Grease is still the world, 28 years on
For audiences nowadays, the 1978 musical Grease is a movie many of us grew up with, so it carries with it a hint of nostalgia. Unless you were locked in a bomb shelter or a coma for the past few decades, everyone knows the words to the songs of Grease. Even if you haven’t seen it that many times, or aren’t much of a fan of musicals, countless high school concerts have ended with a rousing chorus of “You’re the One that I Want”, not to mention countless drunken nights in karaoke bars signing off with “Summer Lovin”. Twenty eight years later, teenage girls are still watching Grease and feeling Sandy’s glory.
The nostalgia is intoxicating, presenting an era in America which may have never even existed, but which we still yearn for. The film lovingly recreates the 1950s of small town America, populated by hot rods, diners, malt shakes, school dances, drive-in movies and jukeboxes, where bad boys had slicked back hair and leather jackets, cookie-cutter girls wore polka dot dresses and ribbons in their hair, and everyone listened to Elvis, The idyllic portrait of American youth in 1959 is air brushed, corny, cookie-cutter celluloid propaganda, we open heartedly wish we were there well after the credits roll. Such wish fulfilment is, after all, what Hollywood does best. If we wanted a grittier portrait of the times, we’d watch Rebel Without a Cause, American Graffiti or read Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, but we don’t. Grease is what everyone wants.
In the summer of 1959, rebellious Danny Zuko meets and falls for an Australian ingénue, Sandy, while holidaying on the coast. Alas, their affair can’t last beyond the summer because when autumn comes, Danny has to go back to school and Sandy plans to jet back to Australia with her parents. By a twist of fate unbeknownst to Danny, Sandy winds up staying in town and enrolling at Rydell High for the semester.
Of course, at Rydell High, Danny is the ring leader of the leather jacket clad gang of greasers, the T-Birds. As the movie opens, Danny is regaling his friends with the tale of his summer love. Meanwhile, across the other side of the campus, Sandy is recounting the romance to her new friends, the tough trio of girls who rule the school, the Pink Ladies, and their feisty smart-mouthed leader Rizzo (Stockard Channing) who at first takes a disliking to the new girl.
The whole movie revolves around lovebirds Danny and Sandy getting together, in spite of the interference of the T-Birds, the Pink Ladies and Danny’s old flame and dancing partner Cha Cha DiGregorio. During the dance off, Danny wins by dancing with Cha Cha, leaving Sandy to run off in a huff.
As a side note, the famous dance sequence was filmed in a stifling hot high school gym in the middle of summer, when the school hall was closed for the holidays, resulting in many of the extras and actors suffering heat exhaustion!
Of course, there are subplots involving the big drag race between the T-Birds and their arch rival gang, The Scorpions, at the final’s climax, where Danny steps behind the wheel of Grease Lightning after Kenickie Jeff Conway) is knocked out. And another involving Rizza who fears she might be pregnant to Kenickie.
At the end of the movie, with a tight black vinyl catsuit, a killer pair of heels, fiery red lipstick and a hell of a lot of hairspray, Sandy undergoes a transformation for her final number from virgin to vixen, proving she can loosen up to be with Danny. Meanwhile, Danny shapes up and joins the Varsity track team in an effort to impress and ultimately get the girl.
Yet, as with all movie musicals, from Singin’ In The Rain and The Wizard of Oz through to The Sound Of Music to Moulin Rouge, the plot is merely ancillary to the show stopping numbers. The iconic final scene at the carnival, where Sandy appears dressed in figure-hugging black leather singing, “You better shape up…” was filmed in one afternoon, when a real travelling fair was passing through. The next day, when the director Randal Kleiser wanted to re-shoot more close-ups, the carnival had left town and the production designers had to create sets which were replicas of the rides in the actual fair.
The famous costume worn by Newton-John in the scene was so tight, she reportedly had to be sewn into it after a zipper broke - and she couldn’t take it off for 36 hours. The things you never knew…
What made Grease such a cultural phenomenon and so enduringly popular was not the stage production itself - after all, West Side Story as a musical was just as good, if not better-but the catchiness of the original songs from the Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey stage musical, and the incredible chemistry of Newton-John and Travolta as leads.
But John Travolta wasn’t the first choice for the role of Danny Zuko. In fact, the role was passed up by Warren Beatty and The Fonz (Henry Winkler), who feared being typecast by the role.
When he was cast in Grease, John Travolta already had the makings of a star. He had already gained attention with his role in Saturday Night Fever. While Fever proved Travolta could not only dance disco, but could also act with a bristling. brooding charisma, it was Grease which cemented him as a star and it was his energetic and electric performance, modelled on Elvis Presley, for which he is still fondly remembered.
Meanwhile little-known Australian singer, Olivia Newton-John landed the role as Sandy with virtually no acting experience after Marie Osmond turned down the part. So the story goes that the script was rewritten because it was easier to make the character of Sandy Australian than to coach Newton-John into an authentic American accent.
Together, Travolta and Newton-John’s pairing is one of the most sparkling screen couples ever put together.
While critics scoffed at how the cast were all too old to play teenagers, on the set of the movie it was a running gag that the students of Rydell High were the oldest teenagers in America. At the time, Travolta was 23-years-old, Newton-John was 29, Stockard Channing was 33 and Jeff Conway was 27.
Just as it is hard to articulate what made Star Wars or Indiana Jones resonate so much with audiences, it is hard to pin down what made Grease so magical and so iconic. Yet, Grease is still the highest grossing movie musical of all time. Not to mention, for a time the film was third highest-grossing film in history, behind only Jaws and Star Wars.
While Paramount had conceived of turning Grease into a franchise of films when they purchased the rights to the stage production, Grease 2, directed by the first film’s choreographer Patricia Birch and starring none of the original cast members with the exception of Frenchy and a young Michelle Pfeiffer, the sequel flopped. All plans for a franchise, a television series and a cartoon were scrapped. After all, there would only ever be one true Grease.
Words: Anna Whitelan
Grease - Special Edition Paramount, out September 14.
Grease - Special Edition Paramount DVD
Grease is now both a collector’s DVD and a fun flick for kids. The new special edition release caters for both audiences and is both digitally re-mastered and containing a double-disc set with a host of special features, including:
Never-seen-before extended and deleted scenes.
Behind-the scenes documentaries on the making of Grease and memories of Grease, with commentaries and interviews with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
1950s featurettes on Thunder Roadsters about the 1950s car culture, Beauty School about the hair, make-up and fashions of the 1950s, and The Moves Behind The Music showcasing the dance styles that inspired the film.
A karaoke songbook, so you can sing-a-long like an idiot in your lounge room.
For A Limited Time Only, You Can Grab The Dvd In A Mini Leather T-Birds Jacket Or A Pink Ladies Satin Jacket!