Dirty Dancing (1987)

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One of the ultimate ‘little movies that could,’ Dirty Dancing is a low-budget sleeper sensation that is arguably the most popular and enduring movie released in its year. Set in a Catskills resort in 1963, the film is a coming-of-age story for Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman (Jennifer Grey) as she wanders from the family-friendly on-site entertainment into the staff’s secluded after-hours parties. There the cha-cha and the foxtrot are traded for the more provocative pelvic grinding from whence great titles are born.

When Baby discovers one of the dancers (Cynthia Rhodes) is pregnant and can’t perform a big dance number, she volunteers to take her place. Thus begins her relationship with Johnny (Patrick Swayze), the resort’s alluring dance instructor with an undeserved ‘bad boy’ reputation. Rehearsal makes great foreplay in Dirty Dancing, with Grey and Swayze inevitably falling in love. But in the tradition of Grease and Romeo & Juliet, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart. If the resort owner finds out Swayze’s been fraternizing with guests, he’ll be fired. And if Baby’s dear old daddy (Jerry Orbach) learns his little girl is becoming a woman, it’ll just break his heart.

Dirty Dancing is quintessential pop filmmaking with all the perks and a few of the trappings. Grey and Swayze (reunited after 1984’s Red Dawn) have ample charisma and chemistry to carry the movie. And the film certainly delivers on its eponymous promise, with Swayze and Rhodes delivering the most memorable dance moves. Sharing the spotlight is a stellar soundtrack featuring hits from the ’50s and a few more modern original ditties destined to become chart toppers. The lake and mountain location scenery is another of the film’s secret weapons, adding to the already wistful, nostalgic overtones in Eleanor Bergstein’s screenplay.

All of this helps Dirty Dancing become a formula success. But what I enjoy most about the movie is that its title isn’t just for exploitation. It’s connected to the heart of the film — the innocent sexual awakening of its main character, and in no small way, the world around her. The family-oriented 1963 setting is just as virginal, clinging to stifling traditional values that are about to be rattled by political upheaval and a gender revolution. The film even tackles abortion. In this pre-Vietnam, pre-assassination time, Dirty Dancing terrifies people, but Dirty Dancing is exactly what they need.

Director Emile Ardolino and editor Peter C. Frank are unsung heroes of this hit, incorporating candid moments between the lead stars in the final film, and making masterful use of musical montage. The first half of the movie has a beguiling escapist quality to it. The second half suffers slightly as Swayze and Grey rush from friends to lovers. The film tries a little too hard to wrap up everything with a tidy bow, but there’s no denying the effectiveness of the climactic power ballad, “The Time of My Life.”

With Kelly Bishop, Jack Weston, and Wayne Knight.

Academy Award: Best Song (“The Time of My Life”)