Grease.

[yesitsme]

When I was young my sister and two female cousins watched this on a non-stop loop and although I had never watched it in its entirety from start to finish I reckon I must have seen that film a billion times.

A couple of weeks ago I sat down to watch it from scratch with my daughter and by Christ its an odd film.  Not just in the way that all musicals are odd this has a lot of oddness in it.  What is Kenicke?  To me he seems to have been the bloke the film should have been about, he's the one with the car, he's the one basically and yet his 'character' is reduced to being in the same shot as yer Travolta sometimes and knocking up Rizzo.  That's it.  He's there for nothing else.  I'd like to see a remake of the film from his point of view - that's first.

Two Rizzo sings 'Look at me I'm Sandra D' yet in the first scene Sandy says her name is Olsen.  At what point does someone put their hand up and point this out to the director/writer?  All it takes is one second to put right but I've never heard anyone else say this - although I'm sure IMDB and Wiki are all over it.

Travolta's character is a bell end.  Not in just a 'bad boy' kind of way but an actual bell.  Yeah he can dance a bit but he's rotten to everyone he comes across.  Plus they're all about 35.

Maybe this was one for the PC gone mad thread but why does Sandy have to slut it up at the end?  She's a nice girl and JT likes her - if he likes her then that's all there is to it she shouldn't need to start on the fags and the skin tight jeans.

I dunno about any of it, it's almost as if the film makes no sense at all not like that great film Mamma Mia that I also had to sit through.  What a load of absolute donkey shit that is.

Have any other Metro readers sat through a film they thought they knew for the first time and gone  what the fuck?

[checkoutgirl]

Not to mention the bit where they order about a hundred quid worth of food and then fuck off immediately without eating a bite of it. What's going on?

Funny the way small girls used to watch a musical over and over and over in the eighties. Apparently a girl 'round our way used to pummel The Sound of Music into oblivion. As an 8 year old I remember wondering if the sound of music meant it was some mystical type film that explained why music had a sound or something like that.

But either way I think watching the same film constantly is weird behaviour, even if you only have one video tape.

As for Grease, yeah, it's an odd film but at least the songs have some swagger and confidence to them. That's all young girls can notice or care about. I guarantee no young girl was watching thinking about identity politics or the age of the cast. If you want true shitness you have to watch Grease II with Michelle Pfeiffer. The "Reproduction" song from that film is something to behold.

[yesitsme]

The title song's great the rest?  Maybe Beauty School Drop Out - some good lines in that but Grease Lightning runs out of words after about 20 seconds of the routine, Summer NiiiiIIIIIIIIiiiiiights is a caterwauling cacophony, what else is in it - yeah the Sandra O (lousy with Tu-ber-co-lo(sis)) song.... can't think of the others.

I know it's not meant to be Gone With the Wind* but it does look very thrown together.

*GWtW.  Never seen it but we've had it taped for about two years now.  The other day I caught about a ten minute section of it and it looks effing brilliant.  We were going out and I kept stalling saying 'Let me just see this bit', 'let's just see what he does here....'  My misson this Christmas is to ist down and watch it from start to finish.

[Dr Rock]

Sandra Dee was a wholesome film star of the time. They are mocking Sandy saying she is like her.

I love Grease and every song in it.

[yesitsme]

Ahhh that explains it. 

As you were.

I'm not saying it's not enjoyable (nonsense), cetainly the female side of my family all love it but I don't think it should have been about yer Travolts and Neutron Bomb.  They're the spin-off from a different film.

[Replies From View]

she shouldn't need to start on the fags and the skin tight jeans.

Yeah, but kids need to be fed the notion that smoking is sexy in films otherwise they won't get pointlessly addicted to nicotine for their entire lives.

[Replies From View]

If you want true shitness you have to watch Grease II with Michelle Pfeiffer.

Apparently she eats popcorn really loudly and refuses to switch her mobile phone off.

[Dr Rock]

In the stage show that preceded the movie, Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) played the title character Danny for a couple of years. Travolta later joined the cast, and by the time of the movie he was given the role of Danny.

[yesitsme]

In the stage show that preceded the movie, Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) played the title character Danny for a couple of years. Travolta later joined the cast, and by the time of the movie he was given the role of Danny.

Ahhhh.  It all makes perfect sense when you know what's going on.  They should explain all this before the film starts.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

It plumbed the depths of moral depravity!  Three men got their bottoms out!

[Crabwalk]

It's not very realistic when the car flies away at the end.

[yesitsme]

It's not very realistic when the car flies away at the end.

Yes! That's something else I wanted to mention what's that all about?

Are they dead?  Has it all been a terrible dream? What?  It's not his car to fly is it?  Grease Lightning belongs to yer Kenicke yet he's dancing and waving as these two Chitty Chitty it in to the blue yonder.  Yeah, the more you think about it there's something doesn't ring true about this film.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

It's not very realistic when the car flies away at the end.

One of them was descended from one of the Chitty Bang Bang couple, that's all.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Also, as the car makes it's ascent, and Sandy is all too keen to wave a fond farewell to The Pink Ladies In Their Thirties and Punka and the rest, Danny Zuko just *has* to be too cool for school, and not bother his arse or turn his back, dunnee? It's not like he has to keep his eyes on the road, or worry about hitting a particularly solid cloud, or anything. Say "Goodbye" to yer mates, you ignorant arsehole! Sheesh! No wonder Stockard Channing's distanced herself from this film!

[yesitsme]

Has she?  I bet it could be a millstone.  That one who played Frenchie doesn't seem to mind being tarred with the Grease brush does she?  Always see here pontificating on her role in the film.  She's grown in to an older version of her character.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Didi Conn was on that celebration of "Grease" featuring Alan Carr and that Joan Rivers corpse-channeling Canadian bird who wears too much make up and seems to be on a quest to appear on every humorous British TV programme *ever*, shown in the Summer, only too happy to pontificate proudly on her role, and the film itself. Fair enough. It's not like she can go round going "I used to be on 'Benson', me!", is it?

[Shit Good Nose]

Been a long time since I've seen it, but I seem to remember one of the songs featuring a lyric along the lines of "she made me cream my pants".

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

The song "Greased Lightning" rather charmingly rhymes "Shit" with "Tit", and suggests, confusingly, that it is the *ladies* who shall cream themselves when they see the impressive, eponymous vehicle. Maybe this is the song you were thinking of? Bizarrely, it was also released as a single, making it the "Ballad Of Chasey Lane" of its time.

[yesitsme]

How many times did you dance to the Grease Mega-Mix?  You could hardly see the joins could you?

[thraxx]

Weird. Woke up this morning intent on making a thread about how much i hate this, only to find a thread already.

Anyway, yeah i hate this utterly. One or to good songs, but the social impact of this makes it impossible to judge if it's any good. Twats acting it out and singing it at school. I remember some girl at school asking me if i liked Ritz and I said yes believing she was talking about the itv series The Ritz.

As a youth, impossible to go out and not hear the grease megamix, even at the harlseden mean fiddler before Thurman come on.

Not shit i suppose but made shit by other people.

[Shit Good Nose]

The song "Greased Lightning" rather charmingly rhymes "Shit" with "Tit", and suggests, confusingly, that it is the *ladies* who shall cream themselves when they see the impressive, eponymous vehicle. Maybe this is the song you were thinking of? Bizarrely, it was also released as a single, making it the "Ballad Of Chasey Lane" of its time.

Yeah, sounds about right.

Not a fan at all, but then I generally don't like musicals anyway - I can count on, probably, one hand the ones that I like, and one of those (The Blues Brothers) arguably isn't a proper musical anyway.

[Replies From View]

Not shit i suppose but made shit by other people.

Similar to The Blues Brothers in that regard.  For a time it became impossible to walk down any street in Britain without encountering a bunch of blokes standing around in those black suits and trilbies.  Just fuck off with them.

[Black_Bart]

For a time it became impossible to walk down any street in Britain without encountering a bunch of blokes standing around in those black suits and trilbies

Sure they weren't Hasidic diamond merchants?

[olliebean]

Sandra Dee was a wholesome film star of the time. They are mocking Sandy saying she is like her.

But also, in the original stage musical Sandy's surname was Dumbrowski, so the song worked on both levels. Apparently Dumbrowski was too American a name for an Aussie, though I don't know why they didn't change it to something else beginning with D.

[thraxx]

But also, in the original stage musical Sandy's surname was Dumbrowski, so the song worked on both levels. Apparently Dumbrowski was too American a name for an Aussie, though I don't know why they didn't change it to something else beginning with D.

Sandra Dingo
Sandra Dunny
Sandra Drongo?

[the science eel]

but

The title song's great

yes.




And Michelle Pfeiffer is HOTTT in Grease 2

[yesitsme]

Look at me I'm Sandra D, Lousy Ab-or-ig-in-ee,
That's not a racist so don't you get haste-ist,
It means in-dig-in-ee.

[Gulftastic]

The extras make the film. Everyone of them seems to be silently screaming 'LOOK AT ME! LOOKATMEEEEE!' as they ham it up during any dance scene.

Even on the album cover, they can't stop.



That little cow near the front to the left. We fucking hated her.

[weekender]

It's not very realistic when the car flies away at the end.

I read a theory about this, which was something along the lines of Sandy and Danny were teenage lovers who were enjoying one last day at the beach before big school.  Then Sandy got into trouble with an undercurrent and drowned.  Danny was trying to save her, but he also got hit by a big wave and got his head smashed on the rocks, then he died too. 

So they both died on the beach, and the majority of the film is them both imagining what their high school days would have been like had they not died tragically.

Then, at the end, they fly off to heaven in the car having realised that their love would have been true whatever happened at high school.

[weekender]

I also find it a bit weird that it's sort of a kids film, but isn't there a bit in the middle when Rizzo (or someone) starts talking in fairly graphic detail about her period?