Arin Thompson
Daily Egyptian
Running Time: 96 min.
Director: Emile Ardolino
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey
Gusheads: 2
The thing dirty about "Dirty Dancing" is that some people actually took this movie seriously.
The movie is centered on a group of high school students and high school dropouts who really enjoy to dance as a sort of rebellious thing against their parents.
Patrick Swayze (Ghost) plays dance instructor Johnny Castle and makes his acting assertion in "Dirty Dancing."
The movie follows two incredibly good-looking kids, Johnny Castle and Francis "Baby" Houseman, played by Jennifer Grey ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Bounce") and their antics and love affair over a summer spent at "Kellerman's Holiday Resort."
The plot is somewhat unrealistic because not all kids spend holidays at a lavish resort under the protective wings of rich, overzealous parents.
The acting is not the best, but Swayze is a heartthrob and will probably have people dressing in silk shirts with tight, black jeans in no time.
Jennifer Grey does a good job in this film at pulling off a believable rich girl who is desperately trying to find her identity. Lucky for her, she finds it in dancing while most people must go searching through years of a college education, and even then they might not meet Mr. Right.
The film has all the right moves, however. It has the heartache, it has the drama, it has the family conflict, but most importantly, it has the soundtrack.
"Now I've had the time of my life/No I've never felt this way before/Yes I swear, it's the truth, and I owe it all to you."
Swayze warms up his pipes for the movie as well with his ballad, "She's Like the Wind."
"Look in the mirror and all I see/Is a young old man with only a dream/Am I just fooling myself that she'll stop the pain/Living without her/I'd go insane"
"Dirty Dancing" has numerous romantic scenes. In one, they are practicing their dance moves on the logs and another when the happy couple is practicing in the lake. The two have chemistry on the screen unmatched by any other film, except maybe the "respectable" romance films that don't involve dancing, like "Gone with the Wind" or "Casablanca."
The writers must have had a sense of humor because the dialogue doesn't reflect much else.
Johnny Castle: "You just put your pickle on everybody's plate, college boy, and leave the hard stuff to me."
And for all of those times when we would like to cram our foot down our throats, this is probably what's running through our heads:
Johnny: "Yo cuz, What's she doing here?"
Billy: "She's with me. She came with me."
"Baby" Houseman: "I carried a watermelon."
Baby to herself: "I carried a watermelon."
Or when Baby starts to grow up and Johnny is proud of her for swallowing her pride. Man, it's heart wrenching.
Johnny: I've never known anybody like you, Baby. You look at the world and you think you can make it better. If somebody's lost, you find them. If somebody's bleedin'...
Baby: Yeah, I go get my daddy. That's really brave. Like you said.
Johnny: That took a lotta guts to go to him. You are not scared of anything...
Baby: Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw. I'm scared of what I did, of who I am. And most of all ... I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you.
But by far, the best quote of all has to be near the end, before their crushing romantic dance scene when Johnny finally stands up to Baby's dad.
Johnny: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
"Dirty Dancing" puts on a good show for the audience, both in content and drama, but ultimately it is not a classic by any means. The movie is just too generic for a second viewing. Only boy-crazy pre-teen girls will watch this one more than once.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
