I carried a watermelon and other classic lines (Dirty Dancing (DVD))

Member Name: waterlilly

Product:	Dirty Dancing (DVD)
Date:	12/07/09 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Soundtrack, dancing, Swayze in the best shape of his life

Disadvantages: Chemistry between Swayze and Grey, some might say the script but it's a classic

My husband is away on a four day camping trip for school leaving me with rather a lot of time on my hands. This means time for all of those guilty pleasures and one of my all time guilty pleasures is Dirty Dancing. When it was first released in 1987 my parents felt that, being six years old, I was a little young to see it. Kind of have to agree with them that Sleeping Beauty was probably more my scene. That meant that I actually didn't get around to seeing Dirty Dancing for the first time until about 1997. Oh the cheesy goodness I had been missing out on!


THE PREMISE

Directed by Emile Ardano, Dirty Dancing was written by Eleanor Bergstein and inspired by her summer holidays at the old school resorts of the American Catskills. It is the summer of 1963, a simpler time when America was on the cusp of political and social change. As we are told in the opening voice over "when everyone called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps."

"Baby" Frances Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and her family spend the summer at Kellerman's, a resort the provides dance lessons, charades, bingo and an end of season talent show. About to start college in the Autumn, Baby is an idealist who worships her father, a doctor (Jerry Orbach) and has little in common with her sister (Jane Brucker) or mother (Kelly Bishop). The nosy type, Baby finds her way into the world of the resort staff with its clearly demarked class structure. She is drawn into the lives of dance pros Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) and by helping them challenges her structure of beliefs and values.

A commentary on the class, gender and race barriers in American in the 1960s this film tries to elevate itself beyond a romantic dance film. Of course, really it is just a romantic dance film, but it has brief moments that do meet its lofty goals.

SO SHOULD I WATCH IT

First question, are you male? If the answer is yes then chances are the only reason you would watch this film is because of a woman. Patrick Swayze made other films for you, this one has no guns or car chases, move on. It does occur to me that if you are a gay man then this does have Swayze in his prime, showing off his six pack quite regularly and wearing very tight jeans. Of course he is also attempting to exude heterosexuality in his dancing so it's kind of a close call there. Will make a note to survey gay male friends and get back to you on this.

Ok, so the ladies are probably still with me here. It's a film about a hot dance instructor who falls in love with an average girl and makes her a great dancer. What's not to like there? The girl is smart, fairly wealthy, and opinionated and he loves all of those things about her. Regular women everywhere swoon and wish that someone with a six pack like that would dance with her that way. It evokes the innocence of the early 1960s but hints at the passion and sexuality to come later in the decade.

The reason I own Dirty Dancing (the special anniversary edition with two dvds at that) is the sense of nostalgia it evokes. This is not the best romantic film ever made. It's not even the best romantic film made in the 80s or the best romantic film starring Patrick Swayze (Ghost wins that one for me), but for so many who were pre-teens, teens or just around in the 80s this film recalls that time. Its soundtrack is up there with Top Gun for most recognised songs and I admit, I own the soundtrack as well!!

The acting is not really why anyone saw this film, I don't think. Swayze was really hitting his stride with his career and really commits to his character, a poor boy lost in the sea of affluence. His vulnerability is the reason posters went up in bedrooms all over America. If you watch some of the extras on the dvd and the commentary everyone openly admits that there was pretty much zero chemistry between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. There really is nothing there when they aren't dancing. Both were very good dancers going into the film and worked hard but chemistry can't be pulled out of thing air.

On the other hand Grey and Orbach work brilliantly as father and daughter. Orbach is wonderful in this film and it's just so nice to see him as something other than a cop. Kelly Bishop got thrown into the role of Baby's mother relatively late in the planning and she does a lovely job with a small role. I loved Bishop in the Gilmore Girls, proving that women can just get better with age. Jack Weston as the aging resort owner, Max Kellerman, who laments that the youth of the day want trips to Europe "22 countries in 3 days" is delightful.

The script is pretty much pure 80s romantic cheese. If it were good it wouldn't be the same film and the thousands of references to putting Baby in the corner would never have come to be.

EXTRAS

I have the two dvd set so not all of the extras I have access to will be included in the regular older dvd. Some of the highlights were to do with the dancing in the film. The first day the dancers were called together and simply had a dance party to get to know each other which is fun. The background on Swayze and Grey was also interesting. Swayze insisted on doing all of the work on the log himself and managed to get injured in the process. There is also a piece on the making of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (guest appearance by Patrick Swayze suggesting his career was not going so well at the time), which is such a guilty pleasure of mine that I wouldn't be able to review it because I know it's terrible but I love it (Oh Diego, how good your career has been other than that film!!). Not everyone will be interested in the extras but they're a time filler on a rainy day.

Summary: No one puts Baby in a corner