Personally, I think you should've made May Musical Month because of alliteration, and then done High School Movie Month in September for Back To School (because that's when summer vacation ends and kids are going back to school). As for Grease? I was only 4 years old when it came out, and back then if I was watching a musical then it was probably cartoon mice singing to a Disney Princess. I would catch the movie on TV from time to time, although I don't remember if I had ever watched it all the way through. As an adult I have attended a couple of Grease Sing-A-Longs at a local independent movie theatre (The Rio Theatre on East Broadway in Vancouver BC, riotheatre.ca/). Honestly I had more fun at The Sound Of Music Sing-A-Long because I knew the words to more of the songs. If you ever visit Vancouver after the pandemic is over and things more or less return to normal, I would suggest you stop by The Rio Theatre. I think you'd enjoy their set up. And who knows? They may even be doing a Sing-A-Long to one of your favourite musicals at that time.
The "teens" were all between 22 and 34 (on release) with Stockard Channing (Rizzo) being the oldest of the main cast. Michael Tucci was 32 (not 35). Travolta was only 24 and Olivia was 30. I actually saw this in the theater when it came out. I was 9 and so much went over my head. Loved it though. John and Olivia were both already stars. Musicals were currently out of fashion, but musicals were mainstream for decades previously. I get why your teacher didn't like the message. You have to change who you are to get the person you want.
@@johncampbell756 Typical that the cast is older , like in The Breakfast Club , age of actors were from 16, Michael Hall to 25, Judd Nelson . From fandom ... Set in high school, most of the principal cast were way past their teenage years. When filming began in June 1977, John Travolta was 23, Olivia Newton-John was 28, Stockard Channing was 33, Jeff Conaway was 26, Barry Pearl was 27, Michael Tucci was 31, Kelly Ward was 20, Didi Conn was 25; Jamie Donnelly was 30, and Annette Charles was 29. Only Dinah Manoff, Lorenzo Lamas, and Eddie Deezen, all 19, were still teenagers.
@@pete_lind And Travolta just came off playing a teen on Welcome Back, Kotter. This was the norm back then. And, to an extent still. On My So-Called Life, Claire Danes was playing her age (15), and actually might have been a year too young when hired, but Jared Leto, who played hove interest, was 23. They usually want everyone 18 or over to work the long hours, which is why Mila Kunis told the That 70s Show people she was going to turn 18. It was true. Just not soon as she was 14. Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were the rare networks to hire actual kids. But no shows are over 30 minutes.
I was 8 when Grease came out and, as a result, there was a window where, as far as I was concerned, only two movies existed, Grease and Star Wars. On one of those viewings, got my only legit drive-in experience, double feature of Grease and Young Frankenstein.
Which is really weird and just accentuates house mall a generation gap is today. Could you imagine if everybody in 2005 just started doing 1985 "nostalgia" movies. I don't know why 20 years Felt so much longer in the seventies and eighties than it does now.
When people complain about Grease they usually ignore the fact that Danny changed up to for Sandy too. He tried every sport and lettered in track to get his act together. He also learned to stand up to his friends and be honest about his feelings. Sandy met Danny in the middle, she didn't change who she was, she just loosened up and bought a new outfit.
But really, neither of them should have had to have changed at all. You shouldn't have to change yourself to be with someone, even if you are meeting in the middle. They are just incompatible. This movie does not send the right message to younger kids.
@@coryrudy98 they were perfectly compatible before their relationship was forced into a high school context. It was the pressures and expectations of that new environment that affected their compatibility, not who they are as people. When they see that they were each willing to outwardly change to fit expectations, they realized how silly it all was.
Shanelle, thanks for your incredibly detailed and in-depth commentary! You are hysterical!!! I have so much trivia about this movie as I too am obsessed! I was 11 when the movie first came out and after days of begging, my mother agreed to take my brother and I to see it. Olivia was the first time I was absolutely star-struck and I thought I was in love with Olivia. Later, after coming out, I realized that I just wanted to be her! RIP my friend! The movie musical was dead by the late 60s and this movie revived it and pulled in an audience that had never seen a musical in their lives, like me and my family, at the time. The vision of this film was not to be taken at face value, but it was intended to be a fantasy about that era, so they got away with having older actors playing high school students, and the flying car. I once heard a critic say that Olivia was an easy-listening artist who had no legacy. What an idiot, her legacy is Grease which will be viewed by generation after generation! Her music will live on as well! She did not want this role and turned it down, saying she was too old and not comfortable acting. Travolta had a crush on her and saw her as the only woman in the world who could play Sandy. She insisted on a screen test to see if she had any ability and if there was chemistry. Luckily there were both. John and Olivia remained close friends until her death last year. She also stayed in touch is Stockard Channing and DiDi Conn. When she died, the Earth stopped, not just because of her enormous talent, but the fact that she was the kindest, most caring, most humble star there ever was.
As a heterosexual male I'm slightly embarrassed to remember how many times I went to see this when it first came out. 🙂 And I've only just realised - both this and Star Wars both have opening triumphant chords that still blast me to the core 🙂
I'm a Heterosexual male and I was 12 when this came out. I watched it for Olivia Newton John. :) My favorite song from this is Danny's at the drive in.
@@nagaslrac Not just. She had multiple hit albums in the States by the time “Grease” came out. If anything, I’d guess that “Grease” was the start of the second phase of her career, which probably peaked with the song “Physical.”
She was also already well-known as one of the world's leading gorilla whisperers, a career which had to be put on hold due to her rising singing and acting success. She even appeared in a Navy recruitment film entitled "Gorillas Ahoy!"
Olivia was a star before this - that's why the director insisted that she play Sandy. Everyone seems to think this was her launching point but she was a multi-Grammy winning Platinum record selling star long before this.
I love watching movies through Shanelle’s eyes. Despite her technical knowledge by being on sets she still delights at the great scenes. It is very cool that she isn’t jaded and can still take pleasure in the magic of movies.
I am not a big musical fan but I do love the really good ones - Grease, West Side Story, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music. Grease is just iconic and is visually beautiful. I always get dragged into watching it when I see it on the TV.
I was 23 when Grease came out. I was living in south Wales at the time and I went to see it with my then girlfriend on its first day at our local cinema. I didn’t really want to go but was pressured into it by my girlfriend. I did not think musicals were cool and were something that older people enjoyed watching. I was totally blown away by Grease and it kindled a love for musicals and musical theatre that has stayed with me ever since. The film had so much energy, fun and downright silliness that it made perfect viewing. I’ve only recently discovered your channel and I really enjoy your enthusiasm, humour and insights into the moviemaking industry. You are a joy to watch and I wish you well in your chosen career. If you ever get cast in Grease I’ll definitely fly cross the pond to see you on stage performing.
John Travolta was already HUGE for playing in the TV Show Welcome Back, Kotter! and Saturday Night Fever. Obviously, this being his most famous and well-known role.
Olivia was also a star before this - that's why the director insisted that she play Sandy. Everyone seems to think this was her launching point but she was a multi-Grammy winning Platinum record selling star long before this.
Olivia was a star before this - that's why the director insisted that she play Sandy. Everyone seems to think this was her launching point but she was a multi-Grammy winning Platinum record selling star long before this. Yeah, there's that.
Amen! Thanks for pointing this out! Most of the commentary on this thread is about John, but Olivia did her thing, and so beautifully! Could there ever be another Sandy?!
My older brother and his buddies (around age 17-18) rented the tape and I walked in near the end when John Cusack used Dan Aykroyd's popcorn line on him. I (a 12 year old girl) thought it was hilarious. They looked at each other and immediately rewound the tape to see what I thought of the whole movie. I was in hysterics and punching air at the same time.
What makes Grease so special is it never took itself seriously. Everyone must have a good time. I think thats why it's such a part of pop culture. It's just fun a movie
This movie was hugely popular when it came out. As a 14 year old in '78 in So Cal, I saw it four times. In my opinion, Grease is the last great movie musical Hollywood ever produced.
Not only did I go to high school in Los Angeles, Grease came out when I was a kid, and the soundtrack was the very first record I ever purchased. And, let me tell you, my 9 year old self played the hell out of that soundtrack, until I accidentally left the record in a friend's car on a hot summer day, and we all know what heat does to a vinyl record.
"A hickey from Kenicke is like a Hallmark card!", "Bite the weenie, Rizz!" "With relish!", "Nobody's jugs are bigger than Annette's"...so many awesome lines in this movie, and pretty raunchy for a movie supposedly set in the squeaky clean 1950s!
I never got that jug line as a kid because I had no clue who Annette was, so I heard "a net" and was so confused. I thought net may have been slang for a bra or something.
Trivia: Years before the novie, Jeff Conaway played Danny Zuko in the national stage tour of Grease while John Travolta played the role of Doody. One day John was watching his fellow actors on stage, rehearsing, when he uttered "some day I'll play Danny Zuko". He never played Danny Zuko on stage, but he did in the movie.
"She's like 'I don't like the message'." I think I know exactly what your teacher was talking about. I saw someone post an answer on Quora about this movie, calling the last sequence "the most infuriating scene you've ever seen in a movie," and it got a lot of response. What the OP objected to was that Sandy had to get a makeover (ie. change who she was) to get her man. Though, what the OP missed was the lyrics for "You're The One That I Want." It's all about what they owe each other, "You better shape up." So, it's not only her who has to change. He does, too.
Some things I never, ever believe: (1) "I totally saw the twist in The Sixth Sense coming!" (2) The Exorcist didn't scare me at all! (3) Grease? Ehh, I'm lukewarm about it.
In the beginning of the film, Danny says that he saved Sandy from drowning. A popular fan theory is that the entire movie is Sandy's death dream. This is why they drive off into "heaven" at the end of the film.
I have read that it is Danny's death-dream. That's why he is the one to "get the girl" in the end, plus the flying version of Greased Lightening was HIS fantasy. But I can see it as Sandy's hallucination, too.
14:25 It was 1978. This film had just come out and I was 13 years old. I asked my first girlfriend to "go with me" in the cafeteria at our end of year school disco; this was the first song we danced to after she said "yes".
It was such a long time before I found out that the play is framed at the beginning as their class reunion; which is _why_ the characters are supposed to be played by actors that are clearly older than high school seniors. I like that and kind of wish they had incorporated that into the movie somehow, but that might have been too meta.
If they had done that, I would definitely have liked this more! It covers all the 'corniness' and super brightness of the look, and would have given it some much needed grounding.
@@stargazer1682 Oh okay, you didn't really explain that in the first comment, so that's why i interpreted it that way. You didn't say anything about it being in flashbacks
Your comment about playing Rizzo on Broadway jumped out at me… my good friend’s mom played Rizzo in the original Broadway production in New York. I hope you get your dream some day. Just found your channel in the last week and love your reactions, including your joy in film and film making. And I love that you spend time at the end diving a little into the trivia and other IMDB info about the film. IMDB is the best (and also a huge rabbit hole!) Thanks for creating enjoyable content. I’m in my 50’s and I have realized that once you have seen a film a number of times, it is so satisfying to see someone get their first chance to find the magic of the film for the first time or watch someone like you who may see something in it in a unique way.
Dont know if this was said yet but fun fact I found out, High School Musicals script was a altered version of Grease 3. It was in development hell for years till it was tailored for a modern take and made into what we now know to be High School Musical.
I was 6 when this came out. The attraction, the reason it was such a hit movie was not only due to Travolta making it big with his previous film, Saturday Night Fever (1977) which was a big part of it but Olivia was already an established recording star with 11 albums and many of them platinum selling. Then there was the “adult” factor. Up until the 70’s musicals were known for generally being family friendly and safe. Hair started a change with that mentality in the late 60’s and was followed through into the 70’s with The Rocky Horror Show, Pippen and Grease. The more realistic approach to addressing actual high school experiences, i.e. drinking, sex, depression over status, really resonated with the masses. Look at High School Musical, it’s completely devoid of anything remotely resembling an actual high school experience. Everyone loves each other, there’s no bullying, no sex, no underage drinking. No ones worried about the future or their actual status because everyone’s popular in one way or the other. They didn’t even address the sexuality of Shar Pei’s partner, it was just glossed over with pretty colors and Zak’s moves. It’s probably one of the reasons that casting went older, adults can easily look back and understand those feelings and why they felt them better than an actual teenager who hasn’t experienced them yet. It would have been so bad with teens. I mean, watch the Disney channel cast perform it with Grease Live!. They’re so desperate to play “adult” it’s just cringe all the way through. AND the make lead just ruined his career trying to MIMIC Travolta’s iconic performance. It was horrible. Watch at your own risk. Seriously. It was just wretched. Except for Jordan Fisher who SHOULD have been Danny, tbh. But, you know, he’s not the right “type”. 🙄. Ta hell with them, he ended up in Hamilton. Hope he laughed all the way to Lin Manuel.
This is another one of my favorite classic movies. I’d love to hear you sing the whole versions of these songs if you want to. Thank you for being you.
Yes, in the 1950s drive-in theaters were huge. They were such a big part of teen-culture that the Everly Brothers even sang the song, "Wake Up Little Suzie" which is about two teens on a date at a drive-in.
I don't know how many guys feel about this musical film, but the sheer joy I see, on the faces of you ladies who love this film, is downright infectious, and makes me grin like a fool watching you all enjoying it.
It doesn't seem that she has aged at all, either. She still looks the same. There might be a few gray hairs here and there...but after watching some of the anniversary documentaries, she's the one who still resembles her old self. She's great!
40+ years since it came out and since then there has only been one musical release that rivals Grease in quality, joy, and amazing music, and that is "Hairspray."
I was 9 years old when i saw grease when it originally came out in the movie theaters in 1978. Saw it with my then best friend, a fellow fanatic about the movies. We talked, read, ate, drank, and slept the movies. And we went to the movies together once a week, every week for a lot of years from the 1970s-1980s. There was no particular reason we went to see Grease. We tried to see all the new movies coming out as much as we could regardless of the genre (he loved horror movies, i preferred comedies), plot, critics reviews, or who starred in it. And Grease just happened to be one of the new movies that just came out. I dont exactly recall my friends reaction (except that he was very much amused by the Greased Lightning number), but i loved it right from the very first viewing. It quickly became my number one favorite movie. You wouldn’t think that a movie such as Grease would appeal to a 9 year old boy, but it did. Being raised in an abusive, dysfunctional household, it managed to hit me in the very right places at the very right time. The fact that actors in their 20s-30s were portraying teenaged high school seniors didnt faze me in the least. Because to my 9 year old eyes, in real life, teenaged high school seniors were grown up people. Practically adults. So, seeing adults in their 20s-30s portray teens in the movie, i really couldnt tell the difference at the time.
Maybe I'm just being contrarian (it's happened from time to time) but "There are Worse Things I Could Do" was always my favorite song. Good luck on Broadway. #rizzoforever
I can't say it was Always my favorite, since I first saw this when I was very young, so probably preferred the more rocking songs, But it is my favorite now. I loved Lucy Lawless' rendition of it.
Before Grease, Before Rocky Horror, there was Phantom of the Paradise. The rock opera not many have seen but if you love this genre it's a must see. Directed by Brian DePalma (just before he did Carrie)
Love it and own it.Took me forever to find it on DVD.If you can find it there's a documentary on Paul Williams you might like.Didn't know how involved he was in the music business.
I'm from L.A., and can probably answer your location questions. The exterior of Rydell, and Summer Nights were shot at Venice High School. The Prom was shot at Huntington Park High, it was 100 degrees with no A/C, and there was a meat packing plant next door. The cast says they were sweltering, and it smelled AWFUL! The carnival was shot at John Marshall High (not in the Valley), and the close ups of them twirling in You're The One That I Want was a re-shoot, because they were super rushed because they only had the two days before the carnival left town, and Randall didn't have time for close ups. Look again, and you can see that in the close ups the windows are painted on. Thunder Road was shot at the Los Angeles River. Hopelessly Devoted To You Was another reshoot. ONJ had it in her contract that she got a solo, and after John Farrar wrote the song, they went back after Principle Photography, and shot it on a sound stage on the Paramount Lot with a skeleton crew, which gave it that lonely, kind of eerie quality. JT was already a star from Welcome Back Kotter, and ONJ was a big star already. You can definitely argue that she was the biggest star when they began filming, having already won three Grammys, and two #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits to her name, as well as several other Top 10 hits. Grease made ONJ a global superstar, and Saturday Night Fever, six months earlier, did the same for JT. Musicals were pretty much dead when Grease came along. I was 12 years old when it came out, and it was just BANANAS! My friends and I would go every weekend, and sometimes sit through it twice. It ran in theaters until the end of the year, and I waited patiently until the end of its run to snag the giant lobby poster from my local theater in Marina del Rey. Peddle Pushers came back in style because of Grease, and of course I had a pair ;)
Sin wagon! That makes a hell of a lot more sense than my always hearing "sand wagon" 😂😂 I always figured she was making fun of how dirty the care is lol
I was 11 when it came out. I remember hearing the the songs on the radio all the time all day long. I saw the movie a few times in the theater. It was a phenomenon for sure. ONJ outfit at the end was my biggest memory. The music made the movie. Everyone knew every song. Grease 2 not so much.
I enjoy the movie despite the 30-year-old "teenagers" and the fact that somehow Danny and Sandy never meet that first week of school despite it not appearing to be that massive an institution.
I remember the first time I saw this stage show (I was seventh grade), greased lightning was so raunchy it shocked me. If you like the camp of grease, grease2 will probably hit for you, too. A bit more on the cringe side of cheesy than the original, but worth it for the comparison to see how hard the nostalgia works.
I think Grease is one of the movies I've rewatched the most, and it just never gets old! Talk about a perfect storm! .. and it looks like you've watched it at least as many times!
My sister LOVED this movie and would watch it all the time. I, as her older brother, couldn’t be bothered. However, I have since developed much admiration for the craft and talent on display. This film boasts fantastic energy through and through. In fact, I don’t think any other movie musical since this premiered has managed to exude this much energy. La La Land is thoroughly charming, thoughtful, and enjoyable (and one of my personal favorites) but the intensity in Grease is hard to beat. Grease catapulted John Travolta into superstardom and the sight of him singing and dancing is as iconic as anything in movie history. So much so that Uma Thurman considered it a tremendous honor to dance with him in Pulp Fiction saying it would have been “like shooting guns with John Wayne in a western.” From 1977 (the year Saturday Night Fever was released) to 1982, there was no bigger star in Hollywood. The film itself was a juggernaut and, Shanelle, you’re right about it being that rare musical that shot directly into the bloodstream of the mainstream moviegoing public during that time. It captured the popular imagination in a way that few movies do. An added reason it serves as an anomaly is because in 1978 movie musicals were considered past its prime so I’m sure the nostalgia factor definitely contributed to its success. Love your channel and keep up the great job!
I was 10 and living on a military base when I first saw Grease. The base had only one screen and so it typically played a different movie every day. This changed first with Saturday Night Fever which recieved 3 nights and later with Grease which got 5 days. The movies were usually 25 cents, but with Grease they raised the price to 50 cents, because it had such high demand. My friends and I gleefully attended 4 of the 5 nights.
A random aside, for the longest time I always wondered why Kenicie was asking Danny to be his "lieutenant" if he wasn't asking him to ride with him or anything; and I saw a fan theory that suggested that he was actually talking about Rizzo. That he believed that he was the father, and he was asking Danny to be there for them if something happened to him at Thunder Road. I don't know if that's _actually_ what they were going for, but headcanon accepted.
Classic, my sister watched this so often I can quote the lines from memory. The soundtrack is great I love the frankie valli title song ( written by the beegees )
If you continue to study film, then you maybe should also do a deep dive on the actress who played the principal, Eve Arden. She won an Emmy as a high school teacher in the 50's sitcom Our Miss Brooks, was nominated for an Oscar for Mildred Pierce, played opposite Katharine Hepburn in Stage Door, and was even in a Marx Brothers movie (At the Circus). In addition, anyone who is a fan of I Love Lucy will probably note that she is the first celebrity Lucy meets when the Ricardos go to Hollywood.
My parents were in their early 20s when this came out and saw it several times in the theater. We regularly watched it in my house in the 80s and it was my favorite soundtrack to listen to on cassette! I was born in ‘81. I would watch it with my friends and we would roleplay, I always insisted on being Sandy because I had blonde hair 🙃
I went to school in California, I think the main feature of our high school and middle schools was that there wasn't one building with hallways and lockers. There were a serious of buildings. The oldest had like 12 class rooms but the new buildings were about 6 rooms. You had to walk around the outside of the building to go into the classrooms, only teachers were allowed in the center connecting room where there was storage, copiers and they could enter another teachers class. No one ate in the cafeteria unless it was raining. It was all outdoor seating, covered and uncovered. The library, main office, auditorium and gym were scattered around campus. Very California, no harsh winters to worry about.
OMG this is my dad's favorite film one of the greatest movies of all time a true classic. Grease directed by Randal Kleiser starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway and Frankie Avalon. Thank you Shanelle great reaction
@@brittyn Yeah, it's just one of those quirky movie things and doesn't need an explanation. And it would be disproven by Grease 2, as bad as that movie was. I think too many people want to add a theory to everything. Every movie or show is "It was just a dream" or "they were dead all along" just as theories rather than shown turning out that way like *Spoilers* The Sixth Sense. Like I just heard of this fan theory gaining traction that The Simpsons is a grown up Bart telling the story. Why? Why would we need that? What would it change? And with this movie, like all the "it was a dream" theories, it makes the movie useless. In both cases it comes down to "This whole movie never happened" Well then why did they bother making it and why did we bother watching it?
I remember going to the drive in to see Grease. My parents were watching Grease and the speaker was playing Grease, but behind us was Jaws! So I sat in the backseat of our station wagon (like the kind from National Lampoons Vacation), and watched Jaws without sound!
My sister & I saw Grease in the theater at least 20 times. This was the first VHS tape we bought ($100 or so). To this day when I watch Grease with my husband I know all the words and dance moves (since I am in a wheelchair it is only upper body). My husband is the most impressed by the "we go together " carnival scene since it is such a fast paced song. He laughs hysterically when my sister is on the phone and we do it together. We do the same thing with Jesus Christ Superstar!
20:30 -- There's folks who have built a "greased lightning" replica and they are ALWAYS a hit at the car shows.. ---- There's a darker side to this film and that's they died at the beach and this is their dying brain's fantasies.. When Danny says that "she got a cramp"... He went to save her and they both drowned.. That's why Greased Lightning takes off for the heavens at the end......
They actually played this in movie theaters in 1998. I was in sixth grade at the time, and because I was 13 then, my mom let me see it myself and gave me some money for the ticket, some popcorn and a pepsi. Seeing it in the theater was a blast.
I was kid when Grease came out and the only other musicals I can recall that were as big a hit in this same general era was West Side Story in the early ‘60’s and Oliver in the late ‘60’s. The film takes place exactly 20 years (a full generation) before the release date. My parents graduated from HS around that same time and it really hit the nostalgia feels for them and their friends. Grease came out at a time when the style of film for the prior 10 years was - for the most part - very gritty, realistic and violent, almost nihilistic. A lot of crime, war, action, and movies with unhappy endings. By that time audiences were ready for a return to pure joyful escapism (ignited by Star Wars in 1977) and the timing of Grease’s release couldn’t have been more perfect. Shortly after this, Hollywood veered hard into the “blockbuster” - action/adventure and child-like fantasy (Indiana Jones , ET, The Goonies, Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, etc). It was a great time to start becoming immersed in cinema as a kid. Side note: my cousin Kristen and I used to perform some of these songs at family gatherings covering the male and female roles accordingly when we were pre-teens. They won’t let me forget. 😅
I was 17 when Grease hit the drive-ins. Mindblowing!! I'll never forget taking my "older" college girlfriend to the Gratiot Drive-in that Friday night. You could drive when you were 16 back then. Gratiot was the main drag cruisin' road just north of Detroit, and the drive-in was the natural hot-rodders hang-out. Hot rods and pop music obviously would have made a huge impact in that time, even though set in the 50's. In the late 70's we had "muscle" cars (especially in Detroit) and Disco dance clubs. So yeah ... it hit home. And everybody already loved Olivia Newton-John music and John Travolta from Welcome Back, Kotter.
91 baby here saw this when I seven or so nothing like being brought into the classics and the different eras before our younger generation came into light .
I was born in 69 and as a kid the drive in was awesome. I know this was supposed to be in the 50's but if my childhood is any indication of what it was like before they must have been bumping. My and my friends still did the drive in thing in the late 90's and at that time it was still buzzy.
I used to work for Southwest Airlines in the reservation dept 25 years ago. One day I answered a call from Jeff Conaway's mom. She said that Jeff was supposed to be Danny and talked for two hours as all those years later she was still bitter that her son was not as famous as John Travolta.
This movie came out when I was a senior in High school .. I also saw the Broadway play In NYC ... Never get tired of watching and singing to All The songs
The location for the drag race scene is indeed a culvert called the Los Angeles River. It's a setting in hundreds if not thousands of movies. Also, confused by your question re movie musicals: you love musicals, so you have to be aware they've been around forever. There are periods in movie history where the biggest movies are all musicals. The previous period ended with Oliver! winning BP in 1968, I think. Then rock operas appeared: Hair, Godspell, Tommy, even Rocky Horror and Phantom of the Paradise. Grease was an explosive success, I guess setting off the next wave, the pop musicals.
37:56--- There's a Grease theory that in the beginning of the movie Danny died trying to rescue Sandy from drowning (who also died). Throughout the movie, Sandy and Danny are essentially spirits spending one last hurrah with their friends before flying up to heaven. Basically----"a change of plans." Fan theories are so interesting.
I was a big ONJ fan and went opening day with my older brother and sister. The first showing was sold out when we got there so we bought tickets to the next show, for some Dunkin Munchkins, and ate them in the car while we waited to go in for the next showtime. I had a Grease wall calendar my senior year of high school that was promoted as 1959 in 1979 (or the reverse). Many years later I played Sonny in a local production of Grease (that stage version was a lot more mature in content. They really cleaned it up for the movie, and subsequent theater productions adapted some of the songs and cleaner elements from the movie. The stage version I did started as a reunion with Miss Lynch, Patty Simcox, and Eugene singing the school song bemoaning that some of their classmates weren't but they remembered them as they were, at which point the characters we follow in the movie came on and sang a parody of the school song with lyrics like, "I saw a dead skunk on the highway, And I was goin' crazy from the smell, But when the wind was blowin' my way, It smelled just like the halls of old Rydell!" You don't forget lyrics like that. Eve Arden, Dody Goodman, and Sid Caesar were big stars in the 1950s so it was extra fun to have them play the adults in the movie; also Frankie Avalon as Teen Angel.
The reason the car flew at the end was a nod to the line by Mrs. Murdock (the Auto Teacher) when she said "If it were any better, it would Fly!" and at the end, the car WAS better , so it flew.
One of my favorite things to do when watching is pointing out that The T-Birds and Pink Ladies(excluding Sandy and Danny) appear as the "Angels" during Beauty School Drop out. And One ends her "note" early, glances over notices the rest holding it, and then continues.
In the 90s when the World Wide Web was a new thing, one of the first web pages I visited was a movie trivia site, and most of what I remember on that site was Ferris Bueller and Grease. The flying car at the end was in part to make sure there was never any mistake that the entire thing was fantasy. When you're watching a play in a theatre, your surroundings constantly remind you you're watching a play. When you're watching a movie, part of the format is the assumption that this *could* be true even if it isn't, but the flying car in Grease makes sure you don't suspend that disbelief for a moment. It locks in that disbelief and makes it part of the show. This wasn't just because it's based on a play, but also because some of the sentiments and attitudes portrayed are "problematic" at best, and the fantasy veil allowed them to separate themselves from that ickiness.
I really liked it when I saw it in the theater when I was 9, we went to see it 2 days in a row. Idk if that was because my mom loved it or my sister, friends and I loved it. However, I grew to dislike it because every girl I ever dated loved it and if it was on while we were watching tv, I had to watch it. Every. Single. One... Every. Single. Time. Your reaction was a lot of fun though, I saw so much that I had forgotten about. Keep 'em coming!
![Watching Grease (1978) for the First Time in Forever! // [Watch & Commentary] // Stockard for PRES!](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
