Dirty Dancing
Directed by Emile Ardolino, and written by Eleanor Bergstein, this is a romantic film that takes place in the 1960s about the coming of age of a young débutante and her rebellion against her father (played by the late Jerry Orbach) as she falls in love with an older music instructor at a vacation resort in the Catskill Mountains. About a third of the film has dancing scenes, all choreographed by Kenny Ortega.
Starring Jennifer Grey as Frances "Baby" Houseman and Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle, the story develops as Baby meets Johnny during her first night at the resort when she is asked to carry a watermelon to the staff’s quarters. There she witnesses the ‘dirty dancing’ that the staff enjoys at their parties. When Johnny’s dancing partner Penny Johnson (played by Cynthia Rhodes) gets impregnated by another staff member, she decides to get an illegal abortion and Baby selflessly asks her father for the money. In the meantime, Baby fills in for Penny as Johnny’s dance partner at the Sheldrake, a nearby resort where Johnny and Penny perform annually. In that time, Johnny teaches Baby how to dance and be sexy, and Baby teaches Johnny to trust people despite differences in social class. After the performance, the two return to find that Penny’s abortion went wrong. Baby’s father, Dr. Houseman, comes to Penny’s rescue but is quick to judge as he learns his daughter is involved with these people. Shortly thereafter, Johnny is wrongfully accused of stealing from the resort guests. Baby, despite her father’s objections, continues to see Johnny. Noted as one of the top ten romantic quotes in a film, Baby tells Johnny, "I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you."
In the film’s climactic final scene, Johnny, even though he has been fired, returns to the resort to perform the last dance of the season with Baby. Commenting on the Houseman’s choice of Baby’s seat at the talent show, he utters the film’s most famous line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," as he pulls her up from the family’s table, and the two of them perform the famous dance number, getting everybody in the audience out of their seats to dance to the song " (I’ve Had) the Time of My Life." Kenny Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison chose the song for the finale by going through an entire box of tapes listening to each one. According to Ortega, literally the last tape that they listened to had "(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life", which they saw as the obvious choice. Jimmy Lenner (film’s music supervisor) then insisted that Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes record it. The song won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Duet, an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
For the film’s opening, the August 16, 1987 edition of The New York Times published a major review, with a headline reading, "Dirty Dancing Rocks to an Innocent Beat." The Times reviewer called the film "a metaphor for America in the summer of 1963 – orderly, prosperous, bursting with good intentions, a sort of Yiddish-inflected Camelot." Within seven months of release, it had brought in $63 million, and boosted attendance in dance classes across America.
" …the most goosebump-inducing dance scene in movie history." – The Guardian
Awards:
- 1987 Academy Award: Best Original Song
- 1988 Golden Globe Award: Best Original Song
- 1988 Golden Globe Nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical
- 1988 Grammy Awards: Best Pop Performance by a Duo
- American Film Institute’s AFI 100 Years… series:
* 2002, AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Passions, #93
* 2004, AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Songs, #86 with the Academy Award-winning song "(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life"* 2005, AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes, #98 for Johnny’s famous line "Nobody puts Baby in a corner"
- 2008 TV Land Awards: Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room
Accolades:
- May 2007 survey by Britains Sky Movies listed Dirty Dancing as number one on "Women’s most-watched films" (Star Wars for girls)
- Number one video rental of 1988
- First film to sell a million copies on video
Reviews & Articles:
Official Dirty Dancing Website
Dirty Dancing on Internet Movie Database
Dirty Dancing on Wikipedia
