Grease 2 (1982)

An English student at a 1960's American high school has to prove himself to the leader of a girls' gang whose members can only date greasers.

Director:

Patricia Birch

Writer:

Ken Finkleman

Stars:

Maxwell Caulfield, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lorna Luft

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maxwell Caulfield	...	Michael Carrington
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Stephanie Zinone
Lorna Luft	...	Paulette Rebchuck
Maureen Teefy	...	Sharon Cooper
Alison Price	...	Rhonda Ritter
Pamela Adlon	...	Dolores Rebchuck (as Pamela Segall)
Adrian Zmed	...	Johnny Nogerelli
Peter Frechette	...	Louis DiMucci
Christopher McDonald	...	Goose McKenzie
Leif Green	...	Davey Jaworski
Didi Conn	...	Frenchy
Eve Arden	...	Principal McGee
Sid Caesar	...	Coach Calhoun
Dody Goodman	...	Blanche Hodel
Tab Hunter	...	Mr. Stuart

Storyline

Return to rockin' Rydell High for a whole new term! It's 1961, two years after the original Grease gang graduated, and there's a new crop of seniors - and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Michael Carrington is the new kid in school - but he's been branded a brainiac. Can he fix up an old motorcycle, don a leather jacket, avoid a rumble with the leader of the T-Birds, and win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie Zinone? He's surely going to try!

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Plot Keywords:

pink ladies | school | greaser | high school | 1960s | 

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Taglines:

The Music and Feeling go on Forever

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Son of Grease

Filming Locations:

Cadillac Jack's Cafe - 9400 block San Fernando Road, Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,645,411 (USA) (11 June 1982)

Gross:

$4,645,411 (USA) (11 June 1982)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film had 500 cast members.

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Goofs

If "that guy" on the motorcycle disappears to the other side of the jump, only to reappear at the luau, who played the piano for the talent show? If Michael was missing, his identity could've been figured out. We never see Michael play the piano at the talent show.

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Quotes

Sharon: [after Louis explains verbally and through song that a war is about to erupt] What's started? What's happening, Louis?
Louis: The Russians are attacking! Get down!

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Connections

Referenced in 20 to 1: Sexiest Movie Moments (2007)

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Soundtracks

"BACK TO SCHOOL AGAIN"
Music by Louis St. Louis
Lyrics by Howard Greenfield
Vocal by The Four Tops
Horn arrangements by Andy Huson

User Reviews

Good at the time, but didn't age so well...

Depending on when you saw this film relative to when you saw the original "Grease," your viewpoints probably differ as to the quality of this movie.

I saw both within a month of each other at age 13. I hated the original and loved this one.

As I've gotten older, I've come to recognize that the original is a better piece of work, overall. The music from the original is better when taken as a whole. The supporting cast of the original has better players. The storyline doesn't seem as convoluted at times.

But there's something about this movie that holds on to you. It appeals much more to the age group pictured in the movie (i.e., junior-high and high-schoolers). The song "Cool Rider" and the scenes that accompany it in the movie rival anything in the original.

The dialog is better in places and the interplay between the male and female leads are better, I believe, than in the original. The original movie's pairing of Travolta and Newton-John gave us a dimwit trying to woo a goodie-two-shoes girl whose performance was oftentimes wooden and uncomfortable. This one gives us Caulfield and Pfeiffer, and the interplay between an intelligent, wise-beyond-his-years male lead and the "wild child" female lead.

Adrian Zmed's supporting performance as Johnny still cracks me up and is one of the few performances from this movie that still entertain me as an adult.

That's because outside of the performances of accomplished character actors Christopher McDonald, Eve Arden and Dody Goodman, the rest of this cast is just plain bad. Some of it is bad acting, some of it is miscasting and a lot of it is bad writing.

What we're left with today, 20-something years later, is a movie that made a really good attempt to build on the original, but in the end, was the soufflé that fell. It's still better than most want to admit, but it could have stood a couple of rewrites and a little more attention to detail in the prospective cast interview room.