If you were to look up summer romance in a movie dictionary it would probably show a poster of this movie. Released in 1987 Dirty Dancing was as big of a hit back then as it is now being the first movie to sell a million copies when it was released on home video. With a matching hit soundtrack (while not considered a musical) Dirty Dancing is widely regarded as a must watch for young adults and I would not argue with it. Spoilers ahead as usual. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.
Taking place the summer of 1963 the Houseman family, Dr. Jake (Jerry Orbach), Marjorie (Kelly Bishop), Lisa (Jane Brucker) and Francis aka Baby (Jennifer Grey) are spending their vacation at Kellerman’s, a beautiful resort up in the Catskill Mountains. Baby wants to study economics in underdeveloped countries and go into the Peace Corps when she graduates high school while her parents want her to enjoy her summer like her sister who has already developed feelings for Robbie Gould (Max Cantor) a womanizing waiter. Meanwhile Baby develops a fascination for the dancing instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and soon a mutual attraction forms. When Johnny’s partner Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) becomes pregnant by Robbie and he refuses to help her “take care of it”, Baby agrees to become Johnny’s partner for a dance routine. The two soon fall in love, but when they come back Penny is in deep trouble. Baby gets her father and he manages to save Penny; however he forbids Baby from seeing Johnny again, forcing the two young lovers to hide their relationship. About as far as I should go, but the ending is very famous.
I have seen this movie listed not only as one of the movies you have to watch before you die, but as one of the most popular films of all time, regardless of the decade. If people were not familiar with Jennifer Grey or Patrick Swayze prior to this movie they were after. It was hard after the movie for both Grey and Swayze to escape the Dirty Dancing spotlight; in fact Swayze had a string of “bad” films and did not receive any recognition until “Ghost”. Jerry Orbach and Kelly Bishop were already huge Broadway stars and thankfully this film helped launch more mainstream careers. The rest of the cast does a remarkable job as well. The writing is very spot on (who hasn’t said “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”) as is the choreography by the legendary Kenny Ortega. Of course I cannot forget about the amazing soundtrack, featuring many hits from the 60’s as well as a few originals including “She’s Like The Wind” by Patrick Swayze, “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen and finally the most famous of them all, the Golden Globe, Oscar and Grammy winning song “I’ve Had The Time Of My Life” which I’m positive has put a lot of people in the hospital for trying to recreate that scene. This is one of my favorite films I have seen over the past few years and before someone asks no I did not watch the live ABC version last year nor was I even tempted to. There are certain movies I felt should not ever be remade and this was one of them; thankfully it seemed I made the right decision. If you have yet to watch Dirty Dancing, I implore you to watch the original version. While it may or may not be the time of your life (not sorry I did that), it is definitely a classic must watch.
Films or Television Worth Watching 