![]() When I first saw the film – there was another pandemic killing Americans – AIDS. Something else moved me while watching “Dirty Dancing” again. Swayze is a heartthrob – and this is his best performance. Jennifer Grey is nuanced, and her laughter is infectious. There’s a beautifully edited sequence consisting of jump cuts of Baby dancing on a bridge which illustrates her learning progression. Ardolino, a former dancer, knew how to showcase the choreography – in full shots – and the dancing is very sexy – pelvic thrusting and all. The story is grounded by the acting – which includes theatre legends and Tony winners Jerry Orbach (“Promises Promises,” “42ND Street”) and Kelly Bishop (“A Chorus Line”) as Baby’s parents. There’s a no-frills and sensitive approach to the directing by Emile Ardolino. But you meant by becoming a lawyer or an economist and marrying someone from Harvard.” She tells her dad, “You told me you wanted me to change the world, to make it better. Johnny teaches Baby how to hold her space on the dance floor – and Baby learns to stand up for herself and for her working-class love. The focus is on the health of Penny and preserving her capability to have children in the future – instead of disparaging her choice. The abortion procedure is central to the narrative – and the way it is compassionately handled is commendable. ![]() In order to do so, Baby has to learn how to dance and is trained by Johnny – and a romance blooms. Baby borrows the money from her father to give to her – and she also volunteers to take Penny’s place in a performance at a neighboring resort so they don’t lose their salary. ![]() Baby learns Penny is pregnant by Robbie – a waiter attending Yale School of Medicine –who denied his responsibility and to help her pay for the abortion. One evening, she stumbles into one of the staff’s secret “dirty” dancing parties, and is mesmerized by their sensuality –in particular by Johnny Castle and his dance partner Penny. She observes the owner Max instructing the waiters – most of them Ivy League students – to flirt with the guests no matter how unattractive – and while in contrast the working-class entertainment staff is treated with disdain. “Our Baby is going to change the world,” her dad proudly says. Baby is a thoughtful young woman who’s planning to join the Peace Corps. These resorts were visited often by middle and working-class Jewish New Yorkers in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. It’s an unpretentious feel good movie – and experiencing it gives you so much necessary relief from our unpleasant realities.īased on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein’s own childhood – the film follows Baby, her mom and dad and older sister, Lisa, as they attend an upscale Catskill resort. The dancing is terrific – but it’s the story, simply told, and the chemistry between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze that make it so sturdy – plus it stealthily has lessons about social class and women’s reproductive rights. To be honest, I was very emotional during it all – for it captures that period in your life when innocence starts slipping away – you start to come into your own and develop your own beliefs as well as feeling that unforgettable rush of first love. I’m happy to report I loved sitting down last Saturday night to revisit it. It’s been 33 years since its late summer release – and the romantic film’s underdog qualities still charm – if anything the years have been very good to it. “That was the summer of 1963 when everybody called me Baby and I didn’t mind,” she tells us at the beginning. This lovely memory film is the coming of age story of Frances “Baby” Houseman. It feels it’s all slipping away,” says Max – the owner of Kellerman’s – the Catskill hotel in “Dirty Dancing” (1987). At the 1988 Oscar Awards It won an award for Best Music, Original Song.“Lots of changes. The music was composed by John Morris along with Erich Bulling and Jon Barns. Cinematography was done by Jeffrey Jur and editing by Peter C. Dirty Dancing was made on a budget of $6 million and it was a super hit at box office gross of $217 million. Dirty Dancing was released on 21st August 1987 and takes a screen time of 100 minutes. Vestron Pictures acquired the distribution rights for the film. Dirty Dancing is written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino. Great American Films Limited Partnership was the production house involved in the project along with executive producer(s) Linda Gottlieb. Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American English-language Drama Musical motion picture featuring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Jack Weston, Jane Brucker and Jerry Rees. Physical enjoyable infectious extraneous entertaining Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances Baby Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
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