast members became ill from filming as the setting was a derelict place full of dirt and rubbish.
• Randal Kleiser hated the song "You're The One That I Want" saying it "sounded awful".
• "You're the One That I Want" took just one afternoon to film.
• Because of a zipper breaking, Newton-John had to be sewn into the trousers she wears in the last sequence (the carnival at Rydell), and she couldn't get the trousers off for 36 hours.
• The final musical scene, "You're the One That I Want", was filmed with the help of a traveling carnival. However, director Kleiser decided the next day that additional scenes were needed for close-ups. Unfortunately the carnival had left town so set decorators were called in to build replica backgrounds, that matched the carnival ride's construction for the close-ups.
• During the opening credits (at the end of the song "Grease"), the cop riding the motorcycle is actually John Travolta.
• While the stage musical script was being adapted for the movie, Paramount Pictures toyed with the idea that Danny Zuko should be killed at at the duration of the "Thunder Road" scene. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• When Paramount Pictures bought the rights to the script, one of their first intentions was to make Grease into a full-length cartoon movie. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• Executive Producer, Robert Stigwood, petitioned Paramount to allow the Bee Gees (who he managed) to appear in cameo roles. His pleas were turned down.
• After the success of the original, Paramount Pictures intended to turn Grease into a multi-picture franchise with at least three sequels planned and a TV series in the pipeline. But when the sequel, Grease 2, flopped at the box office, all the plans were scrapped.
• Patricia Birch, the movie's choreographer, would go on to direct the ill-fated sequel. It would be the only movie that she would direct.
• Long before the critics had a field day with the fact a lot of the characters looked much older than they were supposed to be, it was a long running joke on the set that the characters were the “oldest teenagers in America”.
• The Goodies parodied the film in their Saturday Night Grease episode.

Personal

• Adult film star Harry Reems was originally signed to play Coach Calhoun. Producers got cold feet weeks before filming and replaced him with Sid Caesar.
• Jeff Conaway had to walk slightly stooped so John Travolta would appear taller.
• Singer Olivia Newton-John had hardly done any acting before Grease, and was terrified of the idea of playing a lead role in a film musical. The more-experienced John Travolta (who was also a singer) was really supportive though, and sometimes when Newton-John made a mistake during filming, he would make it look like it was his fault and take the blame for it.
• Henry Winkler, who was playing Fonzie on Happy Days (1974), was originally chosen to play Danny but didn't for fear of being typecast. Ironically, Winkler co-stars with Stockard Channing in Out of Practice.
• Marie Osmond turned down the role of Sandy because Marie didn't like the fact that Sandy had to "turn bad" to get the boy.
• At the time of filming, John Travolta (Danny) was 23, Olivia Newton-John (Sandy) was 29, Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33, Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) was 27, Barry Pearl (Doody) was 27, Michael Tucci (Sonny) was 31, Kelly Ward (Putzie) was 22, Didi Conn (Frenchy) was 26, Jamie Donnelly (Jan) was 30 and Dinah Manoff (Marty) was 19.

Miscellaneous

• For a time, it was the third highest grossing movie of all time behind only Jaws (1975) and (1977).
• In 1988, an Indonesian computer virus named Den Zuk spread. The name comes from the nickname of the author since he resembled the protagonist Danny Zuko.
• The film was released again in theaters in 1998 for a couple of reasons: to mark the 20th anniversary of the original and because the year before, a dance mix of songs from the soundtrack became a big hit on radio.
• From 1980 to 1985, Jeff Conaway was married to Olivia Newton-John's sister.
• Grease is the highest grossing motion picture musical.
• Two songs that were featured in the film were excluded from the soundtrack, as they were not recorded specifically for the film: "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Jerry Lee Lewis.
• It has been noted that there are many similarities between the film and the 2006 film "High School Musical". One noted example is the song "We're All In This Together", which sounds a great deal like the ending song to Grease.
• Grease: The School Version was created to make the show more suitable for children. Paramount refuses to let any stage version of this be recorded.

Soundtrack album details

Side 1

1. Grease — Frankie Valli (3:23) (a)- The Four Seasons
2. Summer Nights — John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John & cast (3:36) (b) (d)
3. Hopelessly Devoted to You — Olivia Newton-John & cast (3:00) (c) (e)
4. You’re The One That I Want — John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (2:47) (c) (e)
5. Sandy (Louis St. Louis and Scott Simon) — John Travolta (2:30) (e)

Side 2

1. Beauty School Dropout — Frankie Avalon (4:02) (b) (e)
2. Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee — Stockard Channing (1:38) (b) (e)
3. Greased Lightnin’ — John Travolta/Jeff Conaway (3:12) (b) (e)
4. It’s Raining on Prom Night — Cindy Bullens (2:57) (b) (e)
5. Alone at a Drive-In Movie (instrumental, see below for details) (2:22) (b) (d)
6. Blue Moon (Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart) — Sha Na Na (4:02) (e)

Side 3

1. Rock n' Roll is Here To Stay (D. White) — Sha Na Na (2:00) (e)
2. Those Magic Changes — Sha Na Na (2:15) (b) (e)
3. Hound Dog (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) — Sha Na Na (1:23) (e)
4. Born To Hand Jive — Sha Na Na (4:39) (b) (e)
5. Tears On My Pillow (S. Bradford and A. Lewis) — Sha Na Na (2:06) (d)
6. Mooning — Louis St. Louis and Cindy Bullens (2:12) (b) (e)

Side 4

1. Freddy, My Love — Cindy Bullens (2:40) (b) (e)
2. Rock n' Roll Party Queen — Louis St. Louis (2:08) (b) (e)
3. There are Worse Things I Could Do — Stockard Channing (2:18) (b) (e)
4. Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee (Reprise) — Olivia Newton-John (1:20) (b) (d)
5. We Go Together — John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John & cast (3:14) (b) (e)
6. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing (Sammy Fain and Francis Webster) (instrumental, see below for details) (2:22) (b) (e)
7. Grease (Reprise) — Frankie Valli (3:23) (a)

Credits

Principal credits

• (a) Written and Produced by Barry Gibb
  
• (b) Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
  
• (c) Written by John Farrar
  
• (d) Produced by John Farrar
  
• (e) Produced by Louis St. Louis
  
• All instruments performed by Toto and the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra
  

Additional credits

Peter Frampton—lead guitar (a)
James Getzoff—concertmaster
Carl Fortina—contractor
Bob Borenstein—copyist
David J. Holman—engineer and mixing engineer
Jay Lewis—engineer
Eirik Wangberg—engineer
Michael Carneval—engineer
Alhby Galuten—assistant producer (a)
Karl Richardson—assistant producer and engineer (a)

Theatrical release history

• June 16, 1978 (Original Release)
• March 27, 1998

See also

High School Musical, a 2006 Disney Channel Original Movie that bears similarities to Grease.

External links

• [A Complete Grease Fan Site] (www.greaseweb.com)
• [Official site]

 

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