Grease 2 (1982) is the sequel to the musical film Grease (1978), which was itself based upon the musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease 2 was produced by Allan Carr and Robert Stigwood, and directed and choreographed by Patricia Birch, who also choreographed the first film. Once again set at the fictional Rydell High School, it takes place two years after the original film, with an almost entirely new cast, led by then-unknown actors Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer. A few characters, such as Didi Conn's Frenchy and Eve Arden's Principal McGee, reprise their roles from the first film.
The film reversed the social characteristics of the first film's romantic leads (played by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John). In the sequel, the boy (Caulfield) was the bookish milquetoast, while the girl (Pfeiffer) was the hip greaser groupie, a Pink Lady.
Plot
It is 1961, two years after the events of the first film took place, and a new academic year is just beginning at Rydell High School (Back To School Again). The Pink Ladies are now led by the beautiful Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer), who feels she has "outgrown" her relationship with the arrogant leader of the The T-Birds, Johnny Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed) during summer break. A new arrival comes in the form of clean-cut English student Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield), the cousin of Sandy Olsen (the character played by Olivia Newton-John in Grease). Michael quickly becomes smitten with Stephanie, despite the gentle protestation of the sole remaining lead character from the first film, Frenchy (Didi Conn), who observes that she can't and probably won't date him since he is not a T-Bird.
At the local bowling alley, a competitive game (Score Tonight) turns sour due to the animosity between Johnny and Stephanie. Johnny flirts with Stephanie's friend and fellow Pink Lady, Paulette Rebchuck (Lorna Luft), to make Stephanie jealous, and she retaliates by kissing the next man who walks in the door, which happens to be Michael. Bemused by this unexpected kiss, Michael attempts to ask her out the next day at an audition for the school talent show, but discovers that she has a very specific vision of her ideal man (Cool Rider). He realizes that he will only win her affection if he turns himself into a cool rider, and begins saving up for a motorcycle by selling completed homework assignments to the academically-challenged T-Birds . He buys the bike, fixes it up and spends all his spare time learning to ride it.
Following an unusual, largely interactive biology lesson (Reproduction) given by new substitute teacher Mr. Stuart (Tab Hunter), a gang of rival motorcyclists called the Cycle Lords (led by Balmudo, who also played "Leo" in the first film and also a rival of the T-Birds) surprise the T-Birds at the bowling alley. Before the fight starts, a lone anonymous biker appears and defeats the enemy gang, performing impressive stunts and leaping over police cars to disappear into the night (Who's That Guy?). Stephanie is instantly fascinated with the stranger. The following day at school, Michael attempts to tell Stephanie that he is the "Cool Rider" but becomes tongue-tied. In a short comic scene, one of the T-Birds, Louis DiMucci (Peter Frechette), attempts to trick his sweetheart Sharon (Maureen Teefy) into losing her virginity to him by taking her to Michael's uncle's fallout shelter and faking a nuclear explosion (Let's Do It For Our Country), but the plan backfires and she runs off in horror.
Stephanie is surprised again by the Cool Rider while working at her after school job at her family's gas station, and they enjoy a romantic twilight motorcycle ride. Just as Michael is about to reveal his identity, they are interrupted by the arrival of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies; before Michael disappearing again, he tells Stephanie that he will see her at the talent show, in which the Pink Ladies are performing. Stephanie wonders how the cool rider knew about the talent show but fails to deduce it could be a Rydell High School student since only they knew about the show. Johnny, enraged by Stephanie's new romance, threatens to fight the "cool rider" if he sees him with her again, and the group has an argument about who belongs to whom. The Pink Ladies exit haughtily, although this has little effect on the T-Birds' innate self-confidence (Prowlin'). At school, Stephanie's poor grades in English lead her to accept Michael's offer of help with her essay on Shakespeare's Hamlet, but although she has warmed to him considerably, he still cannot reveal his double identity
By this point, Stephanie has begun to realize that, despite his shy, bookworm outward appearance, Michael is a kind, good hearted guy who genuinely cares about her. She then slowly begins to discover that she has similar feelings for him, and starts to reciprocate his crush. These events are not lost on their mutual acquaintances, and Johnny, upon seeing them together in a discussion, demands that Stephanie quit the Pink Ladies for his "rep" and subtly threatens that the T-Birds will beat Michael if she refuses ("Don't damage the rep we won't damage new friends."). Stephanie is visibly upset by this but refuses to quit the Pink Ladies. Although still head over heels for the Cool Rider, interactions with Michael reveal that she has become smitten with him as well. Charades).
The night of the talent show, Stephanie and the Cool Rider meet outside the school, but are instantly ambushed by the T-Birds who pursue Michael in a motorcycle chase, with Stephanie and the Pink Ladies following in a car. They pursue him to a closed-off construction site which conceals a deadly drop, and the biker's absence suggests that he has perished below, leaving Stephanie inconsolable thinking her cool rider is dead although both the T Birds & Pink Ladies try to convince her that he must have survived & made the jump & will show up again. The T Birds tie up the competition for their act in the boys locker room and drench them in the showers to ensure their winning. During the ladies' number (A Girl For All Seasons), Stephanie is overcome and stops singing her part and sinks to the stage floor. Oblivious to the audience, she enters a dreamlike fantasy world where she is reunited with her mystery biker in a sort of "biker heaven" backdrop (Turn Back The Hands Of Time). As her reverie finishes, it appears she has been singing a solo; she is duly named winner of the contest, and crowned the queen of the upcoming luau, with Johnny hailed as king.
The school year ends with the graduation luau the next day (Rock-A-Hula Luau) during which Johnny and Stephanie later engage in another argument while being carried onto the pool in a floating throne. The Cycle Lords suddenly appear and begin to destroy the celebration, but are stopped by the emergence of the Cool Rider, much to the surprise of Stephanie. After roundly defeating the Cycle Lords and leaping over the pool on his motorcycle, he finally reveals himself to all in attendance to be Michael. After his initial shock, Johnny offers him a T-Bird jacket and welcomes him into the gang, and Stephanie finally accepts that she can have "two for the price of one" – a cool rider and a Shakespeare. All of the couples pair off (Michael/Stephanie, Johnny/Paulette, Lewis/Sharon, Davey/Dolores & Rhonda/Goose, happily (We'll Be Together).
Production
Grease 2 was intended to be the second film (and first sequel) in a proposed Grease franchise of four motion pictures and a television series; however, the project was quickly scrapped due to the underwhelming box office performance of this picture.[1] The sequel's working title, Son of Grease, was changed to the more straightforward current title by producers, much to the annoyance of leading man Maxwell Caulfield, who unsuccessfully tried to have it reinstated.[1]
Filming took place entirely on location in California,[2] working to a 58-day shooting schedule.[1] According to director Patricia Birch, the script was still incomplete when filming commenced.[1] Sequences that were filmed but cut during post-production include scenes in which Frenchy (Didi Conn) helps Michael become a motorcycle rider, and a sequence at the end of the film showing Michael and Stephanie flying off into the sky on a motorcycle, most likely a visual homage to Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) flying off in a car during the closing credits of the first film.[1]
Cast
- Maxwell Caulfield as Michael Carrington. 22-year-old Caulfield had already made his Broadway début with roles in The Elephant Man (opposite Juliet Mills, a British actress 18 years his senior whom he subsequently married) and Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Having seen his performance in the latter play, Allan Carr offered Caulfield the role of Michael over thousands of applicants.[3] Unlike co-star Michelle Pfeiffer, Caulfield's career following Grease 2 was damaged by the film's failure. He has been quoted as saying: "Before Grease 2 came out, I was being hailed as the next Richard Gere or John Travolta. However, when Grease 2 flopped, nobody would touch me. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in my face. It took me 10 years to get over Grease 2."[4]
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Stephanie Zinone. With only a few television roles and small film appearances under her belt, 23-year-old Pfeiffer was an unknown actress when she attended the cattle call audition for the role of Stephanie. Other better-known actresses up for the part included Lisa Hartman, Kristy McNichol and Andrea McArdle, and singer Pat Benatar.[5] Pfeiffer was a wild card choice, but according to Patricia Birch, she won the part because she "has a quirky quality you don't expect."[6] Despite the disappointing reception of the film, Pfeiffer's meteoric rise to the Hollywood A-list began the following year when she played Elvira Hancock in Scarface.
The Pink Ladies
The T-Birds
Supporting
Musical numbers
- "Back To School Again" – The Four Tops
- "Score Tonight" – Cast
- "Brad" – Jean Sagal & Liz Sagal
- "Cool Rider" – Michelle Pfeiffer
- "Reproduction" - Tab Hunter & Cast
- "Who's That Guy?" – Maxwell Caulfield & Cast
- "Do It For Our Country" – Peter Frechette & Maureen Teefy
- "Prowlin'" – Adrian Zmed & The T-Birds
- "Charades" – Maxwell Caulfield
- "Girl For All Seasons" – Lorna Luft, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alison Price & Maureen Teefy
- "Love Will Turn Back the Hands of Time" – Maxwell Caulfield & Michelle Pfeiffer
- "Rock-A-Hula Luau (Summer Is Coming)" – Cast
- "We'll Be Together" – Cast
Also featured as background music at the bowling alley...
- "Our Day Will Come" - Ruby & The Romantics (Anachronism error: Grease 2 takes place in 1961, "Our Day Will Come" did not come out until 1963)
- "Rebel Walk" - Duane Eddy (This was the B-side of his biggest hit "Because They're Young")
Reception
The sequel was both a commercial disappointment and a critical failure, in sharp contrast to the success of the original film. It performed relatively poorly at the box office, taking just over $15 million in a year in which E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Tootsie were the major commercial smashes.[8]
The film currently has a rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 critics' reviews.[9] Janet Maslin for the New York Times condemned the film as "dizzy and slight, with an even more negligible plot than its predecessor had. This time the story can't even masquerade as an excuse for stringing the songs together. Songs? What songs? The numbers in Grease 2 are so hopelessly insubstantial that the cast is forced to burst into melody about pastimes like bowling."[10] Variety, on the other hand, commended the staging of the musical numbers, writing that "Patricia Birch has come up with some unusual settings (a bowling alley, a bomb shelter) for some of the scenes, and employs some sharp montage to give most of the songs and dances a fair amount of punch."[11]
Michelle Pfeiffer received some positive notice for her first major role. The New York Times review cited her performance as the "one improvement" on the original film: "Miss Pfeiffer is as gorgeous as any cover girl, and she has a sullen quality that's more fitting to a Grease character than Miss Newton-John's sunniness was."[10] Variety wrote that she was "all anyone could ask for in the looks department, and she fills Olivia Newton-John's shoes and tight pants very well."[11] She was nominated for a 1983 Young Artist Award in the category of Best Young Motion Picture Actress.
Despite its critical mauling and failure at the box office, it has developed a cult following.
See also
References
External links
