Everything you need to know about Grease, the cult comedy with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta

W9 will rebroadcast Brillantine this Monday evening.

In 2015, we celebrated the 40 years of the blockbuster. On this occasion, First published an article devoted to one major film event each year throughout the summer since 1975. For 1978, it was the musical comedy Greaseto be seen again tonight on television, which had been chosen. And it’s true that there are things to tell about this cult film carried by Olivia Newton-John And John Travolta.

John Travolta mourns Olivia Newton-John: Grease actress dies

In late 1978, the soundtrack of Grease is the second biggest hit of the year in the USA, behind the soundtrack of Saturday night fever. You don’t need to be Sherlock to spot the common point between the two films: John Travolta. If Saturday Night Fever has a slightly dirty realism that makes it the not-so-distant disco-slicked-back cousin of Rocky (incidentally, a poster of the film appears in Feverwho was almost shot by John Avildsen), Grease is a harmless product, pure sugar, made to capitalize on the enormous success of the eponymous musical and which will strongly sweeten the original material.

Let’s go back a little. 1971: Greaseromance in the fantasized 50s between a slicked-back black jacket (grease) and an innocent young girl, was created in Chicago on the boards of the Kingston Mines blues club. Its success caught the eye of New York producers who decided to try the musical off-Broadway. A hit. As a result, in 1972, Grease is at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York with Barry Bostwick (future Brad Majors -asshole!- of the Rocky Horror Picture Show) in the role of the hero, Danny. Who will be played by Richard Gere When Grease will travel to London’s West End in 1973. It is the beginning of one of the longest runs in Broadway history. A film adaptation then seems inevitable. An animated version is first considered, produced by Steve Krantz (accomplice of Ralph Bakshi on Fritz the Cat And Heavy Traffic). An idea quickly thrown in the trash, but which will survive through the animated credits of the film.

In 1976, a certain John Travoltawho had been part of the tour Grease outside New York, had just had some success with his song “Let Her In”. Just after the filming of Saturday night feverhe is hired to play the role of Danny in place ofHenry Winkler (Fonzie of Happy Days), first choice too obvious. Travolta asks to be hired Randal Kleiserwho directed him in 1976 in the TV film The Boy in the Plastic Bubbleto hold the camera. After a screen test convincing with Travolta, the very smooth Olivia Newton-John was hired to play the role of Sandy. An Australian of English origin, Olivia had represented the United Kingdom during the 1974 Eurovision (the one where Abba performed Waterloo) and had a string of hits in the USA with her country albums. She was successful enough to release a Greatest Hits in 1977 which went crazy in the charts. But on the acting side, it was a desert: her musical comedy Toomorowfilmed in England, only ran for one week following an open conflict between the producer and the director.

For Grease – the film, producer and co-writer Allen Carr (who produced the Who musical Tommy and made the promotional campaign of Saturday night fever) decides to dispense with the services of the original musical’s writers and removes at least four musical numbers. Danny’s band changes its name: they go from the Burger Palace Boys to the T-Birds. Sandy becomes Australian like Olivia, so that she does not have to change her accent. The lyrics of the songs also have to be rewritten accordingly. In the original musical, we speak of “plastic wrap” (“plastic wrap”) to evoke condoms: an allusion cut in the film. For fun, we consider giving the porn actor Harry Reems (one of the penises of Deep Throata phenomenal success in theaters in 1974) the role of the sports coach, but Paramount was afraid that this would impact the film’s revenues and it was the more reassuring Sid Caesar who was chosen. Later, the co-writer of the Grease original Jim Jacobs will sign a “school version” intended to be played by younger children and which eliminates any reference to alcohol, tobacco and the pregnancy of Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies.

In short, the film was very smoothed out and became a pure studio product, well made but without real passion. This did not prevent the film from being a hit beyond all of Paramount’s expectations. Released in June, a month after the success of the rock’n’roll biopic 50’s (well well) The Buddy Holly Story with Gary Buseyhe will however only be second for his start weekend, narrowly beaten by Jaws 2. But it was first at the box office from June to October, before being dethroned by These boys who came from Brazil of Franklin J. Schaffner. And the result was clear. The soundtrack spawned a slew of singles with astonishing success (including the ballad Hopeless Devoted to You), so much so that Olivia Newton-John sued Paramount in 2006 for unpaid music royalties. And with $159.9 million, Grease is the biggest hit of 1978, ahead of the first Superman (134 million) released in December. Travolta, nominated for an Oscar in 78 for Saturday night feverhad definitely become a superstar! More than forty years later, we still go to any party Staying Alive with You’re The One That I Want.