iconic memorable charming melodrama

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2014)

It's 1963 in more innocent times. Baby (Jennifer Grey) is a daddy's girl who only wants to be in the Peace Corps. She and her family is spending the summer in Kellerman's Mountain House in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains. It's a vanilla existence until she starts to see the world behind the curtains. The waiters are all recruited from the ivy leagues in order to flirt with the daughters especially the dogs. The owner's son is a jerk that is pushed on Baby. Then she discovers the help's party. When Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) needs an abortion, Baby agrees to take her place in a dance show with charismatic dancer Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Then Penny gets horribly ill, and her doctor father (Jerry Orbach) comes to the rescue discovering that Baby lied to get the money for the abortion. He forbids her to associate with those people, and Baby is forced to disobey his father for the first time in her life.
This is an absolute charmer. It is very old school melodrama. Like the time period, this movie is a much more innocent fare. Of course, there are the iconic scenes, the memorable dance move, the fun, and the great song. On top of everything, there is the beautiful Jennifer Grey and the charming Patrick Swayze. The biggest complaint seems to be the clinches and the sentimentality. However that's most of its charm. It's an uncomplicated times gone by.