Monday, April 8, 2013

Grease - the deleted scenes! (part 2)

Sorry about that... totally forgot about this!  Well, better late than never, allow me to dive again into the shooting script of "Grease" and dig out goodies...

=====================================

[The cheer at the bonfire - 'Do a split, give a yell' - was entirely different in the script, as was Calhoun's speech, which isn't pathetic this time around:]

60. CONTINUED:

CHEERLEADERS
Strawberry shortcake!
Huckleberry pie!
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!
Stand 'em on their heads!
Stand 'em on their feet!
Rydell! Rydell!
Can't be beat!

61. THE BONFIRE

Coach Calhoun and the team stand before the students.  Tom and Sandy are exchanging glances as the Coach addresses the crowd.

COACH CALHOUN
And we'll be expecting to see you all back out here after the game for that most joyous of Rydell customs -- the ringing of the victory bell!

He gestures toward a rope that hangs from a tarnished old bell that hangs over the ramp.  The Cheerleaders put their hands over their hearts.

COACH CALHOUN
(continuing)
Rydell forever!

The school BAND launches into the VICTORY SONG.

[Oddly enough, shortly after this, the T-Birds' version of the cheer still matches the version that ended up in the film - "Do a split, do a yell, shake a tit for old Rydell."]

=====================================

[A couple differences in the next few pages - Sonny's clever line about having to "put out before she ever gets in" hasn't been refined yet:]

SONNY
A girl is going to have to be willing to go... three-quarters of the way before she can even get in it...

[And Danny's response to "What happened to the Danny Zuko I met at the beach?" is considerably more asshole-ish than in the final film:]

DANNY
Search me.  I'm clean.  Maybe there's two of us.  What was he like?  Was he short?  Was he tall?  Come on, baby, lay it on me.  I don't got all day to help you.

Sandy has to bite her lip to keep from crying.

DANNY
(continuing)
That don't give me much to go on.  Look in the Yellow Pages... Take out a Want Ad... Try Missing Persons.

 =====================================

[The beginning of the slumber party scene is *not* Jan dancing to "Brusha Brusha Brusha", which may have been chosen after Jamie Donnelly's casting.  The dialogue and directions are entirely different:]

69. INT. FRENCHY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE on a bottle of Italian Swiss Colony wine.

PULL BACK TO SEE that Rizzo is pouring from the bottle into the outstretched jelly glasses held by Marty, Jan and Frenchy.  Sandy sits somewhat removed from the others looking unhappy.  The girls are in baby-doll pyjamas, mules and hair rollers, the room a typical girl's room of the period.  A large picture of Vince Fontaine is framed above the bed.  He's a good looking man with sharp features and an elaborate hairdo.  The room is full of wigs and hair dryers.

Both the RADIO and TV are ON.  A 50's TUNE ENDS.  The TV is a round Motorola.

JAN
Jeez, look what Loretta Young is wearing!

Marty squints.  Frenchy pulls a large magnifying glass in front of the screen.

RIZZO
I can't stand her.  I keep waiting for her to get her dress caught in the door.

VINCE FONTAINE (V.O.:)
(on the radio)
This is Vince Fontaine, your daddio on the radio playing stacks of wax for Jills and Jacks out there in Radioland... And now!... going out to Ronnie and Sheila.  For the first time anywhere, here's the National Bandstand premiere of a brand new song that's going to set you little dears on your cotton-picking ears!

[The girls' conversation while Frenchy and Sandy are in the bathroom is different:]

Rizzo lights a cigarette and passes around the pack.  The girls begin to smoke.

JAN
You know they've got peppermint candy cigarettes now.

MARTY
If you don't watch out, you'll look like the Goodyear Blimp.

JAN
Well, at least I don't have a complexion like pimento cheese.

Marty looks into the mirror.

MARTY
You can't see it through the pancake.

RIZZO
You can't see you through the pancake.

[Two points of interest - "Freddy My Love" is STILL not included in this scene, being replaced at this point by "Sandra Dee"; and the Elvis verse of that song is already intact - written to replace the verse about recently-murdered Sal Mineo.]

 =====================================

[An alternate exchange after Danny's 'sloppy seconds' line - notice Rizzo's question is not yet crude, and not as funny:]

RIZZO
If ya think the virgin princess is up there dying of a broken heart, I got news for ya.  The best she could do for love was prick an earlobe.

Danny looks at her disgustedly and starts away.

RIZZO
(continuing)
Where are you going?  To howl at the moon?

DANNY
That's a better idea than hanging out with you dorks.

=====================================

[At make-out point, before Rizzo requests that Kenickie call her by her first name:]

As they lie on the back seat -- both of them with their eyes closed, Kenickie manages to free half his mouth so that he can dislodge a wad of gum which he sticks on the car light.  They kiss a moment more.

RIZZO
(continuing; still kissing)
What happened to the gum?

KENICKIE
It was gettin' in the way.

Rizzo opens her eyes and looks at him meaningfully.

RIZZO
Keep a cool tool, fool..  I'm wise to the rise in your Levi's.

KENICKIE
You still thinking about Zuko?

RIZZO
I got one thing on my mind, baby, and that's you.

KENICKIE
(passionately)
Oh, Rizzo.  Rizzo.

RIZZO
I always thought if I was to let a guy, he'd at least call me by my first name.

[In this version, Kenickie (sort of) already knows it:]

KENICKIE
(he has to think)
Yeah... uh... Betty! Betty!

[This repeats just as Hell's Chariot backs into the car:]

KENICKIE
(huskily)
Oh, Rizzo, Rizzo.

RIZZO
(huskily)
Please -- Call me Betty.

KENICKIE
Oh, baby.

RIZZO
Betty!

KENICKIE
Yeah!

Suddenly there is a loud SLAM and Kenickie is pitched over the front seat.

=====================================

[An almost entirely different lead-in before "Greased Lightning" begins:]

87. INT. AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR CLASSROOM - DAY

Danny, Kenickie, Sonny, Doody and Putzie stand looking gravely at the damaged car.

KENICKIE
We gotta do something.

PUTZIE
It's a hopeless case.

Kenickie gives him a dirty look.

SONNY
Junk it.

DOODY
Won't have to do much to do that.

Kenickie turns around and looks imploringly at Danny who approaches the car and contemplates it seriously while walking around it.

DANNY
I don't think it's so bad.  In fact, it's okay.  It's pretty good.  No, I don't even think it's good. It's a major piece of machinery... I said a major piece of machinery.  We can't 86 it.

KENICKIE
Yeah!  Tell 'em!

DANNY
Look at the lines.  Look at the lights.  It needs a little work, sure.  But it's all here!  It's Hydramatic... Systematic... Automatic... Aristocratic...

HE begins to slide into an Elvis imitation as he speaks and moves.

KENICKIE
It's boss!

DANNY
(getting carried away)
Yeah boss!... Yeah, the best.  I tell you what it is!... It's Greased Lightning!

KENICKIE
Greased Lightning.

Kenickie and Danny go through a hand-slapping ritual of enthusiasm as the others move in on them.

DANNY
Greased Lightning!  Dual exhaust!  A good transmission!  Fluid drive!  Out, in and overdrive.  We can do it!  We can fix it!  Greased Lightning!

[Cue song.]

=====================================

[Unused dialogue at the start of the first Frosty Palace scene.  Note that the design of the Frosty Palace was considerable more than a generic 50's diner here:]

FLOW with Danny and Kenickie as they enter the Frosty Palace where the igloo effect is carried out with the booths looking like chunks of ice and the brightly-hued juke box looking like the Northern Lights.  The waitresses wear short fur-trimmed skirts with hoods and look like bouffant Eskimos.  The place is crowded.  The Pink Ladies are in one booth -- Putzie, Sonny and Doody in another -- miscellaneous students in another and, in the middle are Sandy and Tom.  She is lost in his oversized football jacket, sees Danny out of the corner of her eye and gives Tom her undivided attention.

The boys greet each other like long-lost friends, but Danny can't take his eyes off Sandy and Tom.  He collides with VI, the tough/tender waitress who's seen it all.  Vi carries a loaded tray which almost dumps on the floor.  They barely catch it, but Vi is a precision waitress who manages to hold the tray on one palm.

DANNY
Great save, Vi.

VI
I used to be with the Ice Follies, honey.  It prepared me for life at the Frosty Palace.

She gives him a smile and he turns toward the booth.

KENICKIE
Are you still thinking about that chick?

DANNY
The only thing on my mind is Greased Lightning.

Danny and Kenickie slide into the already crowded booth.

Vi turns from serving a table and stands over the Pink Ladies' booth resting the tray on her hip.

JAN
How about an Aurora Borealis?

MARTY
What's that?

VI
The same as the Eskimo Surprise except it has colored sprinkles.

The JUKEBOX PLAYS an original 50's SONG -- "POOR LITTLE FOOL."

=====================================

[Shortly after, the conversation between Danny and Sandy is a bit different:]

DANNY
How's it going?

SANDY
(coolly)
Oh, it's wonderful.  I just love Rydell and I've got so many new friends.

DANNY
(not meaning it)
Glad to hear it.

SANDY
Between meetings, parties and cheerleader practices, I hardly have any time to do my homework.

DANNY
Well, you're just naturally smart, I guess.

SANDY
It does help.

Danny looks at her for a moment.  She smiles blithely giving him no encouragement, looking lovely and knowing it.  She also knows exactly what she is doing as she feigns disinterest. 

Danny is torn and for a moment he drops his pose.

DANNY
Look, Sandy... I'm sorry about the way things turned out... I mean I wish there wasn't anything between us.

SANDY
(sweetly)
But there isn't.

DANNY
There is and you know it!... It's just that I wake up in the morning and I look in the mirror and there I am, Danny Zuko.  Then I get dressed and I come to school and I turn into DANNY ZUKO.  And there's one you know and there's one they know, but I'm both of 'em and sometimes Danny Zuko says something, but it comes out like DANNY ZUKO said it, but I mean the same thing... You gotta help me, Sandy.

SANDY
That sounds like a wonderful idea for a term paper in Social Psychology.

DANNY
It ain't easy being two people, you know.

SANDY
That's why I'm so glad Tom is such a practical, simple person.

=====================================

[Finally for this installment, there is a bit more between Calhoun suggesting that Danny take up long-distance running, and his failed attempt at hurdles.]

102. SERIES OF SHOTS

of Danny running.

103. EXT. FROSTY PALACE

The Thunderbirds and Pink Ladies are dancing when Danny jogs past.  A SONG is HEARD from the JUKE BOX.  He stops momentarily to look in, which is just enough time for them to see him.  They run into the street hooting and yelling.  "What are you doing in your underwear?  Where do you keep your Wheaties!?"

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