Grease 2 Surprise

[antonkk]

Well, I just watched Grease 2 for the first time and...well, it's much better then it's reputation. I was expecting something truly awful but it's a good entertainment and the music is not bad at all. While in every aspect (except the script - but who cares about scripts in such movies?) it fails to reach the level of original classic it somehow delivers when you stop comparing it. John and Olivia were a dream team, period - but Michelle Pfeifer and this James Dean looking guy were impressive and the biggest surprise was that Michelle could really sing. All in all it was a better follow up then Staying Alive was for SNF. And damit, I'm ordering the soundtrack now! :shh: What's your opinion, guys?

[GregY]

What's your opinion, guys?

You can't trust guys with Bee Gees avatars. :D :D

Never saw this one. I've seen Grease so many times since I was little, I just about know it by heart. And musicals / showtunes are about the only type of music I don't normally like.

I'll have to ask my wife if she's seen Grease 2 ... she also loves the original.

[Dave]

Well, I just watched Grease 2 for the first time and...well, it's much better then it's reputation. I was expecting something truly awful but it's a good entertainment and the music is not bad at all. While in every aspect (except the script - but who cares about scripts in such movies?) it fails to reach the level of original classic it somehow delivers when you stop comparing it. John and Olivia were a dream team, period - but Michelle Pfeifer and this James Dean looking guy were impressive and the biggest surprise was that Michelle could really sing. All in all it was a better follow up then Staying Alive was for SNF. And damit, I'm ordering the soundtrack now! :shh: What's your opinion, guys?
Well, if you like that Anton, you'll love that the CD version Grease 2: Original Soundtrack Recording (USA) Polydor catalog# 42282 5096-2 is nice and analogy sounding with no digital nasties involved. :thumbsup:

[Corey]

Is this another April Fool's post? :)

Ok, I have to admit sometimes I sing the bowling song when I go bowling, but this movie is just wrong on so many levels. Grease itself gave a hokey 70's treatment to the 50's, but at least the disco-jive and music worked and wasn't too much of a stretch to make the movie unenjoyable. Grease 2 doesn't even really try to hard to make the music even vaguely resemble the time period, the costumes are worse and its all downhill from there.

Still, it is something of a guilty pleasure when it turns up at 2am in a so-bad-its-good way, but its reputation is truly deserved.

[stypee]

Sorry, this somehow became a double post.. look down..

[stypee]

Having a younger sister and close friend addicted to anything with the word's GREASE attached too it (aside from car's and food) it's pure camp. Here's some unnecessary trivia for ya:

Grease 2, released in the summer of 82 was one of Allan Carr's big disasters. If you're not clear on who Allan Carr is, here's a short history. He made a ton of money in the 70's with GREASE as well as a host of other projects, so he came up with a weird concept: Why not employ unexperienced directors and make big movies?

Before GREASE 2, Carr's notorious production credit, the infamous village people CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC, was probably the biggest bad idea since the "bee gee's" in SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEART'S CLUB BAND. Carr had money floating out of every part of his body. Essentially you could think of him as the film producer that might have made millions if he didn't pass away while weird film to theatre concepts such as FOOTLOOSE made it to the theatrical stage.

He employed Nancy Walker from television's RHODA and the infamous BOUNTY PAPER TOWERL commercials to direct CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC. It was literally released during the big DISCO SUCKS explosion and it tanked at the box office. Not only was it notorious for it's bad timing but it slowly gained notoriety for it's painfully long running time, bad acting (especially from Steve "Police Academy" Guttenburg) weird casting (Bruce Jenner) subtextual "gay references" and technically bad editing and directing. Yet. as bad as it is, you can't help but watch it. The movie became a camp classic and was re-released on DVD by ANCHOR BAY. They did an amazing job, even fixed a few technical glitches and put the disc out in full DTS ES as well as it's original aspect ratio. For such a bad film, it's remarkable the attention the film was given for it's DVD release and for 15 bucks, it's worth it.

(I HAVE A POINT HERE RELATING TO GREASE 2, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE ASKING YOURSELF.)

Carr made big bucks from the first GREASE and the biggest assumption I could come up with about GREASE 2 was primarily the fact that he was simply going for cheese ball camp status. He employed yet another unexperienced director, Patricia Birch, who ironically enough choreographed the first GREASE. Carr had Phiffer play the female lead (her first motion picture role), tossed in Adrian Zmed (why?) and that handsome dude was television's Maxwell Caulfield (Ryan's Hope, Dynasty, The Colby's) whose face looks horribly constipated during the entire film. They bought back Frenchie to try and give the title some notoriety. It really didn't, the film bombed and it's promise of sky-rocketing the two leads to the "big time" nearly killed Caulfield's career. Only Phiffer recovered from it.

After the film hit video, that's when it hit it's mark and teenage girl's all over starting snapping it up, memorizing every line and every song. When ABC aired it for the first time on network television the number "REPRODUCTION" was cut by censors, it was later replaced for your viewing pleasure.

While Carr was infamous for his strange ideas and choices (he went on to produce the marginally successfull CLOAK AND DAGGER with Henry Thomas and Dabney Coalmen, not that bad a film) he'll always be remembered for his strange producer credits. While one may never know if they were intentional, they certainly seemed to create something of a following with the advent of the V.C.R., LASERDISC and DVD. Let's not forget broadcast and cable television as well as the occasional midnight showing.

Carr died in 1999, his last film was the awful remake WHERE THE BOY'S ARE 84' and produced the 61st Academy Awards where he had Rob Lowe singing with Snow White doing "Proud Mary". It would later be labeled the worst of all Academy Award ceremonies and Carr was sued by Disney for using Snow White.

He got his start as a manager/promoter with an impressive list of clients. He also produced the 1984 Broadway hit "La Cauge A Falls".

Speculation has gone on for years of making a GREASE 3 with both TRAVOLTA and JOHN reprising their roles. One rumor had them in college and another as parents raising their kids. At the rate TRAVOLTA'S career is going, it might not be a bad idea.

[Corey]

Do you know if ABC (or whoever aired it during the 80s) cut out Greased Lightning from the tv run of the original movie as well? I seem to remember this being the case but I was quite young at the time. That was probably my favorite song on the soundtrack as a kid and I remember watching Grease on tv one night and waiting and waiting for it and it never came.

[stypee]

Do you know if ABC (or whoever aired it during the 80s) cut out Greased Lightning from the tv run of the original movie as well? I seem to remember this being the case but I was quite young at the time. That was probably my favorite song on the soundtrack as a kid and I remember watching Grease on tv one night and waiting and waiting for it and it never came.

Good question. If memory serves me (it's been a long time since the first broadcast) much was cut from the first GREASE for television including some of the animated title sequence. If I'm not mistaken they did eliminate "Grease Lightning" because of it's sexual metaphors. Although they weren't as blatantly obvious as the "Reproduction" number (aside from the obvious word's used in the song "Grease Lightening") I'm pretty certain that it was cut. While I can't confirm this, I do recall seeing it years ago on broadcast television without the number in-tact.

It wasn't until the late 90's (?) when both songs were put back into the film.

The first GREASE was released during that awkward time when studios were releasing two different versions of a film. While GREASE always kept it's PG rating, the 70's were notorious for showing films that required "adult supervision".

One interesting note would be SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, the film went out with an R rating and since it became such a huge box office success and millions of pre-teen as well as adolescent girls were salivating over TRAVOLTA, PARAMOUNT PICTURES came up with the idea of releasing a PG rated print during the day so kids could see it and the R rated print at night.

This practice started to get a little silly when the first STAR TREK film was released. The movie was rated G but after 6:OO P.M. theatres would not allow kids of a certain age to see the film unless "accompanied by a guardian".

If you haven't seen it yet, check out FREE ENTERPRISE, a clever little indie film that pokes fun at the STAR TREK phenomenon. They include a scene with these strange restrictions.

[rock76]

Well, I just watched Grease 2 for the first time and...well, it's much better then it's reputation. I was expecting something truly awful but it's a good entertainment and the music is not bad at all. While in every aspect (except the script - but who cares about scripts in such movies?) it fails to reach the level of original classic it somehow delivers when you stop comparing it. John and Olivia were a dream team, period - but Michelle Pfeifer and this James Dean looking guy were impressive and the biggest surprise was that Michelle could really sing. All in all it was a better follow up then Staying Alive was for SNF. And damit, I'm ordering the soundtrack now! :shh: What's your opinion, guys?

Though I really enjoyed Grease as a child (and still do sometimes), part 2, IMHO, is not "that good". I first saw it on cable back in 83 and liked it cause it was the sequel of a movie I liked a lot. Now I'm older I can see it's not a good film and performances (both acting and singing) aren't good. In my opinion, that is.

[voicebug]

As a voiceover person, I'm aware of another bit of 'Grease 2' trivia for you guys. Remember the annoying 'little sister' with the black hair and pig tails? I believe her character's name is Dolores. Anyway, that's Pamela Segall. She has done an incredibly huge amount of animation voice-overs throughout the years and is most famous for the voice of Bobby Hill on 'King Of The Hill.

Also, the actress who plays 'Paula' is Lorna Luft---Judy Garland's other daughter. ;)

[Squealy]

I'm still upset that the Britney/Justin version of Grease never got made.

[antonkk]

I'm still upset that the Britney/Justin version of Grease never got made.


:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Beatle Terr]

I'm still upset that the Britney/Justin version of Grease never got made.

LOL,
Thank God!!

[Felix Martinez]

Do you know if ABC (or whoever aired it during the 80s) cut out Greased Lightning from the tv run of the original movie as well? I seem to remember this being the case but I was quite young at the time. That was probably my favorite song on the soundtrack as a kid and I remember watching Grease on tv one night and waiting and waiting for it and it never came.

If memory serves, I do recall the song was included on TV, albeit truncated:

"You know that it ain't, you'll be getting lotsa, greased lightnin'"

"You that I ain't braggin', she's a real, greased lightnin'"

Re Grease 2 - yes it's a disaster, but I have such an affection for it - kinda like Sgt. Pepper. Universal did a bang up job with Pepper (in DTS even!), and Paramount did a decent job with Grease 2. I recall the dual-layered disc is something like 7GB full for a film shy of two hours. Not reference quality, but decent A/V quality.

Two years ago, just around the time the Grease 2 DVD came out, there was a debut of a Rocky Horror-type, theatrical screening of the film in L.A. I tried to see if there were pictures posted online - I recall it was quite a big deal. If I find the link I'll post.

[ashleyfan]

To this day, my sisters and I can remember dialogue from "Grease 2", and they can still sing "Girl for All Seasons". What I liked about the film was the casting, especially the T-Birds (Adrian Zmed, Peter Frechette, Leif Green, and Christopher McDonald). I enjoyed it, and I saw it the first time at the Miracle Theater in Smyrna in August 1982 (a second-run dollar theater, which was a twin cinema). Then of course it was on cable roughly 100 times in thre months in the summer of '83.

Way off-topic, but I was recently counting how many theaters I have personally gone to that have closed down. There are ten, all in and around the area in which I grew up. Three of them were demolished, one converted into a church, two in strip malls became more retail space after the theater closed, and the other four are still standing empty. There are two I never went to that have closed down as well. The largest was an eight-plex in Morrow, the smallest was the single screen that became a church. There's another where the old building became a church, and the theater relocated and added more screens.

[Daulton]

What's your opinion, guys?

It sucks eggs.

Hey, you asked.

[Sckott]

Grease 2 was a large joke in this country. I know fans TRIED to embrace it, but it was not the magic people wanted.

[antonkk]

WOW antonkk-- since you asked what we thought, I have to ask you... do you guys have any Blockbuster Video joints up there in Moscow? Does it have more than four titles in it? I have agree with Daulton on this one...but I certainly don't want to cause an international incident, by any means... :D

What's a Blockbuster Video Joint? Like renting a vid and getting stoned?

(Don't know about them but we sure have blockbusters, we have video and we have joints in Moscow! :D)

[ACK!]

What's a Blockbuster Video Joint? Like renting a vid and getting stoned?


Don't know about that, but I've always wondered what the hell "A Spike Lee Joint" meant. It appeared in the credits of some of his movies.

[Brian Cruz]

"We're going to sco-o-r-r-e tonight!..."

[rock76]

I'd like to suggest a film (probably instead of Grease 2): Lars Von Trier "Dancer in the Dark".
It's not a musical per-se, but it has broadway musical' references throughout the film and the plot (and acting) is much better than Grease 2's.

My two cents... :agree:

[antonkk]

I'd like to suggest a film (probably instead of Grease 2): Lars Von Trier "Dancer in the Dark".
It's not a musical per-se, but it has broadway musical' references throughout the film and the plot (and acting) is much better than Grease 2's.

My two cents... :agree:

:eek: :eek: :eek: OMG! Are you joking? Dancer in the dark is a great, tragic story with outstanding performance by Bjork, but it's an art-house film even if features some dance numbers. It's a different universe from Grease.
It's like you friend is discussing A Hard Day's Night LP and you come up and recommend him Slayer's Reign in Blood. "They play electric guitars also, and the playing is much faster plus the lyrics are much better!" :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[rock76]

:eek: :eek: :eek: OMG! Are you joking? Dancer in the dark is a great, tragic story with outstanding performance by Bjork, but it's an art-house film even if features some dance numbers. It's a different universe from Grease.
It's like you friend is discussing A Hard Day's Night LP and you come up and recommend him Slayer's Reign in Blood. "They play electric guitars also, and the playing is much faster plus the lyrics are much better!" :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Did I say it was the same universe as Grease 2? :wtf:
Did I use your kind of analogies? Guess not.
Keep on watching Grease 2. It's certainly la crème de la crème of film history. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[antonkk]

Did I say it was the same universe as Grease 2? :wtf:
Did I use your kind of analogies? Guess not.
Keep on watching Grease 2. It's certainly la crème de la crème of film history. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
C'mon, I'm not saying it's great film or anything. And I'm not saying it's anywhere near as good as the first one. My original post was that it's much better then it's crappy reputation! It's always a nice surprise when you get a movie (a book, a CD etc) which is supposed to suck badly and it happens to be not bad at all...

P.S. I really like Dancer in the Dark and I'm a big Fon Trier fan (Breaking the Waves is probably my favourite modern film) but it's just not the kind of movie one can recommend instead of Grease 2. Even comparing them is ridiculous. At least I think that a teenage high school musical (no matter good or bad) cannot be compared to a serious arthouse tragedy (even if it features dance numbers). That was my point.