One of the biggest films of the 80's!

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2001)

One rainy day, in the year 2000, 13 years after it's release, I sat and watched Dirty Dancing. I am upset that I didn't see it when it was in the cinema and in its popular run with the world. Baby's opening lines are a good place to start my review - "It was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's."
At a summer camp Baby meets Johnny Castle, who teaches interested vacationers how to dance, and in his off hours dirty dances with other dancers. When Johnny loses his regular dancing partner, Baby volunteers to learn his routine to help him out of a tight spot. As the summer winds down, the dancing pair must come to grips with responsibility, love and each others growing expectations.
Undoubtedly, the greatest part of this film are the scenes where we get to see some great dancing. The very first scenes with it in my view where in some way erotic, yet had an infectious feel on me. The dancing is very intense and heavy. It is no wonder they call it 'dirty dancing'. It must have been hard to find the right dancers to perform in this movie, but I feel they did get it right. The main part of the cast must have been able to dance a little too, cause if they couldn't have it would have made the film very erratic, and nowhere near as good as it was. Plus the ending of the film is great, with the two main characters getting up and showing the audience what they do best.
The cast of Dirty Dancing was pretty good. Patrick Swayze, who played Johnny proved to me how talented he really was. His on-air relations with Jennifer Grey, and his dancing parts of this film were great. His lead in this is also deserves much praise. Swayze has had an eventful career, starring in Ghost, one of the big films of the 90's, and Black Dog alongside music legend Meatloaf. However, Jennifer Grey is an actress who I had never heard of until this movie, yet I loved her role in this immensely. Her characters struggles in this film were well acted by her, yet by the end she really shows that she can dance too. I have recently seen one of her other films which i think the whole world liked, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and I must admit that wasn't a bad film. However, Grey did not cash in on her success as Baby in Dirty Dancing, because I believe the movie loving public did not get to see enough of her afterwards, which was very disappointing.
The one thing I do remember vividly at the time this film was doing well was the main song on the soundtrack, 'I've had the time of my life'. When I heard this in the film itself last year, I really got into it. The musical version of it is great. Yet the soundtrack is full of other great hits like Hungry eyes, She's Like the Wind (performed by Patrick Swayze) and Overload just to name a few. Everyone I talk to about this movie says "Hey have you got the soundtrack to that?" It is amazing what effect a movie's soundtrack can have on people and Dirty Dancing's is great soundtrack to have.
Finally, the movie's story is what I would call a bit 'mushy', but don't let that distract you from what a great film this is. The brilliant dancing and soundtrack is what I will remember most from this movie. I also like this movie for the fact that it shows some great dancing, which makes me a little jealous, considering that dancing is not one of my strong points. Lastly, let me leave you with this thought. I heard last year that an new version of Dirty Dancing was to be made, with people such as Ricky Martin and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead roles. I believe that a newer version of this sort of film won't be the same, cause Dirty Dancing, the original, has a certain historical look, that no new film could ever capture the same.
Rating: 4 Stars or 8/10