GREASE 2 1982
38%
Directed by Patricia Birch
Written by Ken Finkleman
Starring Maxwell Caulfield, Michelle Pfeiffer, Lorna Luft, Maureen Teefy
Synopsis
A new class at Rydell High sings and dances through a crazy senior year as British transplant Michael hides his identity to win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie.
Why We Love It
Call it what you will—unnecessary, cynical—Grease 2 is a campy gem that defies its reputation as a poor replay of the first movie.
Set three years after that film, Grease 2 opens in much the same way that Grease did: with Principal McGee (Eve Arden) and secretary Blanche (Dody Goodman) anticipating a memorable school year. They are immediately ambushed by “Back to School Again,” a big production number that introduces all of the new characters, reintroduces beauty school dropout Frenchy (Didi Conn) and acts as the opening credit sequence. It lacks the understated charm of the first film’s animated credits—set to Frankie Valli’s performance of “Grease Is the Word”—but it reflects the energy the sequel brings to the table and the valiant effort it is about to make to match its predecessor.
It also indicates the film’s biggest problem for critics at the time: it feels like something’s missing.
Losing the first film’s stars (John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, who both declined the invitation to return), Grease 2 attempts to save itself by inverting the roles. Maxwell Caulfield’s Michael is essentially Sandy, while Michelle Pfeiffer’s Stephanie is a Pink Lady version of Danny. But even if that inversion seems cheap, the characters distinguish themselves in interesting ways. When we meet Stephanie, she is fed up with the Pink Lady/T-Bird dynamic and dumps T-Bird leader Nogerelli (Adrian Zmed) to spend her senior year single. We also learn she has aspirations greater than being a biker’s girl when Michael begins tutoring her in school subjects. The polished Michael, meanwhile, adopts a de facto superhero identity to convince Stephanie that she should go out with him.
The ideas may be as light as air, but Caulfield, Pfeiffer, director Patricia Birch (choreographer of the first film), and the rest of the cast commit to the concept in a way that suggests far less cynicism on their part than the studio’s when it rushed the sequel into production. The cast and crew’s dedication leads to one dynamite song, “Cool Rider”—just try to get it out of your head—and at least two other great musical sequences.
Shameless cash grab? Sure. But sometimes you just wanna dance.