The most notorious fan theory suggests that Sandy is in fact dying throughout the movie and the story only plays out in her imagination. Arguably one of the most famous movie theories of all time, it offers a completely different perspective on the movie's otherwise mostly upbeat tone, adding darkness to the musical's joyous light. And while the theory has its detractors, it remains incredibly popular, because it is tied to the film's strangest mystery: what its end really means. It is precisely because of that ending's weirdness and one particularly pertinent line from Grease's first big musical number - "Summer Nights" that a fan theory suggested a grim undercurrent to the classical musical including a dying teenage girl living her last moments "down in the sand". The fantasy sequences of "Greased Lightnin'" and "Beauty School Dropout", which very much play out in the imaginations of the characters singing those songs. The former is the T-Birds imagining their triumphs and how well the car will boost their boyish boasts of machismo, while the latter is Didi Conn's Frenchy imagining the bleakness of her future if her dream fails. Both are very much tied to dreams, but that makes the final sequence of Grease all the more confusing, because when Danny and Sandy fly off from the carnival in Greased Lightnin' it happens in real-time in the real world. Sandy's shock is nothing compared to that of the audience, who have just watched a fairly conventional high-school musical that operates within normal rules of reality end with a car literally flying off into the distance. In that respect, it was no wonder that there was an opportunity for a fan theory to fill in the gap in logic. The starting point of the theory, which was initially posted on Reddit, is one of the lines in "Summer Night" dedicated Sandy and Danny telling each of their listening audiences what happened during their holiday romance at the beach. While the Grease prequel, 'Summer Lovin', will tell the actual story of what happened during that tryst, the only account the audience can trust is the mention of the young couple bowling in the arcade, holding hands, and drinking lemonade. Crucially, the lyrics suggest that Danny and Sandy met when she got a cramp while swimming and Danny saved her from drowning, before showing off "splashing around". While it might sound like empty bragging, the theory suggests that Sandy actually did drown and everything that follows is Sandy fantasizing about what her life could have been as she dies. From the prolog onwards, every event that happens plays out in Sandy's mind, and the reason everything wraps up so perfectly for every character, despite all of the conflict on the way to the finale is that it's all Sandy's tragic wish fulfillment. As a newcomer to Rydell High, Sandy would have been an outsider, but her reality plays out just as a dream would; she is immediately accepted by the coolest group (the Pink Ladies), meets the boy of her dreams (again), and overcomes every issue. And it's not just her: Rizzo's pregnancy scare, the dance competition that Danny wins (albeit with Cha-Cha), the drag race on Thunder Road Everything ends with a happy ending, no matter what the seeming obstacles. It's all a little too convenient and then when Greased Lightnin' takes off for its maiden flight, the reason becomes clear. It's all a fantasy. The theory also suggests that Sandy's mournful reprise of "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee" and the final two lines "Take a deep breath and sigh, Goodbye to Sandra Dee..." specifically secretly confirm that Sandy lost her battle to live. In that respect, the image of Greased Lightnin' flying off with Danny alongside Sandy at the end of Grease is actually symbolic of her ascending to the afterlife and her transformation is not one of self-realization, but of death. That metaphorical rise, then, is her rising to heaven in the final moments of her life eking out with her final breaths on the sand. It's tragic and dark, but there is a hint of beauty to it. The theory gained enough attention that stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John both commented on it. The former called it fun, though told USA Today that he knew "the writers of Grease, and I was around in the original days. I can't take it too far." Sandy's actor, Olivia Newton-John herself called it "hilarious" and reveled in the idea of Grease being the first ever zombie musical. Unfortunately for fans of the theory, the most notable respondent to the theory was Grease creator Jim Jacobs, who wasn't as big a fan and poured water on the idea of Sandy being dead. He told TMZ that "Whoever made up the theory must have been on acid. Sandy was very much alive." But then, it's rare that the wishes of the creator are taken into account when fans come up with theories, and this one in particular actually does improve the Grease viewing experience, true or not.
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
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The stunt coordinator felt the impact of the 1974 Mercury Montego jumping the train and hitting the pavement was too much for a stunt driver to take, so a dummy was put in the driver's seat and the car was pushed toward a ramp at high speed and let go.
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The trial scene has Barbara Jane Fuchs getting grilled by the prosecutor, demanding to know if she can prove her car lot has over 200 cars on it. In the movie, Rudy Russo whispers to her from the back of the courtroom to lie and say yes, because he has a contact he can get them from in a hurry. However, in the film's trailer, to show how "honest" he is, he explicitly says to her, "I want you to get up on that stand - and lie." This scene does not appear in the movie.
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The reason Used Cars was made at Columbia Pictures was that Universal Pictures passed on this, and since the head of Columbia had once sold cars, he understood this right away.
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After the commercial where Jeff shoots up the cars on Roy L. Fuchs' lot, he is interviewed by the FBI. In the scene, he blames the attack on Iranian students. At the time of this movie's release, the Iran hostage situation was going on. According to Bob Gale in the DVD audio commentary, an alternate version of the scene was shot in which Jeff blames a different group for the act in case the Iran situation was resolved before the film was released. It wasn't, and Jeff's false accusation was still relevant when the film came out.
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Writers of the film Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis are the same age, in fact, born only 10 days apart from one another.
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Bob Gale had said in an interview that one of the reasons the film failed to garner and audience was because of the title, and that perhaps Rudy Russo's campaign slogan "Trust Me!" may have worked as a better one.
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At the time, Used Cars (1980) received the highest test-audience ratings of any movie of any genre in Columbia Pictures history. Yet, the movie was still a disappointing box office failure.
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During early development of 1941 (1979), John Milius told Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale about an idea for a movie he and Steven Spielberg thought up about a used car salesman on the outskirts of Las Vegas. After finishing I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Zemeckis and Gale asked Milius if they could use the idea because neither Milius nor Spielberg would ever have the time to do this themselves.
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Kevin Conway passed on the role of Roy L. Fuchs.
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During the scene where the police car smacks in to the car that was being towed, the deputy involved says a police code of 961. That is an actual police radio code used by a majority of Arizona law enforcement agencies for non-injury accident.
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This is Robert Zemeckis' first movie to receive an R rating by the MPAA.
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The T-Birds' white convertible and the Scorpion's black Mercury (with flames) from Grease (1978) are two of the cars that Rudy Russo palms off on the Driver's Education teacher.
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A score by Ernest Gold was rejected, but some of his music was retained, uncredited. His most noticeable contribution is his arrangement of The Stars and Stripes Forever heard during the opening credits and reprised several times, as well as several pieces of source music heard in the background.
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Cheryl Rixon, the Australian actress who played the blonde who ends up topless on TV after her dress was ripped off while the guys were filming a car commercial, was 1977 Penthouse Pet of the Month and then Pet of the Year in 1979.
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Described by Robert Zemeckis as the Red River (1948) cattle drive with cars, the climatic chase scene was filmed in an abandoned and overgrown airfield east of Phoenix. Two hundred extras were recruited with the pitch "fifteen dollars a day, bring your own car, and be in a movie".
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Darner Chrysler-Plymouth of Mesa, Arizona (defunct as of 2010) was rented as the filming location for the "Roy L. Fuchs Auto Emporium". The dealership was selected because it was situated directly across the roadway from a vacant lot that was also rented to construct the set for "New Deal Used Cars". During filming, Darner had to place signs near the street to assure prospective customers that they were still open for business as production trucks, RVs, and assorted filming equipment had taken over the lot for 28 days, as well as the temporary name change displayed above the dealership. As a goodwill gesture, Kurt Russell appeared in character alongside the dealership's owner, Joel Darner, in some of Darner's real local television commercials to help him promote his business while the production was using his lot; Columbia paid the costs for the commercials. During the first interior scene in the Fuch's dealership you can hear the receptionist paging Mr. Joel Darner.
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In the scene where Roy L. Fuchs (Jack Warden) walks up to Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell) and Jeff (Gerrit Graham) as they are finishing shoveling dirt over the spot where they buried Luke, Graham didn't have any lines and kept pestering Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale for lines. Finally, he just decides to repeat whatever Russell said to Warden. Apparently, Warden was unaware of what Graham was doing, thus his line "What're you? A fuckin' parrot?". It was Warden's genuine annoyance at Graham, which worked so well in the scene that it was included in the final cut.
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
Used Cars - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts
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