Revealing mistake: In the soda shop, the waitress turns off the lights with her elbow because her hands are full, but she misses the light switch by 6 inches. (00:55:10)
Grease (1978)
Directed by: Randal Kleiser
Starring: John Travolta, Stockard Channing, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Conaway, Kelly Ward, Michael Tucci
Factual error: The movie and events take place in 1958. However, two Fender amplifiers that are used by the band, "Johnny Casino and The Gamblers" are "Silverface" models that were only manufactured between 1967 and 1981.
Audio problem: During "We Go Together" at the end, John Travolta's mouth is not in sync with the words "we'll always be like one." He appears to start singing "that's the way it should be" before realizing and correcting his mistake.
Trivia: John Travolta made up the "cool dude walk" that Danny uses in the first scenes, when trying to create a bad boy image.
Trivia: Olivia Newton-John had to be sewn into her trousers at the end of the film as the zipper broke. They were put on in the morning and she was not allowed to take them off or go to the restroom while they were on, as the crew would have to waste time sewing them back on.
Trivia: Jeff Conaway had to walk slightly stooped to make John Travolta appear taller.
Danny: Uh, I'm not very hungry; just gimme a double Polar Burger wit' everything and a cherry soda wit' chocolate ice cream.
Principal McGee: We have pictures of you so-called mooners. And just because the pictures aren't of your faces doesn't mean we can't identify you. At this very moment those pictures are on their way to Washington where the FBI has experts in this type of identification. If you turn yourselves in now, you may escape a Federal charge.
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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
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: 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: 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.
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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).