Friday, April 10, 1998
Twenty years later, ‘Grease’
is still the word for audiences
FILM: Rerelease aspires to cash in on movie’s enduring
multigenerational appeal
By Louise Chu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Guys wanted Sandy to be hopelessly devoted to him. Girls wanted
some of Danny’s grease lightnin.’ Or even a hickey from
Kenickie.
When it debuted in 1978, "Grease" mesmerized an entire
generation of movie-goers, filling their heads with dreams of
summer love and teenage antics. Twenty years later, the phenomenon
has yet to die down. It was still among the top ten video titles
sold in the United States in 1997, and over 20 million soundtrack
albums have been sold since its release.
"I found out that ‘Summer Nights’ is the biggest Karaoke song in
the history of Karaoke," producer Allen Carr humorously
reveals.
The success of the recent Broadway revival of "Grease" further
inspired Paramount Studios to cash in on its steady popularity
throughout the years. With the prompting of Carr, who realized that
they were sitting on "a gold mine," they decided to re-release the
musical classic for its 20th anniversary, much to the thrill of all
audiences, from the generation that lived through "Grease" the
first time to recent generations that have only enjoyed it on
videotape.
"We discovered we had a new age group that nobody knew about,"
Carr reveals. "Only my friends found out, who had children, that
(‘Grease’) was their favorite movie. Then I found out there was a
big teenage following. We also did a couple test screenings for an
older audience, which people are convinced there isn’t any. The
first two nights, they were clapping and singing–grown people
carrying on like kids! Obviously we have a multi-generational
audience waiting."
"Grease’s" return not only brings together diverse audiences in
theaters around the nation, it also reunites the cast and crew of
the movie, who have since found individual success beyond the
film.
"I’m really enjoying everything," says Olivia Newton-John, who
starred as Sandy Olsen, the clean-cut-new-girl-turned-sexpot. "I
love seeing everybody and reliving it. It is like a school
reunion."
While many memories from their "Grease" experience remain
vividly familiar, certain ones seem better left in the past. For
Newton-John, it was the tight black pants — the ones she made
famous in the final scenes of the movie when she transformed into a
sexy counterpart for school rebel Danny Zuko (John Travolta).
"I was sewn into the pants," she remembers. "I ate and drank
very little, as you can imagine because it was a major ordeal every
time. (But the transformation) was great. I wondered what I’d been
doing all those years. They didn’t know who I was, and I got a lot
of whistles, and it was really fun.
"Actually last week I was curious as to how far in I could get,
so I took them off the hanger, and I put my foot in," she
continues, looking just as thin at 49 as she did in the movie. "I
am very glad and relieved that the elastic is gone in the pants,
and so if I had tried to force my foot in, it would have ripped. So
I’ll never know."
The amount of time since doing the film has helped them develop
a different perspective on certain aspects of the making of the
movie, allowing them to speak more candidly in retrospect.
"(‘Grease’) was sort of thrown together like a garage
production; thrown together much too fast," director Randal Kleiser
concludes.
As a result, musical numbers such as "Hopelessly Devoted To You"
and "You’re the One That I Want" were incorporated into the film
after production had already began. In another famous scene at the
drive-in, a background trailer played behind Danny as he sang a
solo number. On a whim, Kleiser manipulated the moment when a
dancing hot dog jumps into its bun to fall exactly on Danny’s last
note of the song. He says he idea was "totally improvised" on the
first take and they decided to keep it.
"It was that kind of sloppy, thrown-together thing that I think
the whole movie has–that looseness–that people like," Kleiser
says.
Carr, ironically, believes that the rating of "Grease" should be
stricter today than it was 20 years ago. "If we re-rate it, it
would probably be PG-13 (instead of PG). There’s some language with
the scene with (Rizzo, played by Stockard Channing) and (Kenickie,
played by Jeff Conaway) in the back of the car. It’s a little
racier than I thought it was. But no one said anything (about a
rating change)."
In watching it again, audiences will have the opportunity to
rediscover such aspects of the film that may not have been noticed
previously, but they will not be treated to any extra scenes, which
is often characteristic of re-releases such as "Star Wars." The
studio remained true to the original version, with the exception of
an improved sound and color quality.
"There aren’t any (extra scenes)," Carr explains. "They agreed
originally to make it on a very tight budget. So we had to plot out
very, very carefully that we used every bit of money in things that
we needed. Everything that was in the picture is what we used.
There may be a take here or a second here, but there was nothing
that we could have added because we didn’t have anything."
However, Carr did reveal one scene between Kenickie and Rizzo
that had been deleted. Several months after "Grease" had wrapped
shooting, an executive at Paramount wanted a scene that offered the
motivation behind Rizzo’s hostility toward Kenickie at the diner.
At his urging, they shot a scene that showed a dramatic argument
between the two characters.
"Two-hundred thousand dollars went to do the scene, which I call
the ‘Martin Scorcese scene,’" Carr says. "It’s against a black
wall, and they have this vicious fight, which looks like Virginia
Woolf. It was very good, but certainly had nothing to do with our
movie."
He hints at the possibility of releasing that scene on a laser
disc version in the future.
Ultimately, despite the many interesting details of the movie
that are constantly being discovered, Carr believes that the
casting of "Grease" is the key to continually attracting audiences
to watch it again and again.
"As they say, 90 percent of the movie is the casting," Carr
contends. "Then, of course, you want that chemistry. Most of the
time it doesn’t work. I just did a movie with Mel Gibson and
Michelle Pfeiffer–two hot, attractive people–but they didn’t know
each other. It was so cold. No anything between them. I’m sure they
like each other, but it just didn’t work."
What does work, according to Carr, is the on-screen chemistry
between Travolta and Newton-John, a chance pairing that may never
have happened had he pursued his original choices for the starring
roles: Henry Winkler ("Happy Days") and Susan Dey ("The Partridge
Family").
In the end, it is Travolta and Newton-John’s memorable
performances that help explain "Grease"’s enduring appeal. Their
unique chemistry that draws people to back to Rydell High, reliving
the excitement of Danny and Sandy’s senior year.
"(Ten years later) I think Sandy would be running a make-over
salon," Newton-John casually speculates. "Sandy and Danny would be
married. He’d tried out for Broadway and didn’t quite make it, and
now he owns the garage."
After a moment of thought, she instead concludes, "’Grease’ has
a life of its own. I think they should be left there."
FILM: "Grease" is currently playing in Westwood at the Mann’s
Village Theater.