Question: I can't understand why Sonny hauled Sandy off the dance floor during the dance finale. Sure Sonny was a bit of a jerk, but he idolized Danny and would never disrespect him. Also there was nothing to suggest that he and Cha-Cha were friends. I never truly understood.
Answer: He's fall-down drunk, that's why. He's drinking during the entire dance.
Answer: Because in real life Olivia was late for work, as a result Annette had to take Olivia's place because she was her understudy.
Answer: It's a terrible moment in the story because it exposes Danny as being thoughtless. After already burning Sandy once (at the pep rally) you'd think he'd be mindful of not doing it again. This time, though, he humiliates her in front of the entire school, as well as on television. Unsure how Sandy's sitting with him in the next scene at the drive-in only slightly miffed. Imagine how this plays as a story to their children: "Hey, kids, did I ever tell you about how your dad embarrassed me in front of everybody?" I guess it's meant to be partly motivation for Sandy to change her image and outlook in order to keep Danny, but it's a terrible message (even back then). She's nothing but thoughtful and considerate, and Danny repeatedly treats her badly, but she decides she needs to reinvent herself. (Danny's makeover doesn't count given it lasts about three minutes.) It would've been better had Danny and Sandy came second because of Sandy's dancing, and that could've played on her mind.
Answer: He is so upset about Marty liking Ed Byrnes, he just drinks all night.
Answer: I think it was because Sonny was drunk and wanted Sandy to talk to Marty for him since she dumped him for Vince Fontaine at the beginning of the dance.
Answer: Well my theory is maybe since Sonny wants a girl, Cha-Cha promised him a date with a girl if he agreed to her plan.
Question: Can anybody explain why the T-Birds didn't see each other all summer? Even if Kenickie had a job, wouldn't he still be around after work?
Answer: Well, Danny was out of town, at the beach. It's quite possible that the rest of T-Birds didn't live close enough to each other to see each other during the summer. Also, they may have all had jobs, or been travelling with their families. It's also possible that they DID see each other, although maybe not as "T-Birds". When they saw each other on the first day of school, though, they were Seniors, and they were ready and excited to be T-Bird seniors.
Another possible reason is that not all of them were allowed to see friends during the summer. I had a couple of classmates whose parents were strict about them focusing on schoolwork and/or getting a job. No phone calls or visiting friends on the weekends or during summer: "You can see your friends at school."
Do you really think any of the T-Birds had strict parents?
People quite often rebel against strict parents.
When they asked Kenickie where he was, he said "working, which is more than I can say for any of youse kids" suggesting that the 3 stooges (pun intended for their stupid routine that prompts Danny to tell them to "be cool") didn't work all summer. Also, Sonny needed to borrow money in the dinner until he could get his allowance.
In regards to not living close enough to each other, it is worth mentioning that having access to a vehicle was much less common compared to nowadays.
Answer: During that time, it wasn't uncommon for people to go out of town for the whole summer. Often, it was close enough so that the father could commute on weekends while the mother and kids spent the summer at the vacation spot. Even when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, I knew a lot of people who did it.
Question: Did Danny and Rizzo have a thing together, or did Rizzo have a crush on Danny?
Answer: It is implied that Danny and Rizzo had a previous romantic relationship of some kind. When Jan says, "Did you guys get a look at Zuk this Morning? Looking pretty good this year, huh, Rizz?" Rizzo replies, "that's ancient history." Later, when Danny says, "you're looking good, Rizz, " her answer, "eat your heart out," also suggests some possible residual feelings on her part. I think that's why Rizzo enjoys tormenting Sandy and Danny by reintroducing them at Rydell at a moment that she knows Danny is going to save face around his friends.
Answer: Yes... after the reunion of Danny and Sandy and Danny playing cool and blowing her off, Rizzo stands back with a stupid grin on her face like she's proud of herself.
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Plus, at the beginning of the movie it's implied that she and Danny were a fling or at least flirting at some point. Could be she was mad at the ending of it if it wasn't her choice. Later, when he calls her Sloppy Seconds, that seems to really shock her, but I'm less sure it implies anything.
Answer: Yes.
Answer: When Rizzo shimmies down the outside of Frenchie's house she first says "what's up Kenick?", and he replies "one guess", followed by Rizzo intimating "You got a lot to offer a girl..." She then turns to Danny saying "What say you Zuck?" This is a clear inference that she would have sex with both men - a threesome, basically. Zuko is uninterested because as he states sloppy-seconds "aren't my style." He jumps out of the car and Kenickie kicks the other T-BIRDS to the sidewalk. The two love-birds head off to the hills.
Question: At the bandstand dance there's an extra who gets a lot of camera time. (Brown jacket, open shirt and tie around his neck). As well as a delayed shot of him, Sandy also bumps into him when leaving. Not sure why he gets so much camera time almost as if he had a part elsewhere that got cut out. Any thoughts?
Answer: I remember watching a commentary when I was young. This woman on the crew pointed out that it was her son, or the son of a different crew member. I can't remember specifics because I watched the commentary over 10-years-ago. She may have been a producer or someone like that.
Answer: That makes sense to me. I've wondered about him too. But I've seen him in many other scenes when watching the movie again tonight on TV to honour the passing of Dame Olivia Newton-John.
Question: At the diner, why was Rizzo mad at Kenickie? She seemed to be mad at him about something and I get the feeling that it wasn't because of how he ate his burger.
Answer: He was being a jerk and insensitive. But really she was worried she was pregnant and that made her have a short fuse.
Answer: Kenickie said Rizzo had the personality of a wet mop. After Rizzo said "Don't start with me!", Kenickie put his arm around Frenchy and said "Eureka, how about I finish with you." which means that Kenickie was going to break up with Rizzo. Rizzo thought that Kenickie put his arm around Frenchy because he was going to dump her for Frenchy. He didn't, though.
Answer: No, earlier on there was a big argument between Kinickie and Rizzo that was cut from the movie and that's why they were upset with each other in that scene.
Is there a clip of it?
Question: Who Is Annette? Two Quotes: "Nobody's Jugs Are Bigger Than Annette's" and during the Sandra Dee song "Would you pull that crap with Annette"... My question is who is she?
Answer: Annette Funicello, a movie star from the 50s who was known for her bosom and roles in beach/surfer themed movies. She was also one of the original members of the Mickey Mouse Club.
I was teased about that all my school years - my name is Annette.
Question: Why didn't Sandy immediately telephone Danny when she found out she and her family were not going back to Australia, and that she would be attending his high school?
Answer: Perhaps Sandy didn't know the high school she would be going was the same as Danny's, so she didn't think to call him already, but wanted to do it later. It's all very vague about where it all come from. The point is she never thought she would see Danny again, just like Danny thought he would never see her again. With that in mind they might indeed not have exchanged phone numbers anyway so no way to contact each other.
Answer: Maybe they didn't exchange phone numbers.
Answer: Again, he had his reputation as a Ladies Man, he didn't want the gang to know, he was wimping out and had fall in love. Remember the song, "Summer Lovin" He told of scoring with a hot babe, while Sandy sang of true love.
Answer: I had an exchange student LIVE in my parents house for a month when I was in high school in 1990. I liked her a lot. We were the same age. We got along. I did not have her phone number when she left. Why? Because there was no way my father was letting me call France "long distance" in 1990. In 1959, I'm going to say that calling long distance was probably not on their radar as a viable option. Not to mention - realistically, when you're 17, and you never think you're going to see each other again because you're separated by continent, what would be the point of exchanging numbers?
This was a nice story, but has nothing to with answering the question. Sandy didn't live with Danny, so they would have exchanged local numbers, or at least Danny would have given Sandy his number if she didn't know the number where she was staying so they could call each other during the summer. For your story to be slightly comparable, the exchange student would have had live somewhere else. In that scenario you certainly would have given her your number and she wouldn't give you her number in France but where she was staying.
Answer: More than likely, based on Sandy's demeanor and adherence to etiquette, she would not have exchanged her number with a boy. She even said to Rizzo at the lunch table that she went to the beach to see a boy she met so most likely she and Danny would have made plans in person to meet up like they did.
Question: Toward the beginning of the movie, when Sonny is being chastised by Miss McGee for dawdling in the hallway, he mutters something in Italian when she turns away. It's audible enough to cause her to turn back and suggest a session of "banging erasers." Does anyone know what he's muttering?
Answer: Its not really Italian, but roughly he says something like "Fanabala Puttana" which means "You bitch whore." Again, not fully correctly spoken as the actor knows hardly any Italian.
Answer: Sonny says "un altra brutta putana" which translates to another dirty slut.
Answer: Translates to "another stupid b****".
Question: Why did Sandy randomly put the notebook paper in the little plastic kiddie pool?
Answer: Sandy had asked to borrow a piece of Marty's stationery (which Marty scented with a spritz of her perfume). She was writing a pining love letter to Danny, simultaneously expressed by the song, "Hopelessly Devoted." Once the letter was written, and her feelings expressed, she realized she wasn't actually going to be able to give it to him - too much vulnerability for one love-sick young "adolescent." Instead, Sandy placed it in the pool where she imagined seeing Danny's reflection, and swirled it around to remove the vision.
Question: When Sandy's skirt gets lifted up at the bonfire, Frenchy comes to her defence and does some weird flappy hand movement. What is it meant to mean? She basically just waves at the girl, but Sandy is very grateful.
Answer: The hand shooing gesture by Frenchie is actually a reference to the 3 stooges, a very popular but juvenile show on American TV. Doodie also makes a reference to it in the beginning of the movie when he makes a whoop whoop whoop noise when he first sees Danny.
Don't forget that the three boys were doing the same hand gestures (like poking each other's eyes) just like the 3 Stooges.
Answer: The Pink Ladies were held in a high regard as well as very well respected and feared at Rydell high which means you didn't want to upset them or mess with them. Therefore, if they told you to do something you better do it.
Question: How do Danny and Cha Cha know each other? He acts different around her and when they first met she said 'Zucko, baby'?
Answer: Danny and Cha Cha did date. While at the drive-in Sandy says "I still think you went together." To "go together" back then meant going steady, as in they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Danny is trying to pass it off as something less serious but he does admit "We didn't go together, we just went together."
I just think he didn't know what to say he was confused so he said what Sandy said.
She means went together at the dance.
Answer: They didn't date, just hooked up.
Answer: No one knows what kind of relationship Danny had with her. We can tell they went out, Danny's words, but no-one knows how intimate it was.
Question: In the bonfire scene when the girls are taking Sandy over to meet Danny, and after Danny acts differently toward Sandy in front of his friends, why did Rizzo do all of that? Obviously she did it because she knew how Danny would be in front his friends but it seems like there was something else. Did they ever date in the past?
Answer: Danny and Rizzo had a relationship in the past. At the beginning of the movie Jan asks if Rizzo had seen Danny that morning and Rizzo says "that's ancient history." Meaning their relationship is over. I think when they were together Danny treated her poorly and broke her heart. That's how she knows how he'll act towards Sandy at the bonfire and also why she wants to get back at him.
Chosen answer: Remember that Rizzo didn't like Sandy at all. Her clean-cut personality was the opposite of Rizzo's and she hated that. So chances are, she just wanted to humiliate her. Also she didn't like Danny either, so this was like killing two birds with one stone for her. It's possible that she might have dated Danny previously - Jan says to Rizzo that Danny is looking good this year and Rizz says "that is ancient history."
Question: When Danny is talking to the coach about sports, the coach asks if he likes the rings. After that Danny says something snide about installing rings or something with a hidden meaning. What is he talking about?
Answer: Danny says "yeah I installed a set of rings a couple of weeks ago", rings are a piece on the piston to an engine, something a mechanic would install or fix on your car, Danny was trying to be funny when the coach meant the gymnastics rings.
In this case, would not the "hidden meaning" be an innuendo, such as penis rings? Either he used two rings at once or had sex two times a couple weeks ago (in the back seat of his car)? (This is in a high school setting when norms about pre-marital sex were much stricter and people didn't openly talk about sex toys and the like).
Answer: Coach Calhoun is actually not talking about Olympic Rings. He is talking about the men's gymnastics apparatus.
Question: Is there a point for Danny's singing voice to keep changing throughout the movie? In Summer Nights and Oh, Sandy, he sounded normal but in Greased Lightnin' and the song he sang while dancing with Sandy, (when she asked if he wanted to sing professionally), his voice is deeper. Just out of curiosity.
Answer: I think your answer can be found in the type of song being sung, and the function of each song in the story. "Summer Nights" and "Sandy" are narrative songs. They tell a story, and are written with a melodic structure reminiscent of the 1950's crooners. "Greased Lightnin', " is a rock 'n' roll song, in the style of someone like Elvis Presley. It is a song all about posturing machismo, and the fetishization of a car as a symbol of phallic virility. So, the style of the vocals require a different kind of quality. It is also in a lower key with deeper notes. The song he sang while dancing with Sandy in the gym is called "Those Magic Changes." When Sandy suggests he might be talented enough to sing professionally, Danny starts to show off, and unintentionally ends up sounding absurd and out of tune. That is just a bit of silliness for the sake of humor. Keep in mind, Danny isn't the only character whose vocal style changes according to song: Rizzo sings "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" in a nasal, sarcastic tone, while "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" is sung as a yearning torch song. Sandy's songs, like "Hopelessly Devoted" and the reprise of "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" are sweet and wistful, whereas "You're the One That I Want" is harsher, to fit her new, provocative persona.
Question: What do the T-Birds mean when they ask Rizzo "What are you doing out without a net/Annette?" Is it just another Annette Funicello reference? That always confused me.
Answer: He's referring to a safety net that acrobats would use because she's climbing down the trellis and it's dangerous.
I always assumed they thought she needed 'a net' to catch a guy.
Answer: It is because she was climbing off the roof and down the trellis, and it was dangerous as she could have fallen and hurt herself. That is why they said she was doing that without a net.
Answer: I thought it referred to a hair net like one to cover curlers.
Answer: A net is what they used to call bras.
Answer: I thought it meant she needs a net to catch her and that she would fall.
Answer: Women wore hair nets to sleep to keep their curls in place - they are giving her crap for not wearing a hair net.
Question: Nurse Wilkins is a named character in the film, but the entirety of her role seems to be her saying that her castor oil was stolen in the scene where Sandy was at a reception. Did she appear again (eg. at the gym), and was the castor oil significant in any way?
Answer: Nurse Wilkins, played by Fannie Flagg, only appeared on camera once during "Grease." It was, as you point out, during the scene in the office when Sandy first arrives to register at Rydell High School. She may have been present in other scenes, but never appeared on camera. She may also have had other speaking parts which were sacrificed to the cutting room floor. There is no way of knowing that. Castor oil was used, historically, for a variety of medicinal purposes - most notably as a laxative and remedy for minor digestive problems. It has a distinctly unpleasant taste. Therefore, stealing it would probably be just a minor prank, without any other apparent significance. I suppose one could draw conclusions about other uses adolescent boys could find for an unctuous substance like castor oil, but that would probably be reading far too much into a throw-away line.
Nurse Wilkins is mentioned a classroom cut scene (available for flu jabs). Speculation, but maybe originally Sandy was originally going to be sick for the dance competition like the stage play (with Nurse Wilkins playing a role), but when ONJ's role got enhanced during filming, this scene was dropped.
Question: In the scene right after school lets out towards the end of the movie and the carnival shots begin, there's a guy in white shorts and no shirt who hits the bell with the hammer. The shot is maybe 3 seconds long. Doesn't he look like or may actually be Maxwell Caulfield, who was the lead role in Grease 2? It's not a large enough part to be credited, so the IMDb doesn't list who it is.
Answer: Watched that scene again now and I just think it was poor writing (in what's still a classic film regardless). How none of the judges noticed that Cha Cha took another girl's (Sandy's) place even after she'd already been "tapped out" is another huge plot hole. Plus a lot of people in America were watching the dance on TV and it's not mentioned by anyone after this scene. 35 years later and that scene still bugs me (haha).