Greased Lightning (1977) on Netflix
PG19771h 36mActionBiographyComedyDramaSport
Wendell Scott comes home to Danville, Virginia, wanting a taxi, a garage and a racing career. Charges from a setup bring a track owner's offer: drive a stock car.
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- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.4/102,249 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
After serving in World War II, Wendell Scott returns to Danville, Virginia, and falls for Mary Jones, whose family doubts his talk of racing. He dreams of a taxi of his own, a garage and a racing career, but money is short, so he hauls bootleg liquor for Slack with his friend Peewee while Sheriff Cotton gives chase. When Slack is arrested and a setup catches Wendell, the owner of the local track, Billy Joe Byrnes, offers a way out: enter a stock car race and most charges will be dropped. Billed as the first black driver, Wendell takes the wheel and white racers work against him. Mary disapproves of the new path.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Greased Lightning (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Wendell Scott, whose life Greased Lightning is based on, actually won his only NASCAR Grand National Series race in 1963, hours after the race was over: officials found he had finished first while lapping the field, with second-place Buck Baker believed the winner. Scott got the money but never the trophy.
- Richard Pryor and his Greased Lightning co-star Cleavon Little had both worked on Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles in 1974, when Brooks wanted Pryor to play Sheriff Bart; 20th Century Fox refused to approve him, reportedly citing his drug-related arrests, so Little took the role.
- The real Wendell Scott, whose life story the film tells, was the first Black NASCAR race winner and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.
