Dirty Dancing

**Dirty Dancing** is a 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach and Cynthia Rhodes, directed by Emile Ardolino, written by Eleanor Bergstein and produced by Linda Gottlieb.

## Plot

In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby Houseman is vacationing with her parents, Dr. Jake and Marjorie Houseman, and her older sister Lisa, at Kellerman's, an upscale Catskills resort whose owner Max is a friend of Jake's. Exploring one night, Baby secretly observes Max instructing the waiters, all Ivy League students, to romance the guests' daughters, no matter how unattractive. She also sees Max demeaning the working class entertainment staff, including 25-year-old Johnny Castle, one of the resort's dance instructors. Baby is attracted to Johnny, and dances briefly with him when his cousin, Billy, takes her to one of the staff's secret “dirty” dancing parties.

Baby learns Johnny's dance partner Penny is pregnant by Robbie, a waiter and womanizer who attends Yale medical school and who now has his eye on Lisa. When Robbie refuses to help Penny, Baby, without giving a reason, borrows money from her father Jake to pay for Penny's abortion. At first, Penny declines as it would cause her and Johnny to miss a performance at another nearby resort, costing them the season's salary, but Baby volunteers to stand in for Penny. During her dance sessions with Johnny, they develop a mutual attraction, and except for their failure to execute a climactic lift, Johnny and Baby's performance is successful.

Back at Kellerman's, Penny is gravely injured by the botched abortion, and Baby enlists her father's help to stabilize Penny. Angered by Baby's deception, and assuming Johnny got Penny pregnant, Jake orders Baby to stay away from him. Baby sneaks off to apologize to Johnny for her dad's treatment of him, but Johnny feels he deserves it due to his lower status; Baby reassures him of his own worth and then declares her love for him. The two continue seeing each other but Baby keeps it secret from her father who now refuses to talk to her.

Johnny rejects an indecent proposal by Vivian Pressman, an adulterous wife, who instead sleeps with Robbie foiling Lisa's own plan to lose her virginity to him. When Vivian spots Baby leaving Johnny's cabin she attempts revenge on Johnny by claiming he stole her husband's wallet. Max is ready to fire Johnny, but Baby backs up his alibi, revealing she was with him during the time frame of the theft. The real thieves Sydney and Silvia Schumacher are caught, but Johnny is still fired because of Baby. Before leaving, Johnny tries to talk to Jake, but is only accused of now trying to get at Baby. Baby later apologizes to Jake for lying, but not for her romance with Johnny, and then accuses Jake of class prejudice.

At the end-of-season talent show, Jake gives Robbie money for medical school, but when Robbie admits that he got Penny pregnant, and then insults her and Baby, Jake angrily grabs the money back. Johnny arrives and disrupts the final song by bringing Baby up on stage and declaring that she has made him a better person, and then they do the dance they practiced all summer, ending with a successful performance of the climactic lift. Jake admits he was wrong about Johnny and reconciles with Baby, and all the staff and guests join Baby and Johnny dancing to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".