Grease 2 (1982)

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

Director:

Patricia Birch

Writers:

Ken Finkleman, Jim Jacobs (characters)

Stars:

Michelle Pfeiffer, Maxwell Caulfield, Lorna Luft

3 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

Two years after the life-altering events in Grease (1978), Sandy's cousin Michael, a straight-laced English student, is the new guy at Rydell High. Stephanie, the Pink Ladies' foxy blonde leader, is about to break up with Johnny, the T-Birds' leader, but she still likes her men dangerous, even as Michael starts to attract her attention. Now Michael needs to up his game: learn how to ride a motorcycle and transform himself into Stephanie's hot leather-clad fantasy. Is he up to the task?

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Plot Keywords:

diner | year 1961 | sequel | title directed by female | cult film | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Andy Gibb was initially to play the male lead, but he failed his screen test. Cher initially signed on to play Paulette Rebchuck but backed out, complaining of a low salary and not having a finished script. Jennifer Beals signed on to play Sharon Cooper, but dropped out to play the lead character in Flashdance (1983).

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Goofs

In a close-up toward the end of "Lets Score Tonight', Johnny is singing the wrong lyrics when he looks at the camera.

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Quotes

Sharon: We're going to die and I'm wearing my mother's underwear!

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Alternate Versions

In the film, after Stephanie wins the contest, it goes on to show the steakout in the final scene. Originally, there were a few minutes dedicated to a scene in which Micheal(believed to be dead in his alter ego, by Stephanie) comes out on stage as Stephanie is exiting the stage, unbeknowst to her that he is the cool rider and he is alive. He attempts to ask her what's wrong and she storms past him and runs off crying, then it cuts to the stakeout.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

We'll Be Together
Music and Lyrics by Bob Morrison and Johnny MacRae
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Artie Butler
Performed by Maxwell Caulfield, Michelle Pfeiffer, Peter Frechette, Lorna Luft, Maureen Teefy and Adrian Zmed

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Son of Grease

Filming Locations:

The Pink Motel & Cadillac Jack's Diner, 9457 San Fernando Road, Sun Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,645,411, 13 June 1982

Gross USA:

$15,171,476

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,171,476

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