The MoFo Musical Countdown - Group Watch

I've seen Grease 2 a couple of times, and as I recall, I wasn't really a fan of the movie, but it's been a while since I've seen it, so I'll give it another chance.

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Grease is one of a handful of more modern musicals that have a chance to make my list, but I'll try to watch Grease 2 without comparing the two movies.

The 46 year old film set in the 50's?

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Most of the movies on my potential list were in the theaters before I was born, but I actually saw Grease in the movie theater in the 1970s, so yes, in my world, that makes it a "more modern" movie.

I tried to watch Grease 2 without comparing it to the first movie, but it's hard because the whole movie feels like they tried to copy the first movie, but failed miserably.

The first movie worked because Danny and Sandy were two different types of people who met over the summer, spent the whole summer together, and fell in love, but their relationship changed when they got to school and Danny changed back into his school (T-Birds) persona. It made sense for them to try to change for each other to get back together because she already knew what he was like without his T-Bird friends, and that was the person that she fell in love with over the summer.

But this movie is about two people who barely even met, and he changes into something he's not just to make her fall in love with him. And she falls in love with him because he rides a motorcycle. It could have been any idiot wearing that outfit and riding that motorcycle, and she would have fallen for him.

Some of the songs have catchy tunes, but in some cases, the sexual overtones in the songs are offensive. The songs about ways of getting women into bed, how babies are made, etc., ("Score Tonight", "Do It For Your Country", "Prowlin'"), are terrible songs. And most of the actors aren't good singers either, which didn't help.

Plus, a lot of the scenes don't make sense. For example, when Michael buys his first motorcycle, all of a sudden he's able to do stunt riding and make the experienced riders dump their bikes? That makes no sense. It would take months or maybe even years of practice for him to become the rider that they make him into.

Principal McGee (Eve Arden) doesn't know the name of the T-Birds??? (She keeps calling them the "T-Bones".) She was working at the same school in the first movie. How could she not know their name???

How could Johnny still be named the King of the talent show after everyone finds out what happened to the preppie singers??? The singers must have been found at some point and told people who did that to them. The T-Birds cheated, and they got rewarded for it???

I'm sorry. I hate to pile on like this, but there's just too much wrong with this movie for it to work for me. They took all the good things about the first movie and twisted them until they took all of the fun out of the movie.

I understand and I know your taste in this genre fairly well, so I wasn't surprised. It just sounded like a contradiction to me, (plus it was an opportunity to make a funny and you know I'll almost never turn that down) especially as I'm usually hearing how people do/don't like old movies and then they're talking about The Matrix or something like that and they're in their late 20's/early 30's.

I think I saw Grease 2 once when I was about 10 or 11, I have no memory of it other than acknowledging I saw it and that I didn't like it. However, are the songs really that offensive? I suppose what I'm asking is are they more offensive than the songs in Grease, which also has some questionable lyrics and some scenes which have not aged a Well-a, well-a, well-a, huh?

Is Grease forgiven because it simply is the better and more loved film with songs that people simply sing along to (and often have since childhood) without paying any attention to what they're saying?

100% Was this a code needing to be cracked?

I don’t remember any of the songs from Grease2, but also didn’t see it 100 times in my youth. I do think the main theme from Grease is a genuinely good song. I can definitely see where you’re coming from with the rest of the soundtrack though.

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It's probably been 25 years since I saw it so I have no real memory of Grease - besides hating it - but now I'm kind of curious about how bad it is.

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I don't see anything wrong with any of the songs from both Grease and Grease 2. The songs hit upon the frustrations of horny teenage boys who want desperately to get laid, but can't. I mean that's life! And was especially true in the late 1950s. The songs are song tongue in cheek, and the naughtier songs from the emotional perspective of the teenage boys.

IMO, the songs in Grease 2 are more offensive than the songs in Grease. While the songs in Grease have some offensive lyrics in the songs, that's not what the songs are about. The songs in Grease 2 are more than just a few offensive lines in the song. In some cases, the entire song is offensive throughout the song.

For example, from the song "Prowlin'":

We're goin' prowlin', we're goin' prowlin' tonight!
I see you're hungry for a lover,
Gotta find a chick who'll give you more.
Well, there's a spot that I've discovered
Where a guy's guaranteed to score.

There's a female butcher, at the luncheon meat display
Got the best tongue in town, she delivers both night and day!
See the apple of your eye, stackin' peaches in a five foot pile
Just waitin' some guy to come, and take her rollin' down the aisle!


And the whole idea behind "Do It for Our Country" is offensive.

Yeah, let's do it for our country, the red, white, and the blue.
It's Uncle Sam who's asking, so your mother will approve.
Tomorrow I'll be fighting, and I'll win this war for you.
Let's do it for our country, our country wants us to.

(Especially the spoken part of the song):
Just think about it --
it would be like as if we were doing it for the Statue of Liberty, or the Grand Canyon, or the New York Yankees...
it would be like as if we were doing it for... Disneyland!


(NOTE: Keep in mind that I've had a rough couple of years, and I think my whole attitude on life in general has changed recently, and it might be affecting the way I see things nowadays. )

I've seen Grease many times, and there are some lyrics in a couple of the songs that could be considered offensive, but as a whole, I don't think that any of the songs are offensive.

The closest is probably some of the lines in the song "Summer Nights", but those lyrics are about things that already happened, not about Danny trying to get Sandy into bed, (and we don't actually know if anything happened between them, or if Danny is exaggerating the relationship to look good for his friends).

I just rewatched Grease and the guys sure were getting into singing about how the girls were gonna cream themselves over that "pussy wagon" they were working on in auto shop.

There was also that lovely scene in the drive in where Danny keeps trying to get Sandy to put out until she screams at him to get off of her.

The original felt just as problematic as the sequel to me and I really hated both Danny and Sandy.

Most of the song is about fixing up the car so he can race it at Thunder Road, but yes, there are some offensive lyrics in that song.


Yeah, Danny's pretty much a dick in that scene, but at least Sandy is smarty enough to walk out on him, (and slam the door on him on the way out).

I get what you guys are saying. I don’t get offended very often, so offensive isn’t the word I would have used. I just think the whole vibe of the TBirds is predatory in a way that would not play them up as the good guys if made today. I also think in the 70’s Sandy’s turn probably felt like cultural subversion. I think today it comes off as another woman conforming to a man.

None of this is a deal breaker for me. I loved the movie growing up, and I will be voting for it. I just find these conversations around art and how it progresses or regresses interesting.

I have a question for everyone. If someone were to nominate a musical with religious themes/messages, would that offend anyone or would you be okay with that?

I am always down for that. Good movies with those themes are hard to come by, so if you decide not to go that route definitely PM me with what movie you are thinking.

I wouldn't be offended. I'll probably hate it, but not from being offended by it.

If it's a good musical, it's a good musical It can't get anymore hate than Grease 2 did. Go for it!

The next host is @Miss Vicky

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