Grease 2 (1981)

Matt (00:00:21):

Yes, hello. Load Bearing Beams podcast. I’m Matt Stokes.

Laci (00:00:25):

And I’m Laci Roth.

Matt (00:00:26):

We’re doing a podcast today about the movie Grease 2. I picked this movie. I watched both Grease films a billion times as a young man I’d say between the ages of 10 and 13. I think it was the first opinion I considered smart to be like, actually Grease 2 is better than Grease 1. But then I’d say around age 15, I was like, those movies are both terrible.

Laci (00:00:53):

And society did this to you?

Matt (00:00:56):

I think Leonard Malton’s movie guide did this to me by giving it a poor review. Yeah, he’s right. It’s not good.

Laci (00:01:03):

A poor review of both.

Matt (00:01:05):

Well, Grease too, he gave a bomb, which he gave to very few movies. I think I caught on to the general, the take about Greece is like, it’s actually a bad message sort of thing.

Laci (00:01:20):

Yeah. That took hold in high school for me. But Sandy Now belongs. How could that be bad? And then my Mormon friend explained because of all the sex.

Matt (00:01:33):

Well, and sell out who you really are to win over a man, which we’ll get into it. This is only sort of context I realize in doing research for this episode, what that

Laci (00:01:48):

Is. It turns out we all miss the point. Yes. Even the people who were there to critically look at it as their profession.

Matt (00:01:59):

Which I would say is the movie’s fault.

Laci (00:02:01):

Okay. Do you think that the movie felt that the play had enough juice, that enough people they’d be going to the movie because they were aware of the play?

Matt (00:02:14):

No, I don’t know what they were thinking, but if just judging it by itself, I’d say it’s not specifically about … What is it about? It’s not about anything specifically. It’s just sort of like, oh, remember 20 years ago if that was something? And that’s nice.

Laci (00:02:35):

I get. Okay. I’m sure you’re going to get into this, but how many people who were part of the production of the play ended up being the reason why the movie got made?

Matt (00:02:47):

The most important person was Patricia Burch, who was the choreographer for the Broadway play and then she did the choreography for Greece, the movie, and then it is the actual director of Greece too. But in general, I don’t know. I’m just saying that if you just watch this movie and now seeing it literally, I haven’t seen it in 20 years and just judging it by itself, it’s baffling. It is a confusing movie.

Laci (00:03:14):

It

Matt (00:03:14):

Seems like there’s an equal amount of footage that’s cut out. I don’t know what these characters, how they relate to each other and what their relationships are and where they stand in society and also-

Laci (00:03:28):

Right. They think they’re cool. Does the school think they’re cool? It’s unclear.

Matt (00:03:34):

Yeah. And what sort of … There’s just no context about the time and place it takes place in, what’s going on in the world.

Laci (00:03:45):

Also, no sense of location geographically. It seems to portray city dwelling people the way that they speak, I would guess. And it looks like it’s in Beverly Hills. It is the most pristine high school I’ve ever seen in my life.

Matt (00:04:01):

Filmed literally in a Los Angeles high school. Yeah.

Laci (00:04:04):

I mean, just the shrubs outside the school were … There is a groundskeeper is what I’m saying.

Matt (00:04:16):

There is. Yeah. So this school is doing okay. They have a groundskeeper.

Laci (00:04:22):

Affluent student body is what I would guess from that line.

Matt (00:04:26):

Affluent student body.

Laci (00:04:27):

What’d I say?

Matt (00:04:28):

Affluent.

Laci (00:04:30):

And what did you say?

Matt (00:04:31):

Affluent.

Laci (00:04:31):

Not hearing a difference at all. Continue. Well,

Matt (00:04:34):

It sounds like you’re saying affluent student body, like they’re fluent in a language.

Laci (00:04:38):

Ah, affluent.

Matt (00:04:39):

But I wrote this really long history of Greece because it’s very interesting the history of this musical. And I think it’s important to get it to talk about really, because we’re really talking about Greece two, but you have to talk about Greece one and then to talk about Greece one, you need to talk about the musical that

Laci (00:05:01):

It’s

Matt (00:05:02):

Adapted from.

Laci (00:05:03):

And like with so many things when done not with a delicate hand, the second of something becomes like taking all of what worked or seemed to work about the first thing according to certain people and amplifying that and like, well, just more of that the second time. Yes. Do it again, but

Matt (00:05:24):

More.

Laci (00:05:24):

So it’s even more confusing. If you go into Greece two before going into Greece one, it is very confusing. What is this world? Why is this happening? Who are these? I mean, obviously it’s confusing just for storyline stuff, but it’s-

Matt (00:05:39):

It was wild to-

Laci (00:05:41):

Wha is this? It

Matt (00:05:42):

Was wild to revisit it and remember how confused … I loved these movies, but when you’re a kid and you watch something over and over again, things stop being confusing because they’re just the things that happen in the movie.

Laci (00:05:53):

Yep. I totally know. But now I watch

Matt (00:05:55):

It and I’m like, “Oh, I was confused because this is a badly made

Laci (00:05:59):

Movie.” And I knew and I thought I understood the sex references. I understood both movies to be sexual movies because I would’ve watched them at a same age range as you maybe earlier and then kept watching them later because it would’ve been less shameful for me as a female. I think even as a teen, I think I … Oh no, I get it. I get all the references and then watching it now, it is filth.

Matt (00:06:32):

My bow tie was spinning at certain parts.

Laci (00:06:34):

Fucking-

Matt (00:06:34):

Oh my God. Oh

Laci (00:06:36):

My God. Danny, he gestures the fingering of him, Adam.

Matt (00:06:43):

Yeah. He says, “I took her rolling or

Laci (00:06:45):

Bowling in the- ” No, took her bowling. Bowling ball has three holes. Took her bowling in the arcade. That’s what the finger holes gesture was for. He fingered her.

Matt (00:06:55):

Gave her the shocker, you’re saying?

Laci (00:06:57):

I mean that’s-

Matt (00:06:58):

Sandy?

Laci (00:06:59):

He stuck fingers in her bowling holes at the arcade.That’s how you know he’s talking about fingering. There’s not a bowling alley at the arcade. Yes, I know. No knew the rest. There’s arcade at the bowling out. But it

Matt (00:07:10):

Is also confusing because why were you going bowling at the arcade?

Laci (00:07:14):

That’s why. I was going

Matt (00:07:15):

Bowling because I stuck a finger in her butt and also her vagina, her vulva.

Laci (00:07:20):

Got a turkey.

Matt (00:07:22):

We had-

Laci (00:07:22):

You stuck a finger in her vulva. Sounds good.

Matt (00:07:27):

Yeah, they did some things, but he’s lying.

Laci (00:07:32):

Yes. That I always knew. I did always know Sandy’s story was the correct one versus Danny because … Are we doing the thing we do where we jump into the movie? Anyway, because you see the opening scene, the really ridiculous waves crashing against the rocks of their summer romance and it’s all … You only see it in sudden setting. You see them in silhouette more than you see them in any other way.

Matt (00:08:00):

Which is also another thing that you don’t pick up on as a kid is like, “Oh, this is a spoof. This is ridiculous.” There’s orchestral swelling, the waves are crashing. Yeah, the sun drenched thing, they’re posing.

Laci (00:08:13):

But anyway, it is romantic. It is like the cover of a trashy lady sex novel, but you see it, you’re not seeing it from her perspective or his, you’re just seeing it. So you know when Sandy starts telling her version of, “Tell me more, tell me more.” Her version is correct.

Matt (00:08:32):

Yes. No, you’re right. You’re right.

Laci (00:08:34):

Yeah. Again,

Matt (00:08:35):

I think

Laci (00:08:35):

This is- I did always get … I got that much, but let’s go back.

Matt (00:08:41):

Okay. Yes.

Laci (00:08:42):

Thank you.

Matt (00:08:42):

Thank you. Okay. Neither of us is it. Let’s set the tone, all right?

Laci (00:08:47):

Please. I need some tone setting. Oh, I feel toned.

Matt (00:08:51):

Neither of us is a Broadway person. Is

Laci (00:08:56):

That fair to say?

Matt (00:08:57):

It’s fair to say. We’re not Broadway people. We

Laci (00:09:00):

Don’t know

Matt (00:09:00):

Anything about Broadway.

Laci (00:09:01):

Oh, fair. I don’t know. I might enjoy a performance maybe. Okay. No, I’m not. No,

Matt (00:09:11):

Because I’m doing research and I’m watching these YouTube videos. I’m like, this is just a culture I know nothing about. I don’t want to pretend that we’re going to say a billion wrong things. We’re sorry.

Laci (00:09:21):

I’m the kind of person that I think I want to go to a play and then I’m there and then I don’t want to be there anymore. When’s

Matt (00:09:27):

The last play you went to

Laci (00:09:29):

That wasn’t

Matt (00:09:29):

Performed by a child?

Laci (00:09:31):

Right. God, was it Cats? And I walked out because I didn’t know anything about Cats and then I was there and I’m like, no, no.

Matt (00:09:40):

Who would take you to Cats? What

Laci (00:09:46):

Are you doing? I didn’t go with … She was a member of the local theater where off Broadway things come. No, it’s the Mahalia Jackson. Okay. Since she’s a member, she gets tickets to every performance that comes through. And this was one she just wasn’t going to. And I know why it was crazy pants, literally. And I went with my ex- husband, also not a theater person, and this did not help. We got through to intermission and that was right after all the cats come into the audience and interact by perching on top of things and getting in your face like they’re a cat and you’re a human. And then we left.

Matt (00:10:27):

That was the right call.

Laci (00:10:29):

Okay.

Matt (00:10:30):

See, I don’t even know enough about Broadway to know, is cats good? Do people like cats?

Laci (00:10:35):

I don’t know. I don’t know. Is it

Matt (00:10:36):

One of those things that’s just super popular, but to theater people, that’s like a Marvel movie?

Laci (00:10:43):

It’s a staple so you have it in your repertoire. To me, I feel like people who are broadband people collect things like stamps.You have to hit, well, okay, maybe playing cards. You’re not a true collector if you haven’t at least gone to multiple performances of the staple Broadway … I mean, I don’t think you can be a Broadway person and not have seen a performance of cats because you need to be able to remark on it. Oh, excuse me. I just finished. Yes. Spooge.

Matt (00:11:16):

Well, yeah. Just from sort of looking into this, I know this is a giant generalization, but it seems like Broadway people have a complicated relationship with Greece

Laci (00:11:27):

And

Matt (00:11:27):

I think that that’s probably something that happens whenever anything becomes huge and ubiquitous and especially when there’s a even more popular adaptation in another medium.

Laci (00:11:38):

So

Matt (00:11:39):

If you’re like a theater person, you’re like, you think the real version of Greece is the movie, you’re an idiot.

Laci (00:11:44):

Okay. But that’s the complication because I have a question.

Matt (00:11:47):

The even more complicated thing is basically it seems like every … Starting in 1971 when they started the play, every iteration of the play gets sort of sanded down and made less specific and I guess authentic. And so everybody’s got the real version of Greece is …

Laci (00:12:03):

So Atlanta’s more set before she got popular. It’s like if you’d seen her as the opening act of something else maybe at something else I can’t name because I can’t think of a reference. That’s the real once she got to radio.

Matt (00:12:21):

Maybe better than Alanis Morsett is like a Liz Phair who was-

Laci (00:12:25):

She would’ve opened for Liz Phair. There we go.

Matt (00:12:27):

Who was the cool and indie cred version of Alanis Morsett at the same time

Laci (00:12:32):

And

Matt (00:12:32):

Then later crossed over and became sort of pop popular.

Laci (00:12:36):

Sure.

Matt (00:12:37):

Yeah.

Laci (00:12:37):

Okay. Good. Great.

Matt (00:12:39):

All right. The first iteration of Greece, the stage musical was written by Chicago playwright, Jim Jacobs, and produced in 1971. And so this run of the show, the 1971 version in Chicago, it’s like the sacred object and-

Laci (00:12:54):

Oh, in second city.

Matt (00:12:56):

What?

Laci (00:12:57):

Chicago.

Matt (00:12:58):

Chicago, the second city.

Laci (00:12:59):

Right. The United States. Does it at all matter that it didn’t start in New York?

Matt (00:13:06):

In like a, “We’re Chicago, we have a chip on our shoulder for not being…” Yes. Oh, I’m sure that’s …

Laci (00:13:11):

Okay. That’s probably where the, “Hey, this is less authentic. Pass it down.” Yes. Once it got to snooty ass Broadway, like, “Oh, what a crap.” Exactly. What a crap. Everyone says that because- What a crap. What a good load of that.

Matt (00:13:25):

What a shit.

Laci (00:13:26):

Get a crap of that load.

Matt (00:13:29):

It’s because you can’t see this version of the play now. You also- That makes it all the more loaded.

Laci (00:13:36):

Right.

Matt (00:13:37):

But it was changed pretty dramatically when it moved from Chicago to New York.

Laci (00:13:41):

So they say.

Matt (00:13:42):

That’s what they say. We can’t prove it.

Laci (00:13:43):

We don’t

Matt (00:13:44):

Know. We’re just asking questions.

Laci (00:13:49):

Kiniki. God damn, my memory. Give me his name please.

Matt (00:13:53):

Kiniki.

Laci (00:13:54):

No.

Matt (00:13:54):

Jeff

Laci (00:13:54):

Connell. Yeah. Are any of the people- No. None of them are from Chicago. All people who went to LA to- Well, what you’re saying is- I didn’t get to say it. I am asking, do we have any Chicago natives that ended up in the …

Matt (00:14:11):

Oh, I don’t know about that.

Laci (00:14:12):

Okay. And I only care about them if they actually ended up going on to the movie, so I guess we would know that. You know what you do, you. You keep going. I interrupted.

Matt (00:14:23):

None of the people who were involved in the original … None of the actors from the original Chicago run of the play went on to be a-

Laci (00:14:30):

Got it. And I’m only pausing here because it was only in this watching that we just did of it that I even understood it was supposed to be set in Chicago.

Matt (00:14:41):

Although now I can’t tell if … I think I’ve read conflicting things whether the movie is literally supposed to be set in Chicago and just looks like it’s LA or it’s literally in LA. This is never mentioned in the movie, so I guess the answer is none or neither or

Laci (00:14:56):

Both. All right. The names. It’s the names of the people, the last names of the people that do seem to signal toward a city setting where there would be a large Polish community, a large Italian community.

Matt (00:15:13):

I mean, certainly they could be in LA too, but not in this posh setting. Okay. So 1971, the play is by Jim Jacobs, a Chicago playwright and it’s based on his experiences and this iteration of the play is much raunchier and very specifically Chicago, children of first generation.

Laci (00:15:39):

There you go.

Matt (00:15:40):

Polish and Italian immigrants.

Laci (00:15:42):

Okay. I nailed that. Yes. I didn’t even mean to.

Matt (00:15:44):

Okay. And it’s much more about literally Greasers and what it means to be a Greeser, to be a working class Greaser, to be poor and to be in the city of Chicago versus sort of this urban setting of the suburban setting.

Laci (00:15:57):

And let’s say that real quick. And this would be why, of course, I don’t know if there’s a lot of people who watch this movie and relate to the preps. That would be weird because they’re not a part of it, but a Greaser is a reaction to a preppy person, right? And preppy is not something you can choose to be. You either have the money to do it or you don’t. And so I think you have that instant connection with the goth community emo kids because you can do those looks on and they’re intentionally lesser expensive looks. You can do that by going to a thrift store. You can lean into, yeah, I am reflecting the class that I’m in and it’s a point of pride and I’m going to wear all black and I’m going to stand out and I’m going to be kind of shitty about it.

(00:16:46):

So anyway, I do appreciate the class component of what it means if you are a Greaser. Anyway, I relate to it. It’s what makes you root for them.

Matt (00:17:00):

But you can’t tell, at least from the movie, are these actually poor kids or is this like just cosplaying as a poor person because we see that this is a cool look because like you say, Emo and Goth, and I associate that with more well-off suburban kids who are trying to affect looking a different kind of way.

Laci (00:17:19):

And this might just be because of you and me coming from two different places, you having had some money when you were growing up and me not and us kind of ending up in a similar … If we’d gone to the same schools, we might have run in the same circles because of the music we listened to. And honestly, we could have both always been fraternizing with both types of people. We might’ve had friends who look just like us and wear these clothes, but I had friends that had more money and I didn’t even realize it. Yeah. And you had friends that didn’t and you didn’t realize it and maybe that’s the point.

Matt (00:17:52):

No, I don’t even see money.

Laci (00:17:54):

Shut up. I am saying you can do an impression of a perfectly good looking goth person without having lots of money. And so that worked for me where I didn’t have the opportunity. I wouldn’t have … Well, I didn’t get chosen for the cheerleading squad, but I wouldn’t have been able to afford it anyway, which is something I wouldn’t have realized till I’d gotten in it. And being a parent now, I now realize how expensive and time consuming it is to do anything related to preppy stuff. You would’ve had to be in football as a small child to make the football team, to afford all the uniforms, for your parents to take you to all the stuff, for the travel ball. For you to be varsity anything, you would’ve been on a travel team. And it’s thousands and thousands of dollars. And it’s not that.

(00:18:39):

It’s just that. It’s a parent who’s able to travel with you, doesn’t have a job depending on them on those. So it always felt elite, those people I was not trying to be and I always thought it was because they were good looking and I thought that’s where, well, I can’t force me to be good looking right now in my awkward teenage state. So I’ll go with the kids who are intentionally looking a little different. So it was kind of a bit of both. Oh, don’t you sad face me.

Matt (00:19:06):

I’m sorry about all that.

Laci (00:19:07):

That’s okay. Poser ass bitch, trying to look poor.

Matt (00:19:11):

I never tried to do anything. I don’t even have to try. My look in high school was I wore a blue hoodie.

Laci (00:19:19):

Get back.

Matt (00:19:20):

And that’s it.

Laci (00:19:21):

Hello.

Matt (00:19:22):

Well, and khaki pants.

Laci (00:19:23):

Oh, now I’m hard as a rock.

Matt (00:19:26):

I bet you are. That was

Laci (00:19:28):

My dick.

Matt (00:19:28):

I was trying to do the, I can’t even be bothered to care about how I look.

Laci (00:19:33):

It sounds like you dressed as a Simpsons character with a solid colored top. That’s true. And a solid color bottom. That’s true. That never changed for financial reasons. It’s just easier to animate something that always wears the same outfit. In

Matt (00:19:43):

Fact, underneath my hoodie was usually a Simpsons T-shirt.

Laci (00:19:47):

I hope you didn’t take it off much. Hard to animate, an animated figure on your street. I

Matt (00:19:52):

Had this thought researching and being very interested in wanting to see this original Grease is they’re always remaking musicals and like Steven Spielberg remakes West Side Story and it ends up being a great movie, but I’m still like, why do that though? Make something else. Why do we have to keep remaking these things? I say-

Laci (00:20:13):

Even Steven Spielberg has to go for that known property.

Matt (00:20:18):

Yes. I say the original Chicago Greece, that seems like ripe to make a big budget movie musical adaptation. That is something I would like to see. Somebody should do that. Anyway.

Laci (00:20:34):

Wait, I thought that already happened. I don’t understand. I thought that happened. What do you mean? Didn’t the play get made into a big movie.

Matt (00:20:42):

Yeah, but the movie was like an adaptation of the New York version.

Laci (00:20:45):

Oh, it didn’t have that grind.

Matt (00:20:48):

I’m saying make a very faithful adaptation of the original-

Laci (00:20:51):

Do we even have the original-

Matt (00:20:53):

It exists. It exists

Laci (00:20:54):

Something. Lines and … Okay. Because what is this proof of this grime? They

Matt (00:20:58):

Did a-

Laci (00:20:59):

How many fingering jokes are in their original compared to the whitewashed version that got on TV? That’s what I want to know.

Matt (00:21:05):

I couldn’t

Laci (00:21:05):

Say. A lot of anal. I mean, I hope.

Matt (00:21:09):

You hope?

Laci (00:21:10):

Yeah.

Matt (00:21:12):

That’s grime.

Laci (00:21:13):

That’s grime, baby. That’s Chicago. We’re

Matt (00:21:15):

Going to have to put a little E on this episode of the podcast.

Laci (00:21:18):

E for erection.

Matt (00:21:19):

Yes.

Laci (00:21:20):

I knew it.

Matt (00:21:21):

E

Laci (00:21:21):

For Eagles.

Matt (00:21:22):

So basically each version gets sanded down and the play moves from Chicago to New York and it becomes the longest running history or the longest running play in the history of Broadway at the time.

Laci (00:21:34):

Oh. Hamilton, fucking Hamilton.

Matt (00:21:37):

I think it’s a thing where each big play surpasses like the previous one.

Laci (00:21:41):

You could convince me that anything is a big play.

Matt (00:21:43):

Yeah.

Laci (00:21:43):

I only know Wicked and Hamilton. That makes me think those are probably pretty big.

Matt (00:21:46):

This Grease got surpassed by A Chorus Line, which I’m like, I

Laci (00:21:49):

Think I’ve

Matt (00:21:50):

Heard of that.

Laci (00:21:51):

I know what that is. I could picture that. Ladies in a row kicking.

Matt (00:21:59):

It’s a

Laci (00:22:00):

Nope. Directed

Matt (00:22:01):

By Tom Moore, The Play. Choreographed by Patricia Birch.

Laci (00:22:05):

Wait, are you talking about a chorus line?

Matt (00:22:07):

No.

Laci (00:22:07):

Thank God. Who cares? Okay. Whew, I’m not a Broadway person. I got upset.

Matt (00:22:16):

And I think we mentioned Patricia Birch does the choreography in the movie and then she directed Greece to … Okay, so this long running show, still raunchy, still sex positive to a degree, still a satire of Greaser culture, still nostalgic.

Laci (00:22:30):

Did we talk about Grease 1? The movie yet?

Matt (00:22:33):

No, we’re getting to that.

Laci (00:22:35):

Oh.

Matt (00:22:35):

This is going to take so long. I’m sorry.

Laci (00:22:38):

No, I just thought you were jumping into two.

Matt (00:22:40):

No, no. Now we’re onto the New York version of Greece, the play. Oh,

Laci (00:22:45):

I’m following you. Music

Matt (00:22:46):

Is very straightforward 1950s rock and roll. And when you watch the movie version and you know which songs are added are original to the movie, it is kind of glaring. You’re like, “These sounds so different.” The opening, the title track, Grease, Grease is the word. It’s a disco song.

Laci (00:23:07):

Oh, right.

Matt (00:23:08):

Yeah. And Hopelessly Devoted to Y, Adult Contemporary Ballad. You’re the one that I want.

Laci (00:23:12):

That’s like a- A song that was contractually … Well, that was added after the movie was made altogether and it was contractual that Olivia Newton and John get a solo song so they had to find something to fill that contract need after everything else was recorded because they didn’t have anything at the time.

Matt (00:23:28):

In the play, the one that she sings right there is called Kiss It, I believe.

Laci (00:23:32):

Oh.

Matt (00:23:33):

And when she literally instructs Danny kiss it, kiss my Volvo.

Laci (00:23:36):

It really was just that grit. Yeah.

Matt (00:23:39):

Yeah. Okay. But the movie, the movie Greece.

Laci (00:23:44):

It’s her ass. Kiss my … Why would it … It’s disrespectful to have someone kiss. You’re disrespecting that person if you ask them to kiss your ass. You’re giving them a privilege. No, just say

Matt (00:23:56):

It. I want sex with you so bad. Please go ahead and perform oral on me.

Laci (00:24:00):

Oh, I guess I never- Definitely. You know what? I don’t know true grit. That’s my problem. I can’t see it through your Chicagian eyes.

Matt (00:24:07):

That’s true. All

Laci (00:24:08):

Right.

Matt (00:24:10):

Grease is the … Okay.

Laci (00:24:12):

The word.

Matt (00:24:13):

The movie Grease produced by Alan Carr. Alan Carr is this mega producer from the era. Let me ask you, have you ever heard of- Let

Laci (00:24:22):

Me ask you, was that a cat’s reference?

Matt (00:24:25):

Let me ask you, have you ever heard of or seen the Notoriously Bad 1989 Oscars Snow White Dances and Sings with Rob Lowe?

Laci (00:24:40):

What?

Matt (00:24:40):

Okay. This

Laci (00:24:41):

Sounds like a- This

Matt (00:24:42):

Is the

Laci (00:24:42):

Go- to- AI thing gone wrong if you type in stuff and that sounds like a … You know what I’m saying?

Matt (00:24:48):

Just maybe there was a chance because it’s like the go- to example of this is bad Oscars and this is always the thing people point to as the low point of-

Laci (00:24:57):

How did he dance with … She’s animated.

Matt (00:25:00):

A woman plays Snow White

(00:25:02):

And she sings this really weird duet with Rob Lowe. They sing Proud Mary, but alter the lyrics to be about movies. And Rob Lowe can’t sing and it’s very awkward and everybody’s like, “Oh my God.” And it goes on for 11 minutes. Well, I mean, it’s part of this longer sequence. Anyway, all of this was produced by Alan Moore or Alan Moore. Alan Carr is the producer of this Oscars and it ruins his career and people say ended his life. He went into a dark depression that lasted years and eventually led to him dying. Indirectly. Anyway.

Laci (00:25:42):

There’s another person in this story with a similar trajectory, but go ahead.

Matt (00:25:48):

I was like, should we watch this during this episode? No, it would kill you.

Laci (00:25:52):

Well, and you want to tell people why it would kill me?

Matt (00:25:56):

You are very uncomfortable with Oscars.

Laci (00:25:58):

Well, with anything live.

Matt (00:26:00):

Yeah. And I am too. It was one of the reasons I love you is the main reason is that when we watched an early Oscars together, which I had done … I always watch the Oscars every year and you’re like, “This is hard. I can’t watch this. This is tough.” And it made me realize I feel that way too. I just never knew it.

Laci (00:26:20):

Yeah.

Matt (00:26:21):

I’m embarrassed for everyone.

Laci (00:26:24):

I can watch live sports because there’s a point. Everyone understands what’s going to happen. It’s not scripted, but it’s scripted. It’s going somewhere that everyone understands.

Matt (00:26:35):

They’re doing what they’re trained to do.

Laci (00:26:37):

Live shit.

Matt (00:26:38):

Well, these are

Laci (00:26:39):

People- I know. You don’t know where it’s going and if they fail, they fail alone.

Matt (00:26:42):

Yeah.

Laci (00:26:44):

I think the last thing I tried to watch was Jennifer Lawrence tripping up the stage to get her whatever.

Matt (00:26:49):

It was so charming.

Laci (00:26:50):

It was, but it didn’t have to be.

Matt (00:26:53):

She’s just like us. She trips.

Laci (00:26:55):

It was charming, but I’d had enough.

Matt (00:26:59):

Oh, Alan Carr.

Laci (00:27:00):

Yeah.

Matt (00:27:01):

Yeah. But he is the producer of the film Grease and his producing partner. Robert Stigwood, he produced Saturday Night Fever. He brings in John Travolta. They hire to direct the movie, they hire Randall Kleiser. This was his feature film debut, but he had directed John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, which is

Laci (00:27:22):

The famous- Okay, I’ve seen that.

Matt (00:27:23):

TV movie. You’ve seen it. Really?

Laci (00:27:25):

I went through a John Travolta face.

Matt (00:27:28):

Okay. And you watched this TV movie from the

Laci (00:27:30):

70s? Yes, I did.

Matt (00:27:31):

Okay. They bring on Olivia Newton John, famous.

Laci (00:27:34):

So it must be John Travolta that pulls in Jeff Conway since they would’ve worked on Greece the play together in New York.

Matt (00:27:43):

That would make sense.

Laci (00:27:46):

Because they are good friends.

Matt (00:27:48):

Yeah.

Laci (00:27:49):

And

Matt (00:27:49):

Were in the play. John Travolta at a certain point

Laci (00:27:52):

Played

Matt (00:27:52):

Duty.

Laci (00:27:53):

Right. And Conway’s who got him into the play and-

Matt (00:27:56):

Before he was famous.

Laci (00:27:57):

Exactly. And Jeff Conway would go with John Travolta to Scientology classes because they would offer actors acting classes for free for free. But to his credit, he did not ever join Scientology and I guess he didn’t give them any compromise or something. They never kept him in. Yeah. They didn’t travolt to him.

Matt (00:28:30):

Olivia Newton-John can’t do an American accent. So Sandy-

Laci (00:28:33):

You’re jumping right into a new point.

Matt (00:28:35):

Dombrowski is changed to Sandy Olson from Australia and she’s there on vacation and then her parents have a change of plans.

Laci (00:28:44):

The plans changed.

Matt (00:28:46):

It happens. Sometimes you go on vacation somewhere and now you live there in another country.

Laci (00:28:51):

We don’t know that they were on vacation. They could have been- Did

Matt (00:28:54):

She not say they were on vacation?

Laci (00:28:55):

She says holiday because she’s from Australia.

Matt (00:28:58):

Is she an illegal immigrant?

Laci (00:29:00):

Because

Matt (00:29:01):

They would presume to be on a tourist visa. She overstayed her visa.

Laci (00:29:05):

There’s a whole other way they could have gone with Greece too.

Matt (00:29:08):

Truly. We mentioned Jeff Conway. Stocker Channing plays Rizzo. She’s 10 years older than the rest of the cast.

Laci (00:29:16):

33, still young, but yeah, way too old. Okay. So I do want to go back because I don’t know if we’ve underscored this enough, but the intention of the original, the whole point was that this was supposed to be an over the top poking fun of Greaser culture. You said it, but then I kind of went on a tangent. I didn’t know that. Watching a movie, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to think this was super cool and normal and was always happening in the 50s.

Matt (00:29:47):

And didn’t you say you didn’t even know that it wasn’t the

Laci (00:29:50):

Present? Yep. I think for many years I was super young. I mean, I probably started watching this at seven. I thought this was filmed in the 50s Where did they find all this color?

Matt (00:30:03):

I don’t know because I watched Happy Days at the time and I think my parents told me this is a show made in the 70s about the 50s and Greece later did the same thing.

Laci (00:30:14):

I didn’t watch things with parents. I just watched things.

(00:30:18):

In fact, when the opening came on in that groovy song happened and I may have seen that once before, but the amount of times I’ve seen Grease, I knew I had not seen that as many times as I’ve seen Grease. So I was jarring and that’s what reminded me that, oh, I definitely watched this on a VHS tape that would’ve started around the time it takes you to go grab a VHS tape, stick it in the thing and figure out how to record. So I probably constantly watched this movie from a weird starting point sort of in the beginning of the movie, but definitely after that song. So you’re welcome. My history- I

Matt (00:30:56):

Would say the animated opening, probably the best part of the movie.

Laci (00:31:02):

Okay. We both enjoyed Grease though after it was over, it was pretty good.

Matt (00:31:06):

Yes. I liked it more than I thought. I think it’s pretty good.

Laci (00:31:10):

I think you’re kind of reverting back to cool me.

Matt (00:31:13):

What I’m saying is I think it’s a wonderful animated sequence. I was like, who did this animation because they don’t have it in the opening credits. I thought it looked kind of like Schoolhouse Rock, but it was by this guy. Damn it. Where are my notes? John David Wilson, British animator. His company fine arts films, he never directed a feature, but he did work on work for Disney for a while, a key animator on Peter Pan on Lady in the Tramp. But yeah, never directed a feature, but this was very good. That’s all.

Laci (00:31:46):

Okay, fantastic.Just

Matt (00:31:47):

Give him some credit.

Laci (00:31:48):

The thing no one remembers. All right. How dare

Matt (00:31:50):

You? Yeah, okay. We can talk about … So we both watched it as a kid. A couple of things came back to me. Seeing the VHS box, which had John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, and she’s in her

Laci (00:32:09):

Bad girl, Sandy

Matt (00:32:11):

Thing. And I didn’t understand that that was the same character as Sandy in the movie. So it was like a different

Laci (00:32:17):

Person. Oh wait, wait, okay. But you’re not saying you didn’t realize that the person they used on the cover of the tape box was not the same person. You’re literally saying that that version of Sandy, you didn’t know it was the same person. And the movie. What the fuck do you meet? When she comes out and she’s asking for him to tell her about it, Stud-

Matt (00:32:36):

Maybe I didn’t get to that part for a while. What? And then the other thing I remember is it had their names, John Travolti, Olivia Newton John. I was like, “Well, they must be married.” And she took his first name. That’s why it’s hyphenated at the end, Olivia Newton, John. Oh.

Laci (00:32:52):

Because he’s John Trivel. Yeah. All right. Well, you’ originally young. I also always

Matt (00:32:56):

Thought that when people kiss in a movie, that means that they’re married

Laci (00:33:00):

In real life. Okay. That’s so upper class of you. Yeah.

Matt (00:33:04):

Oh, I’m so upper class.

Laci (00:33:05):

No, that’s so you being supervised while watching movies of you because you didn’t think, you probably, I’m sure your mom just was like, “They’re married.”

Matt (00:33:13):

I guess

Laci (00:33:13):

So. Close your eyes or believe they’re married. These

Matt (00:33:15):

Things don’t pop up out of nowhere. I don’t know.

Laci (00:33:18):

And I’m just saying my unattended minor lifestyle shows through these things too and how much younger I am when I watch the same things you did or how much darker they were to me than you because-

Matt (00:33:35):

No, how old were you when you watched this?

Laci (00:33:37):

I would’ve been seven.

Matt (00:33:38):

Oh, okay. Then it’s younger. I was 10. I do remember I had a lot of record. They’re smoking. Bad. No, no good. They’re kissing.

Laci (00:33:48):

Yes, just go. That’s inappropriate. Oh, I don’t know. I know that I knew the whole time that the girls didn’t want to do all the stuff the boys wanted to do, but then comes Rizzo. My girl.

Matt (00:34:03):

So yeah. I think in the play they’re more … I do think the play is supposed to be more sex positive that there’s not so much … In both of these movies, it’s like you got to trick a girl into having sex with you. That’s the way you do it.

Laci (00:34:18):

Yeah. Okay. So you’re saying the girls are more like … Damn. Or they’re driving the car sometimes too. Yeah. Okay.

Matt (00:34:28):

What I like about Back to the Future when Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gail were coming up with the idea for that movie, they started with, not with time travel, but with the idea that if you got to meet your parents when they were young and you’re looking at the 1950s and you have this idea of this sort of chaste and conservative time, if you went back in time, you’d realize, no, they’re the same. Everybody’s horny. Everybody’s fucking all the time and doing drugs and stuff and people are generally the same in every era. People are sort of the same.

Laci (00:35:05):

Right. The hormones are not different from generation to generation. That’s not how we’ve evolved.

Matt (00:35:10):

Yeah, just how we prison.

Laci (00:35:11):

We didn’t have more proper hormones in the day. Well, that would explain how my entire family started around age 16 for each of my aunts. Yeah. Yeah. Two of the four children at 16. So yeah, hormones, baby.

Matt (00:35:32):

So, okay. Neither of us had seen … When was the last time you watched Grease?

Laci (00:35:38):

Well, I told you I didn’t even need to watch Grease 1. More so the most load bearing beams for some reason I really felt like I remember all the hits because I don’t know why, but I didn’t think there’d be anything new for me to discover. So it must have been a long time. 20 years. Because I watched it. Because I watched it and I’m like, “Okay. Items, things to discuss, talking points.”

Matt (00:36:03):

Like what?

Laci (00:36:04):

I don’t know. Well, number one, I hate … I always hate, and I remember not thinking this was funny, so I don’t know who these jokes are for that the abuse of Eugene. I mean, the nerd, the on fucking nerd in the whole school and he keeps popping up and they’re mean to him every time, but they start by pretending they’re being nice to him. That’s what hurts my heart. Just be mean to him. But they’re like, “Oh, hey, Eugene.” He goes, “Hi.” And then they’re mean. That’s mean. You say,

Matt (00:36:33):

Who’s that for? I think that’s for everyone. Everyone laughed at that. And at the time, yes. Now you’re like, Jesus.

Laci (00:36:41):

Even then I don’t remember liking any of that. So there you go.

Matt (00:36:47):

Beating up a nerd was up until maybe six months ago, like an okay thing to do and a classic nerd with classes and like.

Laci (00:36:56):

Oh yeah. Well, and nerds had not have their day in the sun. I mean, the idea of being a nerd came completely chic and cool. It still is.

Matt (00:37:05):

Yeah. We didn’t yet know that actually nerds are like way more toxic than jocks. Oh, here’s my question.

Laci (00:37:14):

I wrote a note here that says Sandy has Memaw vibes.

Matt (00:37:17):

Memaw vibes. Explain.

Laci (00:37:19):

I don’t know. She’s just always pulling out her little cardigan and everything’s just so … And she’s so wide-eyed and has such great intentions and thinks everyone else does too. It’s not an interesting. You’re literally your grandmother not.

Matt (00:37:38):

The general word encompassing all of the world’s grandmothers. I gotcha.

Laci (00:37:42):

Okay.

Matt (00:37:43):

All right. One of my notes was, were jocks once not supposed to be cool. I think that is the case. I think that-

Laci (00:37:49):

From the Greaser perspective.

Matt (00:37:52):

Yes. I feel like maybe this might be a more universal thing of like, it wasn’t always the case that if you were like a high school athlete that meant that you were like a high status person.

Laci (00:38:04):

Yeah. You don’t automatically get to be cool, but that you are automatically part of a group and there’s some protection in that. You’re not an outcast because by definition you’re in. I mean, would you look at all five of the … There’s five teepers or four? Five. Would you look at all and say, those are equal. Those are equal guys. There are no nerds in there, no idiots in there. No. They’re all

Matt (00:38:29):

Nervous.

Laci (00:38:30):

Three of them, there’s two cool ones and three not cool ones.

Matt (00:38:34):

Yeah.

Laci (00:38:35):

So it’s like any

Matt (00:38:35):

Curve. Yeah, they’re doing their three stooges thing and Danny’s like, “Cool.”

Laci (00:38:43):

There’s Hinchman.

Matt (00:38:44):

This is the thing that one of the things that this movie is not doing well is like, these people aren’t friends. They don’t like each other. This is not a community.

Laci (00:38:55):

You’re playing me now from Halloween.

Matt (00:38:57):

What?

Laci (00:38:58):

This is my argument. When friends are mean to each other constantly, it doesn’t feel right. They’re not clicking or vibing in any sense.

Matt (00:39:06):

But it’s not that they’re being mean to each

Laci (00:39:07):

Other. Wait, let me …

Matt (00:39:09):

Okay, go.

Laci (00:39:09):

Halloween, the movie we did together, that was one of my big complaints is the way they spoke to each other and you’re like, “No, that’s how people talk. It’s authentic.” It’s like they hate each other. Every friend that talks to each other is like, “Hey, dip shit fuck. Did you fuck a guy you didn’t? You stupid prude bitch shit.”

Matt (00:39:29):

In Halloween …

Laci (00:39:31):

Here we go.

Matt (00:39:32):

I think that in there, that is intentional. These are actually well observed friend group dynamics or just groups.

Laci (00:39:39):

And these are group- This

Matt (00:39:40):

Is not a group.

Laci (00:39:41):

No, these people have

Matt (00:39:42):

No relationship to each

Laci (00:39:43):

Other. Okay. Except for that. And if Greece two expands upon Greece one in any way, it is that it makes clear you are grandfathered, grandmothered into the Pink Ladies. There’s all of a sudden more rules around the Pink Ladies and the T-birds that we did not know in the first movie. And so the little sister of one of the pink ladies assumes and also you can only be one when you’re a senior. Interesting. This is a blip on the radar of all 10 of these people. They just for one year get to rule the school. They’re pink ladies for one year and teepers for one year. So who’s electing these people? Who brings them in? Who decides? It’s such a short amount of time, but Greece two makes it seem like if your sister was one, you become one. Like you just have to, what, get your hands on a jacket once they’re done with it?

Matt (00:40:35):

Yeah. None of these questions answered. You know what? Wait, that’s another part of the play that I listened to the soundtrack and it opens with them attending a reunion and then the rest of the story is a flashback and there is something kind of bittersweet because the play ends and the movie ends with them all singing how we’re always going to be friends forever. And the play literally opens like, “We’re not all friends anymore.” This was

Laci (00:41:00):

A

Matt (00:41:01):

Very short amount of time in our lives.

Laci (00:41:02):

And that’s kind of my point. I don’t know that these five people … Again, this has always bothered me. It’s such a small number of people, five and five. How can this be cool? It’s too elite. It’s so elite that it seems niche and stupid, but it seems they both make it seem like it’s easy to join because what do you think about making her a pink lady? Okay. But then the sister can’t be one until the older sister’s out and then she’s in fucking senior year, has a car. There seems to be a lot of rules. So it’s like maybe they aren’t necessarily friends or the best matches for each other. They seem to have all had different circumstances for how they got to be one.

Matt (00:41:47):

I think the Pink Lady seem like actual friends. The T-birds less

Laci (00:41:52):

So- Only because they have a sleepover, but it’s not a sweet sleepover. That’s when they’re the meanest to each other.

Matt (00:41:58):

That’s true. But really it’s the end of the movie when the boys and girls are all together and you’re like, “Oh, they each have one that they have.

Laci (00:42:07):

” They each have one. And they’re

Matt (00:42:07):

Talking about how there’s such one big happy family and they’ll always be together. And I’m like, “That’s bullshit. You people don’t like each other. You’ve said two words to each other the whole time.”

Laci (00:42:17):

Right.

Matt (00:42:18):

That’s really what I’m objecting to. This just does not seem like an actual

Laci (00:42:22):

Community. They don’t do any of the work to show that they ever like to interact with. They always seem kind of annoyed that the other ones are there. I don’t know. The Maltz shop scene, they definitely constantly run into each other. They go bowling together.

Matt (00:42:37):

Well, just in Greece one, the only actual sequence where they’re all together is at the soda shop.

Laci (00:42:43):

And the dance. They all dance together.

Matt (00:42:46):

Yes. Although the … And so I just pulled up the Soda Shop sequence. And this is like a … You can tell this would pop so much better on the stage because they’re all scrambed. They’re all bunched together and Danny and Sandy are talking. You can see everybody else following a tennis match. Ooh, what’s going to happen now? What’s going to happen now? But then because it’s a movie, we have to cut away and focus on some individuals and all the tension is gone. That’s all.

Laci (00:43:15):

Well, and you pointed out that Summer Loven, this is the end of the song. Summer Nights. Summer Nights. That song makes so much more sense when you see it on stage because you would have a friend group that are singing a song that’s supposed to be separate from the other friend group that’s singing the other half of the song, but they’re singing it together so it makes more sense because you see them both on the same stage where they’re literally in different locations at the school singing half a song. Yeah. If they’re not occupying- You know what you do? Play half the song. I just want to hear what just Danny’s side of this sounds like and then just for a snippet. Not now, but it does- I don’t have it. Okay. I know you don’t have it, but you got a lot of equipment, right?

(00:43:57):

So I just want to hear it. Okay.

Speaker 3 (00:44:01):

Some loving had me a blast. I made a girl crazy for me.

Matt (00:44:19):

They need to be literally occupying the same physical space or else it just doesn’t just seems dumb. Now they’re … I don’t know.

Laci (00:44:26):

It’s fine.

(00:44:29):

Okay. Our point was that these people don’t seem like they actually enjoy each other’s company or hang out ever, but now they’re best friends and the whole team’s back together again. There does seem to be a lot of stuff that was cut out. I know there were whole scenes between Rizzo and Kaniki that are cut out that explains much better why in one scene she’s getting in a car with them and in another scene, she is so pissed she throws a malt. And there’s some kind of grungy gritty fight that they just ended up taking out because the tone was completely different from the rest of the movie. I’m like, okay. Oh, so the hickeys that Roso has, the actress, the actual actress, Jeff Conway actually gave those hickeys to her because he insisted that that would be the only way to make them seem really real.

Matt (00:45:12):

Cool.

Laci (00:45:13):

Yeah, neat. I find Jeff Conway’s whole hit what happened with him. I mean, he’s just kind of a tragic figure because of this movie because of- Well, he

Matt (00:45:29):

Did have taxi after this, so he-

Laci (00:45:31):

Yes, but it wasn’t for- But the role of Bobby was not fulfilling because the directors always made it clear that you cannot replace Danny DeVito and all the other main characters were so … They had more clout. They were not replaceable, but they could get anyone to say the line, “Hey, Tony.” I don’t know what the line was, but anyway, he was not totally-

Matt (00:45:56):

Oh yeah.

Laci (00:45:57):

Seventh

Matt (00:45:58):

Person you’d name if you were remembering

Laci (00:45:59):

That. He didn’t love that role. And that’s what the second thing he’s known for is that role. And then Babylon five. Anyway, but Jeff Conway, speaking of the fact that he had to give over his big number, the Grease Lightning number, that is what his character was supposed to sing. But because John Cerolta had clout, he was able to take that from him and it seems like especially the choreographer Birch and most of the cast were so mad about this switch that they still decades later, if interviewed about it, they were mad. They would mention it. And on

Matt (00:46:40):

Stage Kineki sing Squeezed Lightning, it’s his

Laci (00:46:43):

Soul

Matt (00:46:43):

Number and Chivalta politicked him out of it and said, “Actually, I should sing it. “

Laci (00:46:49):

Right, because he was trying- He doesn’t

Matt (00:46:51):

Have a number in the movie.

Laci (00:46:52):

And John Travolta was trying to keep up with Olivia Newton-John who had better management and had contractually gotten a solo song and other things. So I don’t want to hate too much on John Tavolta, but that does seem like it ended up ruining Jeff Conway’s life because that is when during that performance, maybe not because they switched roles, but he fell and got a back injury that started him on taking painkillers and he struggled with drug addiction ever since then. And he was on celebrity rehab with Dr. Drew and all that. Yeah, he was very public about his addiction. And then he died of pneumonia or something really young. I mean, 60 was young. He never really got better after Grease. It was too slippery. That’s not funny. Did you call it Greased Lightning? Is that what I- It is Grease

Matt (00:47:45):

Lightning.

Laci (00:47:45):

It is Grease Lightning.

Matt (00:47:47):

Sorry, what?

Laci (00:47:48):

Oh, you’re right.

Matt (00:47:49):

Yeah.

Laci (00:47:50):

Greased light. All right.

Matt (00:47:54):

It

Laci (00:47:55):

Feels slimier now. All right.

Matt (00:47:57):

Okay. Good things about this movie then, because we both found ourselves liking it. I don’t think it’s very well directed. Both of these movies, whenever a song starts, it is jarring.

Laci (00:48:12):

It’s jarring, but more so in the second one.

Matt (00:48:14):

Yeah. But even in the first one, if it just doesn’t feel like a musical when they’re not singing, that is a problem of the director.

Laci (00:48:21):

Yes. It just doesn’t have

Matt (00:48:23):

The energy of a musical.

Laci (00:48:24):

There should be lead in motion and music that go into the song building into like, “Oh, it’s a song.” Or just like, “Oh, they were getting in an arrangement to do a dance.” But it’s like a flash mob every fucking time. It’s meant to surprise the shit out of us.

Matt (00:48:40):

Because they say, “Okay, so what is the point of movie musicals? It’s people breaking a song when they have a burst of emotion that they

Laci (00:48:48):

Couldn’t

Matt (00:48:48):

Express, whereas in these movies it’s just like, well, now is the time for the musical

Laci (00:48:53):

Number.”

Matt (00:48:54):

And so it begins.

Laci (00:48:55):

We just need a soundtrack. These guys like Duop. Now that’s what I call music.

Matt (00:49:01):

But Travolta has a few scenes where he’s very funny, especially when he’s trying to be a jock. I didn’t remember any of this.

Laci (00:49:10):

Yeah, that’s the best

Matt (00:49:11):

One. Yeah. He’s just trying out. He’s playing basketball and all these other sports and Coach Calhoun is the most supportive-

Laci (00:49:17):

Sweetest man. A

Matt (00:49:19):

Teacher you’ll ever see.

Laci (00:49:20):

And also the principal and the assistant, I don’t think she’s the vice principal. Blanche. Blanche. I love their dynamic too. I like all the scenes with the principal in it. She’s great.

Matt (00:49:32):

They are great. Eve Arden and who’s the only one? I don’t know.

Laci (00:49:39):

Oh, a little tidbit. I do have some trivia on Greece one that almost all of the backup dancers you see, they won a nationwide contest to be able to be in Greece, that’s how that happened. And in the American bandstand sock up thing where everyone dances at the school dance, there were no dancing parts written in for Olivia Newton John. Sunny was supposed to distract her the way he does later in the dance scene. He was supposed to distract her right away and bring her off to the side so that Danny would spend the entire time dancing with Cha-Cha. But Olivia Newton-John insisted she’s not a trained dancer. John Travolta is, but she insisted that she dance and most of it actually to show that she can also dance. And I thought she did great.

Matt (00:50:30):

Yeah, I believe Sandy’s not at the dance in the play.

Laci (00:50:34):

Right. Yeah, no, she keeps completely sidetracked. I think it’s Sunny or Duty.

Matt (00:50:41):

We’re watching the dance sequence. Okay. I said the animated part. This is the best part of the movie here, the best stretch of the movie. You have some really good dancing and then this is like just really impressive choreography and just direction. We have like this-

Laci (00:50:56):

Cause there’s so much happening at one time.

Matt (00:50:58):

Yes. And musicals today, just a million cuts, no full body shots, but you just have these really impressive wonders

Laci (00:51:05):

Just

Matt (00:51:07):

Going across the bleachers and seeing everybody.

Laci (00:51:09):

Now this was a full day of shooting and two people dropped from Heatstroke during this because there was no air condition in this gym or they couldn’t put it on because of sound, something like that. And it was like 106 degrees outside. So people dropped from Heat Exhaustion in the carnival scene at the end and at this one.

Matt (00:51:26):

Worth it.

Laci (00:51:28):

I think so. Yeah. Divas.

Matt (00:51:30):

Other good things. Well, Olivia Newton-John’s fine.

Laci (00:51:36):

I think she’s perfect. If what she’s supposed to be is this pristine thing that then turns into a not pristine thing.

Matt (00:51:42):

I’d say, okay, yes, she’s good. The movie does Dirty by her. It doesn’t care about her. You

Laci (00:51:47):

Don’t think so?

Matt (00:51:48):

No. And I think that the real problem is does she and Danny say more than six sentences to each other in the whole movie?

Laci (00:51:56):

Wait, it has to not care about her because we have to be happy when she goes away.

Matt (00:52:00):

Investment in caring about her is a character.

Laci (00:52:04):

We can’t care about her. She’s too prudish and pure. She has to do a 180 so you can’t get attached to her in the beginning because you want her to turn into the thing she does at the end. So if you invested at the beginning, why the fuck are we all giving our identities away to this boy?

Matt (00:52:17):

No,

Laci (00:52:18):

Because

Matt (00:52:19):

She’s doing what she needs to do to be happy. She says, “I’m not happy now, but I know

Laci (00:52:24):

.” And that’s fucked up and we wouldn’t be along for the ride if it weren’t that- A real movie

Matt (00:52:30):

Would figure out how to make

Laci (00:52:31):

This one. Fine.

Matt (00:52:33):

The bigger problem is just that I do not buy that these people like each other. We don’t see them like each other ever other than the first two minutes of the movie. And then they get reunited and he’s like, “Baby, it’s cool rocking and rolling.” She’s like, “What are you doing? Where’s the boy?” It’s the weirdest thing. And then I swear they say three additional sentences to each other in the rest of the movie.

Laci (00:52:59):

They don’t like each other. Okay. Usually I pick up on shit like that, that’s unearned relationships. Am I too close to this one? Is it because it’s kind of a beam of mind, number one and you pick number two, which is not that I’m going to defend it, but I’m the relationship person in this podcast. You think this is

Matt (00:53:18):

A relationship that is-

Laci (00:53:20):

I think it’s fine for fucking high schoolers.

Matt (00:53:23):

To be the centerpiece of the emotional arc of this movie, it’s well executed.

Laci (00:53:28):

Are we supposed to have a lot of emotion? Yes,

Matt (00:53:30):

You are. When Sandy bursts into hopelessly devoted to you, you buy that she is hopelessly devoted to him.

Laci (00:53:40):

No, I don’t think

Matt (00:53:41):

She gives a shit.

Laci (00:53:42):

No, I think she’s sad and she’s just saying words.

Matt (00:53:44):

And then Danny’s like, “You guys know you mean a lot to me, but Sandy means a lot too.” You think he’s telling the truth there too?

Laci (00:53:51):

Oh my God. I’m bored with that. I mean, I don’t think it mattered. I think it drives it forward and what I like to appreciate about the movie this time is that it moves.

Matt (00:54:01):

It moves. It does have good energy, but it is pretty sloppy and you lose all these things that could make it a really great movie by not being about people and what they mean to each other or about being a community or

Laci (00:54:18):

About being- Right. Because it very much seems like it’s supposed to be about community, but yeah, without understanding the history of these friendships or how the Pink Ladies started, they had to have started somewhere. Were they the first generation of them? Were their mothers? That would be interesting to me. I want to know more of the lore. Oh

Matt (00:54:38):

My God, you’re in luck. You know what starts on Paramount Plus in two days.

Laci (00:54:42):

What?

Matt (00:54:42):

Rise of the Pink Ladies.

Laci (00:54:44):

No, thank you.

Matt (00:54:46):

Seriously.

Laci (00:54:47):

When is the set? A musical series. I

Matt (00:54:49):

Think it’s set four years before Greece

Laci (00:54:51):

War. No no no. It’s- What is the set of the Pricklet? That’s the rise. I want the set. I’m saying. The death of

Matt (00:55:02):

The Pink Ladies.

Laci (00:55:03):

Yeah.

Matt (00:55:04):

No, you won’t watch it.

Laci (00:55:05):

The Red Ladies. Who’s going to watch this? I don’t know. But anyway, no. I mean, if the movie had given us a little bit more insight to why is it cool to be a Pink Lady? Why would anyone want to fucking do it? Sandy seems to have all kinds of friends outside of this. And then Grease 2 is too heavy-handed, too quick, too presumptuous with just saying things that are just supposed to be unknown. Well, you know contractually we are supposed to only fuck a T-bird.

Matt (00:55:33):

And as you know, the jackets we wear are T-bird property. Yeah, I know.

Laci (00:55:40):

My kids on sports teams. It’s insane. I pay for that shirt. It’s my property. They paid for the production of those shirts?

Matt (00:55:50):

Why?

Laci (00:55:51):

For the screen print on the back?

Matt (00:55:53):

I mean, these are just a bunch of fucking dorks.

Laci (00:55:57):

All T-birds are really dorky in the second

Matt (00:55:59):

Moment. But in both of these movies-

Laci (00:56:02):

Theater kids.

Matt (00:56:03):

That’s what they are. I mean, it is blatant in the second. But see what I kind of liked about the second movie this time and I’ll just leave cards on the

Laci (00:56:11):

Table. Oh, fuck.

Matt (00:56:12):

Didn’t like the second movie. I think the first

Laci (00:56:14):

Movie’s

Matt (00:56:15):

Pretty … I give the first movie three stars. I give the second movie two stars. I think the second movie is a lot more nihilistic and a lot more like LOL, Nothing Matters. And it’s kind of owning that this is not … We’re saying this is the 60s, but this isn’t the 60s and we’re saying these are

Laci (00:56:30):

Bad kids. Oh yeah, songs.

Matt (00:56:31):

These are not bad kids.

Laci (00:56:32):

No, the principals stay. They’re fucking musical

Matt (00:56:34):

Theater kids.

Laci (00:56:35):

Okay. And literally the T-birds come on stage and the principal says, “These are my boys.”

Matt (00:56:40):

Yeah, exactly.

Laci (00:56:41):

Yeah. But they love.

Matt (00:56:43):

So I kind of like how unprecious it is. If they never made a Grease 2, but then decided to make a legacy sequel to Greece in 2018, it would be so worshipful and reverential about what it means to be a T-bird and what it means to be a Pink Lady.

Laci (00:56:59):

Why 2018?

Matt (00:57:00):

I just said it because

Laci (00:57:02):

That

Matt (00:57:02):

Would be 40 years later versus three years later when it was like making a sequel. Who gives a shit?

Laci (00:57:08):

Oh, I see. Okay. I got you.

Matt (00:57:10):

Everyone says Stalker Channing is good. She’s the best part of the movie.

Laci (00:57:14):

She has the most impressive career afterwards. That’s

Matt (00:57:17):

Everyone’s opinion of the movie. Sorry. And you watch the movie and you’re like, “Oh yeah, she is. “

Laci (00:57:25):

And it blows

Matt (00:57:25):

Everyone else

Laci (00:57:26):

Away. You also don’t realize she’s kind of elite. She might as well be just as elite as Sandy.

Matt (00:57:32):

Oh yeah. I mean, that’s another thing that sucks. It’s like she’s the most interesting character.

Laci (00:57:36):

The most interesting arc.

Matt (00:57:38):

Story that has no time is just kind of going on in the background.

Laci (00:57:42):

And she’s like the curmudgeon, but she’s not. She’s dealing with big fucking girl, big issues. She’s trying to stay cool, be sex positive. Then she gets … She thinks she’s pregnant and now she thinks the guy that she’s with does not give a shit about that. So she plays it cool and is like, no, don’t worry, it’s not yours. And she’s being forced in all these female roles and it’s just a much more interesting thing because the time that’s actually something where the time that this was made matters. Abortion options. What does a girl in trouble quote unquote do in high school? What do people say about her? My school, there’s like five pregnant girls a year. I mean, not that it made you cool, but it wasn’t this. You were in a pariah.

Matt (00:58:27):

She tells him, Don’t worry, Panicki. It’s another guy’s problem. I have this up on screen.

Laci (00:58:33):

Another guy’s mistake.

Matt (00:58:34):

Yeah. And this is truly like these are some evil eyes she’s given him. And he’s like, he fucking belts. Oh my God. She destroys

Laci (00:58:44):

Him.

Matt (00:58:46):

So yeah, she’s good.

Laci (00:58:49):

She’s definitely the most … She wins a Tony or had already had one.

Matt (00:58:53):

She got an Oscar nomination at some point.

Laci (00:58:56):

Yeah.

Matt (00:58:56):

Yes. She’s an impressive actress. All right. Grease 2. I was not okay as a kid with the fact that Grease 2 does not open with animation. Thought, “That’s bullshit.”

Laci (00:59:12):

I was immediately excited to see the Empire Records guy, but not being a total lecturous creep being the heartthrob of the movie.

Matt (00:59:21):

Maxwell Caulfield

Laci (00:59:22):

Plays

Matt (00:59:22):

Michael Kensington. He is Sandy’s cousin, which-

Laci (00:59:27):

Convenient. …

Matt (00:59:28):

Funny, funny thing that sequels used to do is like, well, we’ll just mention some sort of tangential

Laci (00:59:33):

Connection

Matt (00:59:33):

And that makes it a sequel.

Laci (00:59:34):

Australian deal. He’s

Matt (00:59:36):

English.

Laci (00:59:36):

Well, then why was he acting all Australian?

Matt (00:59:39):

And then Michelle Pfeiffer is the lead pink lady and this time it’s reversed. A good boy’s going to go bad for a cool girl. That’s the other thing that I think not super developed, but kind of a cool idea is what is her name? Michelle Pfeiffer’s character.

Laci (01:00:00):

Windy? If he’s Johnny and the other was Danny, she’s-

Matt (01:00:06):

Michael

Laci (01:00:06):

Kensington

Matt (01:00:07):

And something Zamoni.

Laci (01:00:09):

Fuck some Michael Kensington.

Matt (01:00:11):

That’s Maxwell Colfield. That’s the main boy.

Laci (01:00:13):

Oh, okay.

Matt (01:00:14):

What the Shumptoni?

Laci (01:00:16):

It’s not Kensington.

Matt (01:00:17):

Yes. Oh,

Laci (01:00:18):

Carrington. It’s

Matt (01:00:19):

Carrington.

Laci (01:00:19):

Carrington. I remember because he cares.

Matt (01:00:22):

Stephanie, Stephanie. Oh, she loves Stephanie. So Steph. She used to go with Johnny, Johnny Nagarelli.

Laci (01:00:30):

But there’s got to be more life than making out.

Matt (01:00:33):

Yes. And she just was like, “No, I want someone better.”

Laci (01:00:37):

Right.

Matt (01:00:37):

She wants someone who really excites her. And I don’t know, that’s kind of cool to

Laci (01:00:42):

Just be

Matt (01:00:43):

The plot.

Laci (01:00:43):

She makes no bones about it. She wants a … You’re welcome.

Matt (01:00:49):

Yeah. I was trying to … They say this movie’s a cult classic because this was a bomb. When it came out, it’s often mentioned as one of the worst, not just sequels, but it’s just like a go- to like, “Oh, that’s a bad movie.” But there also seems to be sort of a cult following. And I’m trying to figure out why.

Laci (01:01:10):

Well, because anything so hated gets loved by somebody. And if it’s intentionally bad, but people didn’t see that first, it feels intentionally cheesy and over the top.

Matt (01:01:23):

Yeah, but it’s not trying to be bad. It’s a little campy, but

Laci (01:01:27):

It’s not like it’s- It’s trying to be campy as fuck.

Matt (01:01:29):

Yeah. And it is campy as fuck.

Laci (01:01:30):

Very.

Matt (01:01:31):

But you didn’t like it, right? You were not happy watching this. Well,

Laci (01:01:36):

Because I realized we weren’t going to get to watch an episode of Justified, because it just kept going on and on. It does not need to be a two hour movie. The end goes to- Oh, these movies are so long. And there are super mellow dramatic parts of this movie and then death parts and she literally thinks some … I don’t know. For something that’s supposed to be so camp and so light, it goes too dark.

Matt (01:01:58):

Yeah. When he’s …

Laci (01:02:01):

Let’s start at the front. Okay, sorry. Yeah. That’s my fault.

Matt (01:02:04):

All right. Opening number back to school. I think people point to this is the high point of the movie. This is very impressive choreography. It is. I think that-

Laci (01:02:14):

Yeah. Another example of full coverage, end-to-end choreography that works. They’re not

Matt (01:02:21):

Singing, which is weird. I mean, they only

Laci (01:02:23):

Sing

Matt (01:02:23):

Parts of the song.

Laci (01:02:24):

I wouldn’t have noticed that if you hadn’t pointed it out. The

Matt (01:02:26):

Singing is on the soundtrack and then the dancers will join in a litle bit.

Laci (01:02:30):

Can I say something controversial?

Matt (01:02:31):

Okay.

Laci (01:02:31):

This movie is shimmy heavy.

Matt (01:02:34):

Shimmy.

Laci (01:02:34):

Okay. Just a lot of it. I guess so. I’m shaking my … I’m shimmying. I’m jostling my shoulders or maybe just a lot of up and down shoulder action. Jesus Christ. It was like, oh, Michelle Pfeifer can do this. Everyone will do this and make it look like that’s a fucking dance move.

Matt (01:02:52):

Say it. Which one of these movies is where one of the girls is trying to do the big boobs, grow big boobs, stretch?

Laci (01:02:58):

That’s in the first one. She was doing the, I must, I must increase my bust.That was what you say when you do it. You pump your arms, lift them like you’re praying, but in front of your face and then you push on your hands and it flexes your tit muscle. And

Matt (01:03:16):

It works.

Laci (01:03:17):

And I was told if I did that enough, I’d have boobs. It did not work. No. But you

Matt (01:03:22):

Have big boobs. What happened?

Laci (01:03:23):

Oh, I paid for these.

Matt (01:03:24):

Oh. Hate for these. That’s Brittany Spears Make My Boobies One More Size.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):

Oh.

Matt (01:03:31):

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):

Good.

Matt (01:03:33):

Because if you get a boob job, that makes you a slut. And if you get a nose job, that makes you an idiot or something.

Laci (01:03:41):

I’ve had both.

Matt (01:03:42):

That’s one of the things that happens in this … I mean, okay, so this movie doubles down on the confusing dead end one liners that don’t … Right. This is a reference to something else that was cut out of the movie, I guess. Rhonda, I believe, wants to get a nose job and

Laci (01:03:55):

Then later- And has a prosthetic nose on in the beginning.That was still smaller than mine I might add at that time. I have a note. This is why I didn’t like this movie. No. There is immediate big girl no big girl. Big nose on a girl. Shit comedy. That peak. And her nose again was not as big as the one I had while watching it. So fuck this movie is what I would’ve done there. It’s just so cheap. It’s funny.

Matt (01:04:22):

It had that, which turned you off of this movie, what this movie has that should have turned me off and for some reason didn’t, but I really struggled with this time.

Laci (01:04:29):

Thousands of pieces of gum were chewed a day. They had statistics. 10,000 pieces of gum were giving out amongst … It just is method acting.

Matt (01:04:39):

I fucking hate gum. I think gum is disgusting. I hate thinking about gum. I hate seeing actors chew gum and nothing but gum in this movie and boy. Boy, it was tough.

Laci (01:04:48):

Would you like it replaced with gum?

Matt (01:04:50):

Yes.

Laci (01:04:50):

Just bubbling gum.

Matt (01:04:52):

More cum.

Laci (01:04:53):

I’m just guessing.

Matt (01:04:57):

Ideally, there’d be nothing. They wouldn’t have to be chewing on anything, but then-

Laci (01:05:00):

They had to look like they didn’t care, baby. What’s more casual than someone chewing some cod?

Matt (01:05:07):

Let me ask you this. Cars now being replaced with motorcycles. Do you have any thoughts?

Laci (01:05:15):

Well, of course they open with the fucking pink ladies having a car and then fucking move the goalposts. Yeah. Cars

Matt (01:05:20):

Are bullshit now.

Laci (01:05:20):

Who cares

Matt (01:05:21):

About cars?

Laci (01:05:22):

Now we liked having the car before because you would be trapped in our vehicle and we could take you to make out. But now that you guys have the car, we need to trap you on something else. So get on the back of this motorcycle. Damn it.

Matt (01:05:36):

Yeah. In Greece three, what would the vehicle be? It’d be boats?

Laci (01:05:40):

I mean, a hoverboard. It has to get smaller. It has to continue to bring them closer, although a boat does make them very isolated.

Matt (01:05:47):

I guess they could be skaters in the ’90s.

Laci (01:05:51):

Get

Matt (01:05:51):

Some sweet

Laci (01:05:52):

Garbage. No, because anyone can get a skate. I mean, well, I couldn’t, but that’s not as hard to … You got to be able to work on it. You got to be able to take you to the shop and practice on it. Jet ski? It has to be something that not everybody has.

Matt (01:06:07):

It’s a jet ski. I

Laci (01:06:08):

Think that’s

Matt (01:06:08):

What it would be. It’d be Sea-Doos. So Michael shows up and he’s like, “Oh, I’m new at this school. I’m a blondy old blow kind of. ” And

Laci (01:06:16):

Then- Look at me, Paul’s outfit. I got a cardigan plus another shirt and another shirt and a pocket square and then a perm.

Matt (01:06:22):

And then Frenchie,

Laci (01:06:23):

The

Matt (01:06:24):

Lone pink lady or T-bird from the original movie is sticking around. Even though this is two years later, she’s back to-

Laci (01:06:32):

Three. It’s 61 and we’re in right elf 50. 59 was

Matt (01:06:36):

The

Laci (01:06:36):

Last

Matt (01:06:37):

One.

Laci (01:06:37):

Now- 59, 60, 61. It’s three years.

Matt (01:06:39):

No, the class of- I’m

Laci (01:06:41):

Not good at this. The

Matt (01:06:41):

Class of 59 to the class of 61.

Laci (01:06:44):

Okay.

Matt (01:06:46):

Now this is not text in the film. This is just from the official description. It’s 1961. Very little to indicate that it’s actually the 60s and definitely not the music. But for some reason, Frenchie’s back is now- Getting her chemistry. Now a sixth year, senior in high school because she was a beauty school dropout. Beauty school dropout in the first movie was always the song I skipped. Fast forward through this bullshit. Actually, when I first started watching the movie, I did have this evolution with Greece one of you’d watch a movie musical and you’d just skip the music.

Laci (01:07:25):

No.

Matt (01:07:25):

Oh, I did. Is

Laci (01:07:26):

That okay? I always hopefully devoted and Strain at the drive-in hit it both.

Matt (01:07:31):

Yeah. They suck.

Laci (01:07:34):

No slow songs. Thank you. I don’t need a fucking ballad.

Matt (01:07:37):

But I eventually grew to like, no, the songs, I guess the songs are okay. So Frenchie, she’s still

Laci (01:07:43):

Around. Oh, okay. Hi. Yeah.

Matt (01:07:44):

Frenchie, I think I picked up on this as a kid, but it didn’t occur to me why this would be the case. Literally does not share a scene with any of the other main cast members, but for literally on shot.

Laci (01:07:57):

Which could still have been constructed posts.

Matt (01:08:00):

I don’t know. I couldn’t

Laci (01:08:01):

Find out.

Matt (01:08:03):

Did they decide we need to bring back a legacy cast member after they’d shot the movie and they could get her so they just shoot around it?

Laci (01:08:09):

Well, but they also need someone. She serves as a narrator because they need someone to drive along to guide the new guy into why it is and how he is to get with the pink lady he’s obsessing over. And she’s the one who gives them the pointers. Her and the little kid sister of one of the other pink ladies.

Matt (01:08:29):

Another just totally underdeveloped thing.

Laci (01:08:31):

Right.

Matt (01:08:32):

Yeah. Frenchie, she could be his guardian angel.

Laci (01:08:35):

I said that.

Matt (01:08:36):

Yes. A very astute of you.

Laci (01:08:37):

Because Frenchie literally has a guardian angel in the first one and because she only helps.

Matt (01:08:44):

She’s paying it forward. And she says, Stephanie Zinoni is one of my very closest. They don’t say a word to each other in the movie. The Pink Ages are walking and Frenchie is way, way behind and just watching. But Michael-

Laci (01:08:58):

They never even mention her. They no one even ever asks where she is. There’s never a throwaway line or anything. She only talks about them. So this had to be done afterward.

Matt (01:09:08):

I hope so. Otherwise, it’s just

Laci (01:09:10):

Baffling. Fucking crazy. Yeah.

Matt (01:09:12):

Michael gets a crush on Stephanie just by looking at her and decides this shall be my focus for the next nine months. Tries to wear her down. How about a handbook of tomorrow? The day after that. Stephanie just wants a cool rider. That’s her thing.

Laci (01:09:26):

I found her very harsh. Why doesn’t she want someone to talk to? I mean, she says there’s got to be more to life than making out. Okay, but that guy also has a motorcycle, so was that not enough? It turns out you don’t want to just make out. That made me think you wanted to talk.

Matt (01:09:41):

Yeah,

Laci (01:09:41):

And he’s a

Matt (01:09:41):

Good talker.

Laci (01:09:43):

Maybe have some stuff in common that wasn’t just fucking. No. See,

Matt (01:09:49):

I think her sole motivation is I want to be turned on by a guy.

Laci (01:09:54):

All right.

Matt (01:09:55):

And she’s just not by anybody.That’s kind of a cool-

Laci (01:09:59):

That’s fine.

Matt (01:09:59):

Yeah. And so he’s like, “Well, I’ll change myself and make myself be attractive to her.”

Laci (01:10:04):

By becoming a ballet stunt driver of a motorcycle. He does the most kicky things with this. Just kick.

Matt (01:10:12):

There’s the other very campy part is when the rival biker gang is looking like Mad Max and-

Laci (01:10:17):

And all they have bikes too. How they know to get bikes? These are some affluent teens. Yeah. Two years ago they had cars, really nice ones.

Matt (01:10:26):

They go to the bowling alley and sing a song about bowling. They love to bowl and they love to score. They’re going to score tonight.

Laci (01:10:34):

Right.

Matt (01:10:35):

They

Laci (01:10:36):

Gathered.

Matt (01:10:37):

You kind of have to really read between the lines.

Laci (01:10:41):

Do you?

Matt (01:10:42):

But score here is kind of a double meaning.

Laci (01:10:47):

They’re

Matt (01:10:48):

Going to attempt to knock down pins,

Laci (01:10:50):

Accumulate

Matt (01:10:51):

Points and also go bowling with their three fingers with

Laci (01:10:55):

Their partners. Of the butt holes of their beloved.

Matt (01:10:58):

Exactly. Glad you picked up on this as well. I did. Now

Laci (01:11:01):

Pamela Abon- I picked up that strike.

Matt (01:11:04):

Pamela Adlo plays The Little Pink Lady. Very, very interesting to see her.

Laci (01:11:09):

And a spunky role. So it’s just still true to who she turns out to be. Just to

Matt (01:11:13):

Be a litle Bobby Hill tagging along and then Michael escorts her home and then their next scene together. He’s easy like, “Sorry, I’m going to have to break up with you, my little lady.”

Laci (01:11:24):

Okay. Stop doing his impression.

Matt (01:11:26):

And she’s like, “That’s okay. I found the new guy.”

Laci (01:11:28):

Which is the most off-putting part of the entire movie when she starts making out that senior, that T-bird, because she’s clearly, I hope she’s at least in that school.

Matt (01:11:38):

I think she’s a freshman. She’s 15.

Laci (01:11:41):

Great.

Matt (01:11:42):

It was a different time. We didn’t know.

Laci (01:11:45):

Okay.

Matt (01:11:46):

Although wait. No, nevermind.

Laci (01:11:51):

Okay.

Matt (01:11:52):

Yeah, no, bad. Don’t do that. What else? That’s the whole movie, right?

Laci (01:12:00):

Okay. Am I the only one completely jarred by the first time we hear … Well, okay. So Johnny’s no longer wanted by

Matt (01:12:13):

Stephanie.

Laci (01:12:13):

Stephanie. So Johnny has to go to the second Pink Lady in command, which is the one that’s got a- Paulette? Paulette. Who’s got a Marilyn Monroe thing going, only in the worst way. Hi, John. Yes. So the first … I mean, she’s completely not appealing until she gets her shit together, which I know is kind of the point, but she has her first singing line and it’s like the most fucking diner haggard voice.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):

Janita.

Laci (01:12:41):

Hey,

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):

Jonah. Jonathan.

Laci (01:12:44):

She ends up having a really good voice and you hear it later, but it’s just like, whoa, Paulette in your shiny fucking pants. And I

Matt (01:12:51):

Was trying to like-

Laci (01:12:53):

She seems like Peggy Bundy. I was like, okay, why would you want to fuck this? You got this cool chick, Stephanie, and then you got Peggy Bundy as your second.

Matt (01:13:02):

Well, he doesn’t want Paul. He doesn’t

Laci (01:13:04):

Want to set it. He has to settle.

Matt (01:13:05):

But I’ve tried to track this. Let’s try to diagram the way this progresses. Stephanie breaks up with Johnny. Johnny is like, “Hey, Stephanie, us buffungul.” But Paulette is now his girlfriend, I

Laci (01:13:17):

Guess. Not yet, no. He just says, “Hey, Paulette, we’re going bowling. Wear something special.” And that was meant for Stephanie to hear more than Paulette. Okay. But it did get Paulette’s hopes up. And so that’s why they’re very flirty.

Matt (01:13:31):

But in the bowling song number, they do seem like they’re an item.

Laci (01:13:35):

They do, but they’re also just courting. So they’re being flirty and we should totally fuck, right? And they do fuck. I mean, you could tell they do, because why else would she get so upset? I mean, I don’t know. I’d get upset too, but yeah, he’s- You know what? It makes a little more

Matt (01:13:48):

Sense.

Laci (01:13:49):

Yeah. He’s just trying to make Stephanie jealous almost the entire time until Paulette tells him off.

Matt (01:13:56):

At which point he’s like, “Hey, I like you. ” Because he’s watching her sing on stage and he’s like, looks so …

Laci (01:14:03):

I like her.

Matt (01:14:03):

Because

Laci (01:14:04):

He was never really paying attention to her at all. She was always just a prop to make Stephanie jealous. And then once he saw her have a personality, then he looked at her for the first time

Matt (01:14:16):

All of these things in both of these movies, very underdeveloped. You have to watch them a million times to pick up on.

Laci (01:14:22):

Or you just have to be me.

Matt (01:14:24):

And very astute at watching. Well, Michael, he hooks up a scheme. I’m going to save up money by doing homework for other people.

Laci (01:14:33):

What a schemer.

Matt (01:14:34):

Yeah.

Laci (01:14:34):

Which I get a job. I definitely

Matt (01:14:35):

Did in high school.

Laci (01:14:36):

That’s fucking weird.

Matt (01:14:37):

He does homework for the T-birds and is able to save up enough money to get a cheap motorcycle that then he teaches himself how to make it into a good motorcycle.

Laci (01:14:46):

Not just that. He learns … Yeah. Okay. My hair is crazy. Okay. He learns how to be a mechanic and then a stunt driver.

Matt (01:14:54):

Yeah.

Laci (01:14:55):

What the fuck?

Matt (01:14:56):

Yeah. And so he appears on the scene.You would never be able to tell who he is because he has goggles

Laci (01:15:04):

On. Goggles.

Matt (01:15:04):

Who is that guy? Who’s that guy they ask?

Laci (01:15:06):

Can you tell who Batman is? No.

Matt (01:15:08):

No, that’s true.

Laci (01:15:09):

Because he’s all chin. It’s

Matt (01:15:10):

Kind of like Batman.

Laci (01:15:11):

Yeah, just chin.

Matt (01:15:13):

Who’s that guy that really excites Stephanie later? He’s

Laci (01:15:15):

That

Matt (01:15:16):

Guy. Later, Stephanie and Michael have another encounter where they ride together. She still can’t tell who he is, but she hugs him a lot. A

Laci (01:15:23):

Lot.

Matt (01:15:23):

And this is the extent of their interaction and she’s now in love.

Laci (01:15:28):

Well, hours go by. We don’t know what they talk about. It’s not the point.

Matt (01:15:32):

Michael has this really weird, I mean, utterly baffling song at school that was mostly sung in his head where he’s like, “Why can’t I be Joshua?” Fucking

Laci (01:15:44):

Forgot that.

Matt (01:15:47):

Oh,

Laci (01:15:48):

Yes.

Matt (01:15:48):

And he’s just watching everybody go by and he’s like, “I don’t fit in in the motorcycle world. I don’t fit in in the high school world where he is the real me. ” And at one point he’s in his bomb shelter because he has a bomb shelter. I think there’s kind of a Timothy McVay thing going on that we don’t see, but he’s down there, he’s stacking up like fertilizer and stuff, but you see him just drawing hearts on a piece of paper and then just singing, “Well, I can’t be there.” And this happens like an hour and 45 minutes in and when it starts you’re like, “Oh my fucking God, no.” It’s that kind of song.

Laci (01:16:25):

It is abrupt.

Matt (01:16:27):

I call it a cheer up Charlie from

Laci (01:16:30):

Really walking

Matt (01:16:30):

The job.

Laci (01:16:31):

Nobody wants it. A song

Matt (01:16:32):

You don’t

Laci (01:16:32):

Remember is in there. Nobody wants it. Totally

Matt (01:16:34):

Grinds the movie to a halt.

Laci (01:16:36):

It just feels like a contractually obligated stick it in there. If Olivia Newton John got this, then I’m going to need my hopelessly devoted, super imposed me on top of other things.

Matt (01:16:52):

I guess the subplot to the movie is both the T-birds and the Pink Ladies. These are bad kids, right? These are from the wrong side of town, rough around the edges. They want to compete in the talent show and they want to win 100 long

Laci (01:17:04):

Playing

Matt (01:17:04):

Albums. All

Laci (01:17:06):

The boys are on the fucking football team this time. And just two years earlier, John Gervalta couldn’t figure out how to not step in a helmet or that was the other guy that stepped in the helmet, whatever. His movie knuckle was so distracting.

Matt (01:17:19):

Yeah. You just see them at football practice. That’s never brought up again,

Laci (01:17:22):

Just

Matt (01:17:23):

For a gag. Just knock over

Laci (01:17:24):

Coach

Matt (01:17:24):

Calhoun.

Laci (01:17:25):

But how weird would it be that if all the Pink Ladies just were also cheerleaders now?

Matt (01:17:29):

Yeah.

Laci (01:17:29):

That would be fucking bizarre. It

Matt (01:17:31):

Sucks. It’s dumb. They both really want this. And so the Pink Ladies produced the most elaborate, expensive, hundreds of backup dancers. I mean, not really.

Laci (01:17:44):

Right. No, but yeah.

Matt (01:17:45):

Elaborate number.

Laci (01:17:47):

So many costumes.

Matt (01:17:49):

About being a girl for all seasons. Each of them takes a turn being a girl in a season and then the T-birds have their own number and then they have the big talent show and suddenly the rules are changed and one performer from each group is declared the co-winner.

Laci (01:18:04):

No, the king of the talent show and the queen of the talent show who are also the king and queen of the luau. What fucking luau?

Matt (01:18:12):

The luau.

Laci (01:18:14):

Sorry, that just goes right there.

Matt (01:18:15):

The Lou Alan. Yeah. Never mentioned in this

Laci (01:18:17):

Movie until

Matt (01:18:17):

It’s time. No, this had to be like, where are we going to fucking set the closing number? I don’t know a luo. Well,

Laci (01:18:24):

And also how do we make Steph and Johnny have to be together for a thing or why do they need to be together in that luau scene for it to work? Why do they need to be floating in a fucking pool together?

Matt (01:18:38):

And unable to

Laci (01:18:39):

Leave the pool. Eat that three foot pool.

Matt (01:18:41):

Yeah.

Laci (01:18:42):

You’re in a fucking bathing suit. Get out.

Matt (01:18:44):

So they each get 50 albums.

Laci (01:18:47):

Okay. That’s just a weird reward. Why do they want these albums so

Matt (01:18:49):

Bad?

Laci (01:18:51):

And why can’t they pronounce albums? Why is it a joke that they all want albumins? Albumins, because they’re pronouncing the In an album. That’s the joke.

Matt (01:18:59):

They’re pronouncing the what?

Laci (01:19:01):

Isn’t there an in? No. An album? Then why were they saying it like that? That’s so weird.

Matt (01:19:07):

It’s charming. It’s funny. These guys, I don’t fucking know. I

Laci (01:19:11):

Thought there was an end because of that. So many spelling tests.

Matt (01:19:15):

Oh, Michael dies because he does a giant leap over a canyon because he’s being chased or something.

Laci (01:19:22):

By Johnny.

Matt (01:19:23):

All right.

Laci (01:19:25):

Yes, papa.

Matt (01:19:26):

Yeah.

Laci (01:19:26):

By Johnny. Eating sugar?

Matt (01:19:27):

Yes.

Laci (01:19:28):

Laci. No. Papa. Okay.

Matt (01:19:31):

They leave him for dead and then Stephanie-

Laci (01:19:35):

But they have to get back to the talent show. A

Matt (01:19:36):

Boyfriend just died or the guy that she spent an hour on a motorcycle

Laci (01:19:39):

With died. It’s unclear. They do look and see if there’s an obvious body down there. Nobody sees anything. So they all convince themselves enough to go to the talent show that he made the jump.

Matt (01:19:53):

And when it’s time for her to do her big … She’s the girl of Winter and she can’t get into it and just spontaneously burst into a different musical song number. A duet

Laci (01:20:05):

With the

Matt (01:20:05):

Ghost of Michael.

Laci (01:20:08):

Selfish.

Matt (01:20:09):

Well, here’s my question.

Laci (01:20:10):

Have your breakdown off the stage. Your friend’s been working on this number for months.

Matt (01:20:14):

Yes.

Laci (01:20:14):

It’s fucked up. And then you get crowned? I don’t think so.

Matt (01:20:18):

We could try to break down the metaphysics of what’s happening here because in musicals you have numbers that are performed where you could provide an in- world explanation for how the music is being produced, i.e. They’re on stage performing and then there’s songs that they just burst into spontaneous.

Laci (01:20:36):

Right.

Matt (01:20:37):

But this turns from one into the other. And so my question is, does the audience see just her singing her parts and then don’t hear the rest of it? But they’re impressed enough to award her the queen of the luau. Yes.

Laci (01:20:52):

Yes. I

Matt (01:20:53):

Think I thought this was more interesting than you did.

Laci (01:20:55):

Yes.

Matt (01:20:56):

Well-

Laci (01:20:56):

Well, because I don’t think the movie cares. If there were something we could actually talk through and figure out why they did it or if they really thought it was plausible and is there a way … I don’t think they thought about it.

Matt (01:21:08):

I know they didn’t think about it.

Laci (01:21:09):

It’s

Matt (01:21:09):

Interesting to think about though.

Laci (01:21:11):

Okay. No, we disagree. I

Matt (01:21:12):

Didn’t go with the Sandy. I just went with it.

Laci (01:21:14):

We disagree here.

Matt (01:21:15):

Well, now it’s time for the Louo and there’s Big Elaborate Lou.

Laci (01:21:18):

A lot bamboo. Everytime you say Lou Wow, I want to do it. No, because what- I know

Matt (01:21:22):

About bamboo. Can I ask you something?

Laci (01:21:25):

Yes.

Matt (01:21:25):

About the first movie when Sandy, when she transforms into a slut.

Laci (01:21:34):

Sandy is trans? That is a-

Matt (01:21:37):

Former.

Laci (01:21:38):

…

Matt (01:21:39):

Into a bad girl. And

Laci (01:21:40):

I’m

Matt (01:21:40):

Saying slut because again, the producer of the movie kept saying she turns into a slut.

Laci (01:21:44):

All right.

Matt (01:21:46):

Only has one line of dialogue after becoming a slut. Tell me about it stud, doesn’t speak another word. She sings, but doesn’t speak another word the rest of the movie. Now all is well.

(01:21:55):

Somebody says, “What if we never see each other again?” And then Danny says, “That’ll never happen.” And then Sunny says, “How do you know? ” And he goes, “What do you mean? How do I know? ” And pushes them down onto a carnival hammer game, which causes them to win the game. My whole life, I’ve wondered, what the hell do they say right there? Because he goes like, “Oh,” and then the other people go, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I tried so hard. I played the DVD, the streaming version and the blu-ray version and turned on subtitles. The most I got was parentheses singing. I looked up the script. Can’t find any words to this. What the hell- I don’t

Laci (01:22:34):

Understand what you don’t hear. What part are you saying is this thing? What do

Matt (01:22:38):

They say? Danny declares a whopper.

Laci (01:22:43):

No, a whoppapalube. A whop bamboo. That’s the song.

Matt (01:22:48):

Why does he say that in response to winning the carnival game?

Laci (01:22:52):

I can’t believe he thought it was words.

Matt (01:22:55):

No, I now know it must be, yes. This is a nonsense word song. And so he says that. But as a kid, I was

Laci (01:23:01):

Like- Because it’s supposed to be a prompt. One that they understand, one that is a reference they get, one that is like a do- op trope thing that they would have a call and response thing that would have … The same as I say, “Hey, you say .” It just would have been understood to them. It always made sense to me.

Matt (01:23:23):

Spurred on by the ding?

Laci (01:23:26):

Well, no. He just wanted to answer with a song instead of with emotions.

Matt (01:23:32):

What do you mean how do I know? Push bing a wapa blama.

Laci (01:23:38):

A wap bamboo. Why do these things follow? Because we will always be together because we-

Matt (01:23:46):

You won

Laci (01:23:46):

The game? No. That has nothing to do with it. It’s because I’m going to say this nonsense word. You’re going to know exactly what to say back to me and then we’re going to have a whole choreographed dance that we love to do together. That’s why we have this in common. We are Greasers.

Matt (01:24:01):

I get it. How are those things linked? Why does pushing him onto the carnival game trigger this?

Laci (01:24:09):

It doesn’t need to.

Matt (01:24:11):

Do you understand why I was confused as a kid?

Laci (01:24:13):

Yes.

Matt (01:24:14):

And I couldn’t find an answer now.

Laci (01:24:17):

Because it’s not one that needs an answer. If

Matt (01:24:19):

You look up the official lyrics to this song, it does not start with them saying that. It starts with we go together.

Laci (01:24:25):

Okay.

Matt (01:24:27):

But if this is the first declaration of the song …

Laci (01:24:31):

Stop doing that.

Matt (01:24:33):

Let’s pull it up.

Laci (01:24:34):

A whoppapaube. A wap bamboo or a wap lapa booba. The more you say it, the less it means. What a stupid thing to get hung up on. We’re going to get

Matt (01:24:50):

There.

Laci (01:24:50):

But the game made his butt ding and then they sing it. I don’t understand. There’s just as many awkward starts to songs in many other places as well.

Matt (01:25:00):

Oh, she’s like, “Guys, good, good news. Rizzo and Kaniki made up.” And they’re all like, “Yay. They hate each other. They don’t give a shit.”

Laci (01:25:10):

Okay, cut.

Matt (01:25:11):

They’re so happy to hear this news.

Laci (01:25:17):

Oh, I mean they sound decently happy. Well, what are we going to do after

Matt (01:25:21):

Graduation? Yeah, maybe we’ll never see each other

Speaker 3 (01:25:25):

Again. No, that’ll never happen. How do you know? What do you mean how do I know? Pushes

Matt (01:25:29):

Him down.

Laci (01:25:32):

You hit

Matt (01:25:33):

The thing real hard. Now we won the game. That is in

Laci (01:25:40):

Response

Matt (01:25:41):

To what he did.

Laci (01:25:42):

I got you. Okay, but him pushing does not need to be explained here because the entire movie, the way he interacts with those guys is by hitting and pushing them. Then does that

Matt (01:25:53):

Also start

Laci (01:25:53):

A song? It doesn’t need to. It’s just part of their thing, man. And also the Kaniki and it is … Stop. It is made abundantly clear that neither … Can I fucking say what I’m saying? That Kaniki and John Travolta, who are the leads of this group, try to express some emotion to each other by him asking if he’ll be his second in the fucking big drag race and that’s a weird fricking scene. But what they’re showing you- That’s so weird. But what they’re showing you is how emotionally stunted it is or they are because of the macho thing that they have to be putting on. They can’t actually have feelings or actually even say that they’re best friends. Even that’s too much emotion. So then they just devolves into them hitting each other and slapping each other or whatever because one of them wears asked to be the second … That is as much emotion as they show.

(01:26:48):

So this touches on … They’re about to talk about something that’s kind of emotional like, “I’m going to miss you. ” Well, they’re not going to fucking turn to each other and go, “I’m going to miss you. ” They don’t do that. So he pushes them.

Matt (01:27:01):

He feels so strongly about his love for Sonny that he hears. He hears representation. No, this actually, I think I’m getting it.

Laci (01:27:10):

Great.

Matt (01:27:12):

I love you so much, but I’m such a tough guy. I can never say it. So I push you. I pushed you so hard that I won the game. Now it’s time to sing.

Laci (01:27:19):

Here’s where it does not matter. Yes, I know, but the game part does not matter. The pushing- Look at them. Look at them. It’s just comic.

Matt (01:27:29):

Yes, I did

Laci (01:27:30):

It. Yeah, but it doesn’t have anything to do. Oh my God. He’s just excited that it’s funny. Okay. One triggers two, triggers three. I’m saying one and three have nothing to do with each other, but one, two, to three do.

Matt (01:27:52):

No, you convinced me. It

Laci (01:27:53):

Makes sense now. Fantastic. Jesus Christ.

Matt (01:27:56):

So this has been load bearing beams

Laci (01:27:57):

About

Matt (01:27:57):

Greece and Grease 2. We were supposed to talk mainly about Grace two. I think we talked way more about Greece one, but that’s okay.

Laci (01:28:03):

There are whole moments we did not speak of Grace two. Well,

Matt (01:28:06):

We’re not an exhaustive

Laci (01:28:08):

Recapitulation

Matt (01:28:09):

Podcast, but we do what we can. We’ll always be together like Rama Lama Dingdong. Hey, everybody. Thanks so much for listening.

Laci (01:28:20):

Thank you.

Matt (01:28:21):

Yes.

Laci (01:28:21):

Just really.

Matt (01:28:23):

That’s all for us.

Laci (01:28:24):

Okay. Love you, goodbye.