Danny and Sandy finally get their movie-ending ‘Grease’ kiss, 40 years later

Danny and Sandy are finally getting their kiss at the end of Grease, 40 years after the smooch was cut from the classic musical.

Director Randal Kleiser has rediscovered and color-restored Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy’s (Olivia Newton-John) original movie-ending kiss that was supposed to cap off the 1978 movie musical, set to the song “We Go Together.”

That kiss, mysteriously removed from the film during the editing process, is an extra on the 40th anniversary edition of Grease (out now on Blu-ray and digital HD platforms).

“It’s so cool,” Travolta tells USA TODAY from the just-ended Cannes Film Festival, which featured an anniversary screening of Grease. “Danny and Sandy kiss on the beach at the beginning of the movie, and I think people would like to see that kiss at end.”

Kleiser recalls setting up the ending with Travolta and Newton-John flying away in the hot rod convertible.

“They were up in the car, and I said, ‘Why don’t you kiss?’ And they did,” says Kleiser. “I don’t know what happened, why that never got in. It astounds me that it wasn’t the ending.”

The official reasoning is lost in the passage of time; Kleiser doesn’t remember any studio instructions to cut the kiss in the editing process.

He went to look for the scene in the Paramount Studios vaults 20 years ago, but found that the color negative had been destroyed.

However, a black-and-white 35mm work print existed of the ending. Kleiser sent the clip in for colorization, but the technology has not allowed a perfect color sync with the rest of the film.

Kleiser says the colorizing technology is now effective enough for use as an extra. He’s hoping to make it the film’s true ending in time for the 50th anniversary edition.

“I’d love that. As time goes by and the technology gets better, hopefully we’ll be able to switch (the ending) over with the film’s natural color,” says Kleiser. “I have a feeling the technology is coming where we might be able to do that for the 50th anniversary.” (USA Today/TNS)