Whirling Sex

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2013)

The ultimate dance flick is still a timeless gem from the 1980s. It may lack polish or even sensibility, but the charm is unrelenting. Fronted by the heavenly pairing of Jennifer Grey as the timid town girl Frances 'Baby' Houseman with a need to exhale and the unforgettable Patrick Swayze as booty shaking dance instructor Johnny Castle. Sets in 1953, it centres around a simple case of mésalliance, when up-town teenager on holiday in Catskills resort falls for the crass, but empathic dancer. Aptly named Baby she is the apple of her father's eye, perfect and untainted. But growing up brings about urges and changes - idyllic family relationships are bound to either adapt or fall apart.
"Dirty Dancing" delivers a deeply felt promise of naive youthful romance with unbelievable chemistry between the two main protagonists. The story may be simple (albeit brings in a pretty touchy issue of abortion), but filled with magic which inexplicably refuses to die away with age or repeated watching. Even now, as an adult I seem still somewhat embarrassingly enticed by the simplistic allure, albeit notice the inherent flaws, stereotypical characters or shortcomings of the entire story. What is probably still the most successful in this movie is its terrific score with what could possibly be the best pop musical score in movie history.
Probably the highlight of Patrick Swayze's career (although "Ghost" probably would give it some competition), "Dirty Dancing" turned out to be just 15 minutes of fame for Jennifer Grey, who self-mutilated her career by plastic surgery, which dispossessed her of a peculiarly enticing Roman nose, replacing it with something more generic and changing her beyond recognition.