K, in film language, if this story was about Sandy and Danny both overcoming their differences to find mutual love, then the filmmakers should showi us Danny and Sandy both looking back in joyous triumph.
As is, Danny looks to be deliberately avoiding turning back. And it's not like he's gotta keep his eyes on the road - afraid of hitting a cloud, is he?
This image seems to be a clear indication that the whole story was about Sandy.
Did all these people spend their time, talent & almost thirty million dollars in 2023 dollars to just say "Meh, who cares where Danny's looking or what he's wearing."?
But what they show us about Danny here is dark, shiny hair, quite raven feather-like and a clear image of a Thunderbird, a bird entity of the sky... oh wait, where Danny is whisking Sandy to?
So from here, working backwards, if the story's about Sandy,,, then... what about Sandy?
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Of the many Hollywood afterlife tropes, one is that of beings who escort the deceased into the hereafter. Angelic beings into paradise or demonic creatures into torment.
1990's Jacob's Ladder went a step further to meld the two, as character Louis (Danny Aiello) stated:
"...if you're frightened of dying and holding on,
you'll see devils tearing your life away.
But if you've made your peace then the devils
But if you've made your peace then the devils
are really angels freeing you from the earth."
Jacob's Ladder reiterates a concept seen in 1978's Heaven Can Wait. That of an afterlife weigh station. A place where the deceased are gathered prior to their great journey into the unknown.
Beatty being detained while the departed in the background board for their journey.
Another trope in film is that of the deceased who, for whatever reason, is not ready to depart. That reason usually serves as the basis for the plot: resolving their issue so they may leave.
Which brings us to Rydell High:
American High School or Afterlife Education Center?
Opening, while seeing the two leads facing their romance ending, a curiously worded exchange occurs:
Sandy: Danny, is this the end?
Danny: Of course not. It's only the beginning.
Even more odd is the very end while all the students repeatedly sing "We'll always be together" as if to cue the contrast, Sandy & Danny drive off in a car up into the clouds.
The Heavens if you'll permit me.
Is that a sky-god Thunderbird carrying Sandy away?
In short, since Grease can be seen as a struggle between two options for the departed: that of the world above (the realm of the Thunderbirds) and that of the Hades-esque world below, as in down under, hinted at with the use of Australia.
Rydell, sort of a school, is a camp for youth who have, in fact, already died but for various reasons need to be "educated" about the right way to move on.
Furthermore, the population of Rydell is a mixture of deceased spirits & angelic beings with various roles to help the youths transition to their next existence.
These "angels" are intermixed acting as friends, lovers, enemies or simply exploiters. But their goal is the same: to literally grease students into the beyond.
Odd how the lyrics of the movie's theme song hint at such a thing:
Grease is the word
Is the word, is the word that you heard
It's got groove, it's got meaning
SANDY OLSSON
Drowning victim, in denial & utterly oblivious to her circumstances. In the song Summer Days we see two different accounts:
She swam by me, she got a cramp
He ran by me, got my suit damp
I saved her life, she nearly drowned
He showed off, splashing around
Might seem like boastful male fabrication on Danny's part and yet. Sandy who had "plans" of returning to her down under fate offers nothing more than a quippy: We had a change of plan. explanation.
She's already drowned and her guardian spirit, Danny (whose name means God is my judge), is trying to prevent her from going to a down under fate. Hear their dialogue with that in mind:
♬ Love is a many splendoured thing 🎶
Sandy: I'm going back to Australia, I might never see you again.
Danny: Don't talk that way, Sandy.
Trying to win her over with love, Sandy refuses & Danny rethinks his strategy realizing he cannot accomplish his task alone & would need support.
The whole of the movie now is Danny winning Sandy to his path, that of love: a many splendoured thing, which she's believed in and finally does choose.
Sandy choosing to go Danny's way.
Having won her over, Danny ditches his athletic letterman's sweater-wearing Rydell persona & re-dons his Thunderbird identity wisking Sandy up into the clouds.
End of the story? Only of Sandy's. There are still other sky-spirits & departed youth at Rydell.
Among the many guiding beings at Rydell, another "sky spirit" providing secondary support for Danny; a sort of bad cop to Danny's good cop, is Betty Rizzo.
But if Rizzo was only secondary support on Sandy's case, who was she primary assistance to?
Kenickie Murdoch, another deceased youth bound in fear needing rescuing from & desperately needing to complete something left undone while he was alive.
It seems the movie does leave clues not only to identity of the guardian spirits & the deceased, but also of how the deceased may have met their fate on Earth.
Perhaps Kenickie died in a car crash, hinted at by his head injury at the race. He seems less concerned about being the driver than of his car (his life's work) winning.
He may have been obsessive on his auto thus needing to learn about human love & relationship. Hence the role Rizzo plays, carefully guiding him to commitment.
Rizzo, like Danny & the other entities would also influence the other deceased youth like:
Frenchy Facciano: classic departed who doesn't yet realize she's gone. An innocent who likely pursued a dicey dream of beauty and fame.
As Frenchy states: "Beauty school sure wasn't what I thought it was gonna be."
Life ended her dreams with some terrible head injury - modestly symbolized by an unnatural pink vs a more obvious, and out-of-place, red.
Like Sandy, who thought being at Rydell was a change of plan, Frenchy views her circumstances as having a little trouble in all her classes.
Being more simple-minded, it's not surprising Frenchy's guiding lights would be more mature and obvious. So who were Frenchy's guides?
Well Vi for starters, motherly, firm & direct but kind & concerned. Frenchy's, needing things spelled out, also had help from someone not even bothering to hide his true nature:
Mr Teen Angel himself. Immediately responding to the hapless Frenchy, he echoes Vi steering her back to Rydell from "beauty" school as Danny steered Sandy from "down under".
As the characters become less, the details about their lives & subsequent passing diminish as well. There may be enough for one more student.
MARTY MARASCHINO
Possibly dying while travelling, Marty is a promiscuous, travel-hungry, star-struck youth who takes herself far too seriously. So who would help?
The ever wise-cracking Sonny LaTierri and celebrity
and the fame-isn't-all-it's-cracked-up-to-be-sage: Vince Fontaine.
It goes on, there's the idea.
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