"Sorry for the interruption, folks, but I always do the last dance of the season."
The Story:
In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby (Jennifer Grey) and her family take their annual trek to a secluded resort in upstate New York. While there, she meets dancing instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and unexpectedly becomes his dance partner when his current one (Cynthia Rhodes) becomes pregnant, much to the dismay of her father (Jerry Orbach).
The Review:
Widely regarded as the ultimate “chick flick,” Dirty Dancing also represents a convergence of the 80s teen movie genre on many levels. It’s yet another nostalgia piece, set so directly on the nose of an innocent time (“before Kennedy was shot“), and the whole movie dangles on the precipice of that general innocence and Baby’s specific innocence. Her summer is marked by rebellion and discovery, having always been daddy’s girl and lived a prim, proper, and privileged life that’s about to carry her into the peace corps.The Review:
That her rebellion comes through dancing also seems obvious enough since dancing teens rivaled masked slashers for multiplex dominance in the 80s (how the twain never really met is beyond me). Dirty Dancing sets itself up as another movie that embraces the bluster and energy of youth, from its title and its sweltering opening credits sequence that bristles with dancing teens that will be a stark contrast to the stuffy, lame, milquetoast experience that Baby is used to; there’s an undercurrent of danger to the enclave of suggestive gyrations she encounters upon being introduced to the secret “employees only” lounge.
But despite the title, Dirty Dancing somewhat abandons this and trades it in for a montage of typical rom-com beats; it’s not so much a story of “us” vs. “them,” but rather a syrupy story of a girl engaging in forbidden love with a guy who is perceived as being beneath her. Baby and Johnny carry on in secret, with the former still being terrified of letting down her father; losing her innocence isn’t an issue so much as her father discovering that it’s happened. That of course happens, and most of the actual conflict is stuffed onto the backend, leaving Baby and Johnny frolic in the meantime; at one point, Johnny is basically Mr. Miyagi as he attempts to teach this hapless girl how to dance by using logs, water, and, eventually, his penis (once they finally decide that they also love each other after some initial friction).
Swayze and Grey have good chemistry and make this less agonizing than it’d typically be, particularly since so much of it is especially corny, sappy, and predictable. I do like that Orbach isn’t exactly tyrannical as the father--there’s something very natural and understandable about his performance; it’s almost unbelievable that he isn’t reduced to a cartoonish villain considering how broad the rest of the film is.
However, it’s Swayze that makes the film work. This might be Baby’s story, and it’s Johnny’s show, something we never doubt whenever he’s on screen. We’re actually introduced to him twice before we really know who he is. When he enters the picture, he’s a little reserved but certainly has a badass air about him, decked out in shades and a black t-shirt. He’s warned that he’s not allowed to show the daughters a good time (and all the while Baby is gawking at him--there is at least lust at first sight here); later, we see him putting on a proper mambo dance for the crowd.
But we don’t really meet him until he comes bombing into that secret lounge, swinging and swaggering with a girl in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. Dirty Dancing might be that chick flick at heart, but here’s a guy that totally takes the lead, especially when Johnny is revealed to be a street tough meathead-with-a-heart-of-gold whose cockiness is nearly matched by his vulnerability. Ostensibly, his biggest problem is that he has too much sex since he’s treated as a piece of meat by the local bored housewives, and Swayze finds an almost absurd, wounded quality in the character. He’s so charming that you never even stop to question his possibly creepy relationship with a 17 year old.
But we don’t really meet him until he comes bombing into that secret lounge, swinging and swaggering with a girl in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. Dirty Dancing might be that chick flick at heart, but here’s a guy that totally takes the lead, especially when Johnny is revealed to be a street tough meathead-with-a-heart-of-gold whose cockiness is nearly matched by his vulnerability. Ostensibly, his biggest problem is that he has too much sex since he’s treated as a piece of meat by the local bored housewives, and Swayze finds an almost absurd, wounded quality in the character. He’s so charming that you never even stop to question his possibly creepy relationship with a 17 year old.
Actually, the true testament to his talents probably comes at the climax, when he’s forced to utter the film’s most infamous (and ridiculous) line. “Nobody puts baby in the corner,” he says with a patented lunky inflection, but you absolutely believe him. Given how predictable Dirty Dancing is (and you just know it’s going to climax with a huge dance number), much of its effectiveness rests on that moment, and Swayze nails it before closing the film out in rousing style. Dirty Dancing’s final scene is the big crowd pleaser, meant to send audiences away tapping their foot, so it works in that regards.
In fact, Dirty Dancing mostly works whenever it’s just a glorified music video that allows Swayze’s magnetism take hold as he shakes, rattles, and rolls; it’s a bit more of a drag when it’s caught up in abortions and WASP-y intolerance. Standing up for what you believe in is eventually the message here (as it is in many teen movies), but it’s delivered rather mawkishly. During the film’s last number, someone remarks that the end of this summer somehow feels “different” than other summers, just in case you forgot that Baby’s summer is also meant to be some sort of parable for 60s Americana. That’s easy to forget since the film really refuses to dwell on it (though its best joke is a character’s assumption that America will be victorious in Vietnam); instead, this is just another summer fling movie--hardly the time of your life, but Swayze makes it a pretty good time nonetheless. (Brett G.)
In fact, Dirty Dancing mostly works whenever it’s just a glorified music video that allows Swayze’s magnetism take hold as he shakes, rattles, and rolls; it’s a bit more of a drag when it’s caught up in abortions and WASP-y intolerance. Standing up for what you believe in is eventually the message here (as it is in many teen movies), but it’s delivered rather mawkishly. During the film’s last number, someone remarks that the end of this summer somehow feels “different” than other summers, just in case you forgot that Baby’s summer is also meant to be some sort of parable for 60s Americana. That’s easy to forget since the film really refuses to dwell on it (though its best joke is a character’s assumption that America will be victorious in Vietnam); instead, this is just another summer fling movie--hardly the time of your life, but Swayze makes it a pretty good time nonetheless. (Brett G.)
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