Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's musical, of the same name about two lovers in a 1959 high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway.

Although referring to the early 1950s, it was successful both critically and at the box office, consolidating Travolta's career at that time and bringing Newton-John to a wider audience.

Its soundtrack album became one of the best-selling in pop movie history, and provided several chart hits for the original artists and others.

Plot

In the 1950s, during their summer vacation, Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and begin to fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy, who is returning to her native Australia frets losing Danny. Danny tells her that their love is "Only the beginning."

This is followed by opening animated credits which introduce the primary cast, followed by the first day at Rydell High. Danny, a greaser, meets his friends, the T-Birds--Kenickie, Doodie, Putzie, and Sonny--while the Pink Ladies (Rizzo, Marty and Jan, and later Frenchy), the T-Birds' female counterparts, arrive and claim that they're going to "rule the school" in their final year. Sandy, whose family had unexpectedly canceled their plans to return to Australia, also enters Rydell as a foreign exchange student. While meeting with Rizzo and the other girls at Lunch, and the boys hanging out at the Bleachers, Sandy and Danny tell their friends about their "Summer Nights", sharing different point of views to impress their respective parties. Rizzo is surprised when Danny's name is mentioned.

After a Bonfire, Rizzo and the others unexpectedly throw Sandy and Danny together. At first ecstatic, Danny has to maintain his cool image in front of Sandy. This abrupt change in behavior upsets Sandy who runs off. That night at a slumber party at Frenchy's house, Sandy's innocent and devout nature gets on Rizzo's nerves. After Sandy leaves the room, Rizzo leads the girls in the teasing Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee - which makes things more awkward when Sandy walks in on them. After viewing Marty's extensive collection of pen-pals she borrows some papers and wanders outside, lamenting over Danny in Hopelessly Devoted to You. Meanwhile, Rizzo decides to impulsively sneak out with Kenickie; they go to an overlook and proceed to have sex, even though Kenickie's condom broke.

The following school day, Kenickie's car is pulled into the school's work shop for a tuneup, and despite the fact that his wheels are a "hunk o' junk" according to Danny, Danny manages to convince the boys that it could become Greased Lightning and they start to work on the vehicle. Meanwhile, his relationship with Sandy is rocky, as his cool image prevents him from understanding her. Sandy begins courting another boy, Tom Chisum (Lorenzo Lamas) and Danny, determined to impress Sandy tries a variety of sports, each ending in failure before coming to a natural ability for track and field. He injures himself while Sandy is present causing her to dump Tom and begin to date Danny again. His cool image seems to get in the way of any intimate time alone as they constantly come in between their friends and arguments. Frenchy, having dropped out of high school, has now dropped out of beauty school when her class's difficulties culminate in her having bubblegum pink hair. She is at odds with what to do until her guardian angel (Frankie Avalon) comes to sing her way back into high school ("Beauty School Dropout").

At the school dance, Sandy and Danny's relationship becomes strained when a girl from a rival school who Danny had once dated steals him away to win the spotlight dance. Meanwhile, Sonny, Putzie and Doody take advantage of the song Blue Moon and moon the national audience of the television show recording the school's dance, while Marty falls for the host Vince Fontaine. There we find out that her last name was Maraschino, like in cherry. But sparks fly when Rizzo shows up with the T-Bird's greaser rival, Leo.

One night at the drive-in theater, Danny makes his dating Sandy official by offering her his class ring which she accepts shortly before he makes a clutzy attempt to grab her chest. This horrifies Sandy and she runs off, leaving Danny, thinking about "Sandy", branded a fool. Rizzo tells Marty that she missed a period and believes she might be pregnant, but makes Marty promise not to tell anyone. The promise is quickly forgotten though, and everyone soon learns of the shocking truth. When Kenickie offers to help, Rizzo rebuffs him, saying that it wouldn't be his to help. A couple of days later, Kenickie and Leo ready for a drag race for the others' wheels. While Rizzo laments the rumors being spread about her in "There Are Worse Things I Could Do", Kenickie is injured by a swinging door, forcing Danny to take place behind the wheel. Sandy, who showed up to watch the race, finally understands Danny's plight as he wins the race, asking Frenchy for a favor before going over to her house.

As the year comes to a close, the group enjoys a day at a carnival at the school. Rizzo tells Kenickie that she's not pregnant, and Danny shows off the letter he got in Track that year. Sandy appears in a tight black outfit fitting a lady greaser. Her hair is curled and she lips a cigarette, driving the boys and Danny wild. She insists that she wants to be with him, and the pair team up in the fantastic and memorable duet You're the One that I Want as they parade the carnival grounds. As they climb into Danny's car, it takes off. As the pair of them wave back to the cast who has turned out onto the school lawn, still singing as Danny and Sandy fly off into the sky. The whole class and faculty wave goodbye and then the credits start rolling in the style of a yearbook signifying the end of the movie.

Cast

* John Travolta as Danny Zuko

* Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson

* Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo

* Jeff Conaway as Kenickie

;The T-Birds

* Barry Pearl as Doody

* Michael Tucci as Sonny LaTierri

* Kelly Ward as Putzie

;The Pink Ladies

* Didi Conn as Frenchy

* Jamie Donnelly as Jan

* Dinah Manoff as Marty Maraschino

;Special guest appearances

* Eve Arden as Principal McGee

* Dody Goodman as Blanche Hodel

* Annette Charles as Charlene "Cha-Cha" 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

;Other characters

* Susan Buckner as Patty Simcox

* Lorenzo Lamas as Tom Chisolm

* Eddie Deezen as Eugene Felsnic

* Dennis C. Stewart as Leo Balmudo

* 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.

Randal Kleiser directed John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble two years prior to Grease.

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 was only 19 years old during the filming of Grease making her the youngest of all actresses in the film. She passed her audition without being given a singing or dancing tryout.

Jeff Conaway and Susan Buckner would be mob members in 2007 on 1 vs 100.

Frosty Palace scenes

Scenes inside the Frosty Palace contain obvious 'blurring' of various signage. Prior to the film's release, the film's producers had not received permission to use any Coca-Cola trademarks. Furthermore, Coca-Cola refused to allow its signage to be shown due to the raunchy nature of the film.http The 'blurring' covered up trademarked menu signage and a large wall poster.http

Release and reception

Grease was originally released to theaters on June 16, 1978. It was released in the US 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 Disc on May 5, 2009.

Critical reception

Grease received generally favorable reviewshttp and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978.httphttphttphttp It currently holds an 84% "Certified Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes with a consensus that reads "Grease is a pleasing, energetic musical with infectiously catchy songs and an ode to young love that never gets old".http It holds a score of 70/100 on a similar website Metacritic.http

Although Travolta was already famous from Saturday Night Fever and Welcome Back Kotter, Grease reaffirmed 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 and the highest grossing movie of 1978 and the highest-grossing movie musical at the time, surpassing 1965's The Sound of Music.

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.VH1's "Behind the Music: Grease" 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.

Sequels and spin-offs

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.http

In 2008, it was revealed that Paramount are currently planning a new sequel to Grease that will debut straight to DVD.http

Grease 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.

On July 8, 2010, a sing-a-long version of Grease was released to select theaters around the U.S.http A trailer was released in May 2010 with cigarettes digitally removed from certain scenes, implying heavy editing; however, Paramount confirmed these changes were done only for the film's advertising,, Ocala.com, 04 June 2010.

and the film itself retains its PG-13 rating for "sexual content including references, teen smoking and drinking, and language."http The movie will be shown for two weekends only; additional cities lobbied by fans from the Paramount official movie website will start a week later and screen for one weekend.http

25 June 2010 openly gay director of the original 1978 Grease film musical, Randal Kleiser said in an interview on gay.com that if the movie was to be remade with a gay theme he would like to see Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner in the title roles. http

Lists

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

In 2008, Grease was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.http

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. Coincidentally, this scene, and the bonfire and leo car destroying scenes were filmed on August 16, 1977 - the date of Elvis Presley's death.

The song order on the soundtrack album does not match the order in the film (common practice in those days for soundtrack records, where balancing the length of each program - each side of an LP or cassette, or each program of an 8-track tape, was important for effective cost management). The number in brackets below indicates the order from the film. Some of the songs were not present in the film.

# Grease — Frankie Valli

# Summer Nights — Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies and the T-Birds

# Hopelessly Devoted to You — Sandy

# Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee - Rizzo and the Pink Ladies

# Greased Lightning — Danny and the T-Birds

# You're the One That I Want — Danny and Sandy

# Sandy (Music by Louis St. Louis, Lyrics by Scott J. Simon) — Danny

# Beauty School Dropout — Frankie Avalon / Angels

# It's Raining on Prom Night — Radio

# Alone at the Drive-in Movie (instrumental)

# Blue Moon (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) — Johnny

# Rock n' Roll is Here to Stay (D. White) — Johnny

# Those Magic Changes — Johnny and Danny

# Hound Dog (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) — Johnny

# Born to Hand Jive — Johnny and Cast

# Tears on My Pillow (S. Bradford and A. Lewis) — Johnny

# Mooning — Jan and Roger

# Freddy, My Love — Marty

# Rock n' Roll Party Queen — Radio

# There Are Worse Things I Could Do — Rizzo

# Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee (reprise) — Sandy

# We Go Together — Danny, Sandy, Rizzo, Kenickie, Marty, Sonny, Jan, Putzie, Doody, Frenchy, Eugene, Patty, Miss Mcgee, Mr. Lynch, and Coach

# Love is a Many Splendored Thing (instrumental)

# Grease (Reprise) — Frankie Valli

Other songs that appear in the film but not in the soundtrack are Richie Valens' "La Bamba", "Whole Lotta Shaking Going On" by Jerry Lee Lewis and Alma Mater (it was played during the first day announcements, the bonfire, the T-Birds sang the version with funny lyrics, the announcements late in the film, and finally at the carnival).

References