The 80's produced some excellent movies

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2011)

This is one of those films you should have seen at least once in your life, but I realised part way in that I haven't actually seen this. Though of course this ultimate 'chick flick' is so very known, it's difficult not to feel you've seen it.
I was surprised to see it set in the 60's, I presume it was a present day and was rather disappointed by what felt like a lack of recreation of the era, it just didn't feel very 60's. It's not really necessary to detail the plot, other than it really is boy meets girl. The story is quite standard, yet it's done quite nicely and even delves into darker territory with abortion and the perils of promiscuity being sub plots.
The leads Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze work well together, with Swayze a handsome lead and amazing to think he was 36 when he made this. Grey is nice as the innocent discovering herself, but I did find her a little too plain. The film's main element for me were the dance scenes an there's plenty of dancing to be had. The leads are excellent dancers and the choreography and camera work are very good; there is also a good soundtrack.
The film has legions of massive fans and it is perhaps easy to see, it's quite a classic story and over the years has spawned a bad sequel and a plethora of wannabe films as well as many skits, parodies and references; one of the films most massive lines, indeed moments is when at the hotel's end of season show, Johnny comes to get Frances and says 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner', but I was quite taken aback at the delivery of this, it seemed really abrupt and almost done so quickly that if you weren't paying attention you may have missed it. Still the ending is quite rousing by the time everyone is up and dancing and ultimately there's a lot of fun and a lot to enjoy in this light romantic drama.
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