Director: Emile Ardolino
Original Release: May 12, 1987
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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| via Wikipedia |
The child is home from college for winter break. On Saturday night, they suggested a Patrick Swayze movie...
It's 1963. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) is heading to Mount Holyoke in the fall. But there's still time for one more summer adventure before college. She and her family go to the same resort every year. This year, she falls in love with her dance instructor, Johnny (Swayze).
Dirty Dancing was a massive hit, the breakthrough film for Swayze. If 1986 was Tom Cruise's year as ranking heartthrob, the summer of '87 belonged to Swayze. The 1980s were teen movies' heyday and I have to say, Dirty Dancing holds up pretty well compared to most of them. Neither Grey nor Swayze was an exceptional actor but their characters are compelling. Baby always does the right thing even when she knows she's likely to suffer for it. Johnny is the guy who takes care of the people close to him - tough but loving.
Honestly, though, what really makes the movie work, even 38 years later, is the dancing. Dance movies were big at the time - Footloose, Flashdance, etc. It was a good time for professional dancers in the film industry. Dirty Dancing was different. The casting call for Johnny was for a dancer who could act rather than an actor who could dance. What's the difference, you ask? It's the difference between Gene Kelly and John Travolta. There are people who learn to dance and there are people who move like dancers. Patrick Swayze was clearly the latter. To play Johnny, he wasn't merely supposed to dance. He had to be convincing as a dance instructor.
Swayze's dance cred was real. His mother was a dancer and film choreographer. He grew up studying ballet, ultimately training in New York at Harkness and Joffrey. He hurt his knee playing football. On the bright side, the injury kept him out of the Vietnam War. On the down side, it hampered his dance career.
Fortunately, he was still plenty good enough to play Johnny. He moves beautifully through the entire film: strong, graceful, balanced, purposeful, precise. Of course his considerable good looks and muscular physique don't hurt. I think he only wears a shirt for about half of his total screen time.
Sure, Grey is good, too - quite charming in her first lead role. But there's no doubt, it's Swayze's film.
I don't think I'd watched the movie since my own teenage years. As with many such films, one watches differently with life experience, particularly from the parent perspective. Parents are the villains in 1980s teen movies. They're abusive, neglectful or just plain foolish. Baby's father, Dr. Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach) is an exception. Baby believes he's being a class snob when he forbids her from dating Johnny. But that's not it. Dad misunderstands the situation. He believed Johnny knocked up his previous girlfriend, then abandoned her for Baby. Frankly, I wouldn't take well to that either. Once Dad learns the truth, he apologizes. He just wants his daughters to be safe and happy - to be with men who respect them. Because he's a good father.
I do wish they stuck with period music throughout rather than sprinkling in 1980s contemporary hits. I realize it's hard to argue with success. The soundtrack is one of the best-selling albums of all-time at 32 million copies. The lead track, "I Had the Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, topped the charts and won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. But in the film itself, while all of the '60s songs hit just right, the '80s songs pull me out of the moment.
But it's hard to argue with success.
A parting treat... the Muppets make everything better.
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