Modern classics: Dirty Dancing

Nobody puts Baby in the corner, quips Paula Fleri-Soler, as she reminisces about the film that made women’s hearts across the globe melt.

This summer one of the most popular films in modern cinema history celebrated its 25th anni-versary. Dirty Dancing, which launched the late Patrick Swayze to super-stardom was released in August 1987, went on to become a box-office smash both on the big screen and on home video and is now considered a cult classic in the annals of the romantic drama.

That it has oodles of charm remains undeniable- Paula Fleri-Soler

Dirty Dancing started life as a low-budget, no-stars summer flick. At a glance, its plotline looked as thin as the paper it was written on: the coming-of-age story of 17-year-old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman (Jennifer Grey) who embarks on an affair with a dancer (Swayze) while on holiday with her affluent family at the Kellerman Holiday Resort, notwithstanding the objections of her father, Dr Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach).

Dirty Dancing was a favourite of mine on release. Looking back at it now that I am older and possibly more cynical, it admittedly comes across as coy, corny and clichéd, but that it has oodles of charm remains undeniable. This is thanks to the sparkling chemistry between Swayze and Grey whose unfolding story is underscored by a superb multi-million selling soundtrack featuring a number of popular standards from the era plus a couple of new tracks which have certainly stood the test of time, including the evergreen (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. All ingredients that even the biggest cynics out there may find hard to ignore.

Swayze was already relatively well-known. At the time he formed part of the so-called Brat Pack with roles in films such as The Outsiders (1983) and in the hugely successful TV series North and South in 1985 before Dirty Dancing made him an international star.

The role of Johnny Castle played to his strengths as a singer and dancer, and I will admit to a pang of sadness knowing that this good-looking, sexy and talented actor would be struck down by cancer just 22 years after the film’s release.

His co-star Grey at the time was 27 but played a 17-year-old very convincingly – the actress nailing the character’s initial awkwardness and clumsiness. She and Swayze played very well opposite one another, the scenes where he exasperatedly tries to teach her to dance when she is called upon to replace his dance partner Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) in a moment of crisis proving to be delightful, while their final number together once Johnny rescues her from her corner table – spawning one of cinema’s most quoted lines – is just cinematic toe-tapping, emotional and uplifting magic

Despite its relative frothiness the film tackles some issues which were certainly taboo in the period in which it is set (the early 1960s). Penny is pregnant and procures an illegal abortion; the dance movies that were emerging at the time were considered vulgar but were on the cusp of becoming mainstream (hence the title) but it was also nearing the end of innocence for the American dream – the action takes place a few months before President Kennedy’s assassination and it was the time when America’s youth were breaking free from the shackles of their parents – and unexciting holidays in mountain resorts – and becoming more independent free spirits.

This is represented by Baby’s journey throughout the film and the poignant and heart-warming relationship she has with her father. Like everything in the film, it is tackled with a disarming simplicity and honesty.

The film opened to pretty decent reviews across the board. “Dirty Dancing works best when it’s most direct and unpretentious,” said the New York Times, adding that “director Emile Ardolino doesn’t clutter the film with extraneous, sentimental detail, nor even with too much colourful (and familiar) detail about life in your usual Catskill resort hotel”.