dirty dancing

Filmed at Mountain Lake in Virginia and at Lake Lure in North Carolina (although the film was set in Upstate New York), Dirty Dancing was distributed by Vestron Pictures. The movie became a major hit after it was released, despite being a low-budget film with no major stars (at the time). Its soundtrack is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time, and it spawned several hit singles, including "She's Like the Wind," written and sung by Swayze; "Hungry Eyes" sung by Eric Carmen; and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", composed by Franke Previte and sung by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, which won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

Tagline: Have the time of your life.

Plot summary

Frances "Baby" Houseman (Grey) is vacationing with her wealthy, Jewish, Suburban New York family at Kellerman's, a fictional resort in the Catskill Mountains of New York in the summer of 1963. Baby is the liberal feminist in the family, planning to attend Mount Holyoke College to study economics and enter the Peace Corps, and does not feel she fits in with the traditional stereotypes that suit her sister Lisa perfectly. Baby's father, Jake, is resort owner Max Kellerman's personal physician and right away the family receives special treatment, including giving their permission for Robbie, their dining room captain to have a summer romance with Lisa.

One evening, while at the family ballroom dance, Baby sees a latin dance demonstration by the resort's dance instructor Johnny Castle (Swayze) and his dance partner Penny. Johnny is by all standards a bad-boy rebel, part of the working class staff whom all the resort-goers treat like their servants, whose good looks turn more than one female patron's head including Baby's. Later on that same evening, while out for a walk, stirring music draws her to the staff quarters where "dirty dancing" is all the rage. This dancing is up close and personal, not the stiff formal style people from her parents' generation are accustomed to. Here she gets a taste of the new dancing; Baby is hooked.

Then, while out on a date with the smarmy Neil Kellerman - nephew of Max - Baby sees Penny crying in the dining room kitchen, and it comes to light that Penny is pregnant by Robbie - the same Robbie whom Baby's sister Lisa is dating. When she approaches Robbie about the subject and his plans to do nothing about the pregancy, Baby secures the money from her father to pay for Penny's illegal abortion. In her efforts to help, however, Baby becomes Penny's fill-in for a performance at the Shelldrake, a nearby resort where Johnny and Penny are annual performers.

As Baby becomes Johnny's pupil in dance, tempers flare and sparks fly between the two young people. But the stakes begin to rise when Penny's abortion is botched and Baby goes to her father for help, and he forbids her to have anything to do with the rest of Johnny's friends - he mistakenly believes that Johnny was the father and has now moved on to a 'greener pasture' in his teenage daughter - and the two young lovers must keep their romance a secret.

Events come to a head when Johnny is accused of robbing the husband of a female guest after he turned her down for sex. Baby reveals herself to be Johnny's alibi, which while clearing his name, ends up costing him his job for having a relationship with a guest. In the film's climactic scene, Johnny returns to the resort, to perform the 'final dance of the season' with Baby, whom her parents see for the first time as more than their teenage daughter and see her as a young woman who is growing up. Jake is also able to admit his fault in his accusation towards Johnny for 'getting Penny in trouble' and compliments his daughter for her wonderful dancing ability.

The film ends with the formal ballroom being essentially transformed into a nightclub where the snobby upper-class patrons and the working class kids bring together all their own styles of dance, proving that dance and music and above all love do not know class barriers.

Main cast

• Patrick Swayze - Johnny Castle
• Jennifer Grey - Frances "Baby" Houseman
• Jerry Orbach - Dr. Jake Houseman
• Kelly Bishop - Marjorie Houseman
• Cynthia Rhodes - Penny Johnson
• Jack Weston - Max Kellerman
• Max Cantor - Robbie Gould

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, was released in 2004. Although not a remake by any means, Havana Nights showcases a similar storyline about an American teenager relocated to Havana, Cuba just before the revolution. Patrick Swayze appears as a dance teacher.

Pop culture references

Johnny Castle's line that "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" was used as the title of two works in homage to the film:

• Episode 2.07 of teen drama/neo-noir TV series Veronica Mars.
• A song by emo band Fall Out Boy which appears on both My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue and From Under the Cork Tree. The first is an acoustic version; the latter, an electric.

Popularity in teen culture

Johnny and Baby's relationship is cited by many adolescents (usually females) as the ultimate romance. The film has, in fact, gained an almost cult following among teenage girls, and many quotes from it (particularly "Nobody puts Baby in a corner") are now familiar catchphrases. ^{citation needed]}

Importance in movie history

Dirty Dancing has been featured in three installments of the American Film Institute's AFI 100 Years... series, starting in 2002 when it was ranked #93 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions list. It was next seen in 2004 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list, with its Academy Award-winning song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" ranking #86. It was seen again in 2005 listed Johnny's famous line "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" was ranked #98 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list.

See also

• 1950s nostalgia films

External links

• Dirty Dancing at the Internet Movie Database
• Musical climax of film at YouTube.
• article on the cultural phenomenon and West End stage adaptation
• Behind the scenes West End blog