The Movie Draws You In - and Back to 1963

Rating: 10/10 (28 March 2005)

I have watched this movie at least 30 times, maybe more, and each time I watch it I am drawn into the movie and back to 1963! The Movie takes me on a nostalgic vacation every time I watch it.
I think the important thing to say here is I was 15 in 1963 and I can remember "before President Kennedy was shot and before the Beetles came." I can feel myself saying something like, "I carried a watermelon." and then realizing just how stupid that was! Jennifer Grey plays Frances "Baby" Houseman in Dirty Dancing. Baby is going to start college in the Fall. She goes to Kellerman's for vacation with her family (mom, Dad and sister Lisa).
One of the staff dancers, Penny (played by Cynthia Rhodes) gets pregnant by another staff person (one of the college boys played by Max Cantor) and has a chance to get an abortion but it is on a night that her and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) are scheduled to dance at a nearby hotel.
Thus, the need for a fill-in dancer for Penny. Johnny is persuaded by Penny and his cousin Billy (Neal Jones) that he can teach Baby to do the dance in time for the show. Baby learning the dance steps with Penny and Johnny are wonderful scenes!
Baby's father (Doctor Jake Houseman played by Jerry Orbach) comes to Penny's rescue when the abortion is done wrong. Dirty Dancing brought back to me this time in history when girls got pregnant and had abortions in back rooms by butchers. Around this time (1963) many girls actually died from this type of abortion - but there were not many choices for a girl then.
Lonnie Price plays a great conceited grandson (Neil Kellerman) to Jack Weston's Max Kellerman. Jane Brucker does a great job as Baby's annoying sister Lisa Houseman.
The music is great and the dancing is wonderful! The "dirty dancers" are absolutely wonderful and very sexy - I can feel Baby's astonishment when she first sees them dancing and says, "Where'd they learn to do that?".
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are just perfect together in their respective roles. Patrick's song, "She's Like The Wind" brings tears to my eyes each time I hear/watch it in this movie.
The movie ends on an up note, but leaves you wanting to know what happens next in Baby's and Johnny's lives. Dirty Dancing gives something new each time it is watched - It mesmerizes the watcher with nostalgia, a feeling of wanting it to be 1963 again.