I used to hate Rizzo from Grease

I know what you mean. I used to hate Hitler, but now I realize he wasn’t such a bad guy.

All I knew as a kid was that Kenickie made me feel funny down there.

I always felt bad for Lorenzo Lamas' lunkhead jock character. Danny and Sandy laugh and make fun of him but he never did anything wrong. Plus he's the one I wanted inside of me quite deeply

Olivia was always gorgeous. She was especially stunning in Summer Nights. Sorry Riz.

You didn't hate Rizzo, you just knew unconsciously that Stockard Channing was too old for the part.

They were originally going to get Constance Collier for the role, but she was coaching Kate Hepburn in something - so they thought, “Well, that Stockard dame looks about the same…”

Rizzo was my favorite character from the first time I saw it as a baby gay in the 70s. Sandy and Danny were cute, but Rizzo was who I was interested in. I think my little gay body levitated the first time I saw “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”..

Same, R7. I always saw myself as more Rizzo than anyone else in the movie.

I remember thinking Sandy was a boring good-girl, and that the Pink Ladies were more fun. But also thinking "Rizzo must have had to repeat a lot of grades, 'cause that is one OLD looking teenager." I was 11.

[quote]I used to hate Rizzo from Grease

She never liked you either. She still doesn't

I never thought about her age because Stockard gave such a great performance.

I still don’t know how she wasn’t nominated for an Oscar and especially a Globe that year, considering Olivia and John were both nominated.

[quote] Rizzo was my favorite character from the first time I saw it as a baby gay in the 70s. Sandy and Danny were cute, but Rizzo was who I was interested in. I think my little gay body levitated the first time I saw “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”..

I didn't even know what the hell that song was about, until I became a teenager.

"There Are Worse Things I Could Do" doesn't make a lot of sense to a little kid, watching a fun musical.

Come to think of it, that's a pretty risque song for a G-rated movie.

[quote]I always felt bad for Lorenzo Lamas' lunkhead jock character. Danny and Sandy laugh and make fun of him but he never did anything wrong.

The creators of GREASE were losers in high school, which is why the industrious, popular kids (jocks, cheerleaders) are ridiculed and the delinquent slackers (T-Birds, Pink Ladies) are glorified.

Weirdly my favorite characters are the dancers in the finale, the cute guys with the blue and green shirts who ham up their dancing and have really great bodies. I sometimes just watch those scenes for them.

Always wondered what happens to guys like that, dancers on movies -- they don't go on to much except, what? Maybe dancing in other movies till they age out and then become dance teachers?

Actually, thinking about what I just wrote, for the first time actually googled the "guy in the green shirt" and found out he was a renowned dancer and was credited in the NY Times for being someone who "arguably stole the show" from Travolta in that scene. Weird.

The girl who gets knocked up by Leroy in Fame is one of the girl dancers

R15 I know what you mean, they’re so into it, it always makes me get up and dance like a dork

[quote] Weirdly my favorite characters are the dancers in the finale, the cute guys with the blue and green shirts who ham up their dancing and have really great bodies. I sometimes just watch those scenes for them.

Me too!!

I always thought some of those guys were really handsome, and especially noted their amazing bodies in those tight polo shirts.

Article on the "green shirt guy":

[italic]Grease: Daniel Levins, the green shirt dancer

I whipped out this copy of the Grease soundtrack a few days ago to give the evergreen tunes another listen. (More about this long-playing record later in this story.) It was a bit nostalgic filling my ears with the music again and memories brought me back to 1979 when I watched the film on the big screen. True, the film was released in 1978 but it only arrived in Malaysia in 1979, such was the distribution in the distant past. Unlike now, we didn't get to see new releases until weeks or even months later. We were hardly up-to-date in those days.

I can't remember how many times I've watched this show in the past. Maybe five or six, maybe more. But no matter how many times I've watched Grease, I've never failed to be mesmerised by the dance hall and carnival scenes in the show. Certainly felt like a free-for-all where the principal and back-up actors were allowed free reign to fool around.

In my opinion, the carnival scene stood out mainly because of one particular back-up dancer: Daniel Levans, known as the guy in the green shirt. He was amazing and extremely talented, which must have come from his training as a classical ballet dancer. His dance movements in the film conveyed a lot of energy and I agree with some observations that he could have even outshone all of the main cast. Anyone watching Grease again should look out for Levans in this carnival sequence.

As the back-up dancer, he was also the scene-stealer in the dance hall sequence. Who could not have noticed him strutting boldly in front of the camera during the dance contest? There were so many instances of Levans popping up in the background, as if the producer had purposely positioned him there.

By the way, Daniel Levins was his real name; and Levans was what he was known as professionally in Grease and his other films in the 1970s - The Turning Point, The Goodbye Girl and Godspell - but they were all minor roles.[/italic]

I loved Rizzo. Of course Channing was too old, but it worked.

“Coming through. Coming through. Come on. Lady with a baby” is one of my favorite lines from the movie.

Daniel Levins died in 2015 at the age of 61.

I was more of a jan. The best part of the movie was during summer nights when Jan was twirling the guy's hair like a spaghetti with a fork if you haven't caught it go back and watch it you'll never view the song the same again then when she was doing the brush up brush a thing with the squirrel

Sandy really was a goodie two shoes who made you want to barf.

Honestly, quite a few parts of this movie went straight over my head when I first saw it - I was 8.

I really don't want them to ever remake this film - although it will eventually happen. No, I'm not talking about Grease 2. Within my lifetime, somebody's going to want to redo this starring Zendaya and some rapper "updated for today's audiences and using real teenagers".

Sometimes remakes are just fucking disrespectful and unnecessary. I don't care if they're in their 30s and all white - leave the classics alone and write a new script for a change.

R21 thanks for the bummer news on a beautiful Saturday morning. 😞

r21 - Daniel John Patrick Levins, of Irish descent. Irish? He's got the first 3 names for it.

Color me surprised - Levins can be an Irish name or a Jewish name.

She scared me, I thought her smile made her look like a monster. Then again I was a small kid.

She scared me so much I scribbled over her face on my sisters grease LP.

As for you Phil Donahue, I know what you want to do.

I was 9 when Grease came out, and my family went out to see it at a drive-in. Even at that age I found Sandy to be bland and boring, while "bad girl" Rizzo instantly became my favorite. But Rizzo wasn't really the bad girl. That title belonged to Cha Cha DiGregorio.

On the heels of "Grease" and Stockard Channing's newfound fame, ABC rebroadcast "The Girl Most Likely To..." (1973), and I definitely tuned in to watch.

Ah yes, Cha Cha. The best dancer with the worst reputation.

In real life, Cha Cha (actress Annette Charles) went back to school and became a professor at Cal State Northridge.

R28 - you always were a slut Lorna.

I have the original vinyl double record soundtrack autographed by Stockard Channing that she signed at the stage door when she was doing "They're Playing Our Song".

I bet Stocky hates the role of Rizzo.

[quote] In real life, Cha Cha (actress Annette Charles) went back to school and became a professor at Cal State Northridge.

And then she died

[quote]“Coming through. Coming through. Come on. Lady with a baby” is one of my favorite lines from the movie.

That was Marty, who was my favorite character.

I remember thinking as a kid that Rizzo was fat. She isn’t at all but had the body of a a middle aged woman.

The body of a middle aged women? LOL well....I thought she looked good for 60

Rizzo was a bully. And her song “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” was quite disingenuous, if you ask me.

Her Tweet when Olivia died was pitch perfect:

“I don’t know if I’ve known a lovelier human being. Olivia was the essence of summer – her sunniness, her warmth and her grace are what always come to mind when I think of her. I will miss her enormously, ”

Who knew that broad would end up becoming First Lady.

She's a collage of unaccounted for brush strokes. She is all random!

It's funny but think about 1978 when this came out. Just 20 years ago - life and high school was SO different in every single way. 20 years ago today - not so much. It was a warp speed amount of change.

And - Donna Mills was apparently the muse for the Sandy character - according to Donna Mills. She attended the high school in Chicago where this was based on and where the writers also attended.

Poor Val was the inspiration for Frenchie

I didn't notice this little blunder until my 1000th (or so) viewing, and now it's one of my favorite things in "We Go Together". At the "a-womp-bamboo" break, a pair of dancers run into each other, guy falls on his ass, and his partner (the shortest gal on the set) yanks him up & they keep dancing without missing a beat. There's no way that was scripted & I love that they left it in. (at 1:28)

I can’t remember who played Sandy in the original show, but Ilene Graff of Mr. Belvedere fame was one of the replacements. Richard Gere was a replacement Danny or Kenechie. Marilu Henner was a replacement Frenchie or Marty..

Of course Adrienne Barbeau was the original Rizzo and Barry Bostwick the original Keneckie.

That ending was the most fun and satisfying last few minutes in cinema history. The car flying part was weird but whatever.

[quote]As the back-up dancer, he was also the scene-stealer in the dance hall sequence. Who could not have noticed him strutting boldly in front of the camera during the dance contest?

He's also the only character who seems to object to Sonny drunkenly pulling Sandy away from Danny during the Hand Jive.

[quote]R14 Always wondered what happens to guys like that, dancers on movies -- they don't go on to much except, what? Maybe dancing in other movies till they age out and then become dance teachers?

Terri Garr started as a dancer. And the Broadway director Daniel Sullivan is married to one of the dancers from GREASE.

I think most of them do fade away by 30, though.

Carol Demas and Barry Bostwick were the original Sandy and Danny.

The dancer guy in the last scene in the baby blue shorts has an incredible ass!

As a kid I loved Rizzo, I don't think I saw the movie until it was on tv in the early 1980s and I was like seven or eight. It never occurred to me that she was too old for the part until much later, as anybody over fourteen for me was 'old' and I just assumed that if the movie said she was 18 she must be 18. I thought Rizzo was so cool and I loved "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee." I still think Channing did a good job, though I've grown to love Dinah Manoff (the only one of the Pink Ladies who was actually age appropriate for her character) as Marty.

Rizzo was one of those characters that made me uncomfortable. I didn’t dislike her but I almost feared her. Some of the characters from the show Alice were the sane way for me. I guess it was something with a certain kind of brassy broad lit in a certain way.

To me it seemed the age of the performers was a plus and intentional. It gave the movie more of a feel of adults looking back on their high school years. Remembering them better than they were. I'm not sure I'm explaining it right but you get the picture.

Yes, we see

Green shirt guy had an amazing body.

The audience is meant to gall in love with Sandy; and who wouldn't fall in love with the adorable ONJ....Rizzo is misunderstood but as a result she mocks little miss goody 2 shoes, who we love; thats the road the audience is led down. But as its a movie no one has only ever watched once; we find ourselves looking elsewhere that wasnt the intended narrative. My best friend loved The Baroness more than Maria and Nellie more than Laura Ingles...i suspect many a DL are in this camp...lol..ive actially thought about this b4; that DL folk wud identify with the bad girl lol. Also, on multiple viewings u start prefering dofferent songs; songs u bearly liked...such as Something Good in SOM and Worse things i could do, where u firstly adored Hopelessly Devoted.

Good points

"There Are Worse Things I Could Do" is a song made for Datalounge:

There are worse things I could do

Than go with a boy or two

Even though the neighborhood

Thinks I'm trashy and no good

I suppose it could be true

But there are worse things I could do

I could flirt with all the guys

Smile at them and bat my eyes

Press against them when we dance

Make them think they stand a chance

Then refuse to see it through

That's a thing I'd never do

I could stay home every night

Wait around for Mr. Right

Take cold showers every day

And throw my life away

On a dream that won't come true

I could hurt someone like me

Out of spite or jealousy

I don't steal and I don't lie

But I can feel and I can cry

A fact I'll bet you never knew

But to cry in front of you

That's the worst thing I could do

R58 - the peak on that last verse I don't steal and I DON'T LIE - but I can feel and I can cry - and gets softer. Just wonderfully done.

I imagine R48 thats when their knees start giving them trouble .

I actually think that Grease was a movie about redemption for Rizzo, and not so much for Sandy.

In the end, Rizzo worked out her relationship issues, she mellowed out, and she even got Kenickie AND a marriage proposal.

She won.

On the other hand, Sandy lost herself.

She had to change, in order to keep her boyfriend.

Sandy started dressing sluttier, she started smoking, and in her song "You're the one that I want," she became a major bitch.

I don't doubt that Sandy and Danny broke up a few months later.

Sandy became a chain smoking crack whore, and Danny came out of the closet and married Eugene.

Meanwhile, Kenickie became a millionaire stock broker, and Rizzo opened up a fashion line called "Pink."

[quote]r42 Donna Mills was apparently the muse for the Sandy character - according to Donna Mills. She attended the high school in Chicago where this was based on and where the writers also attended.

How could anyone "inspire" the character of Sandy... a generically wholesome girl? There's a character like her in practically every musical ever written.

Danny came out of the closet and married Eugene

Danny came out of the closet and married Eugene

I prefer Armond Rizzoz

R63/R64, why did you post pics of Tom Chisum?

No one has mentioned my favorite, Patty Simcox, the "bad seed" of Rydell High.

[quote]Who knew that broad would end up becoming First Lady.

Stranger things have happened, R40.

[quote] The dancer guy in the last scene in the baby blue shorts has an incredible ass!

And great legs too

Pity about the dorky socks