DVD REVIEW: DIRTY DANCING – 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Way, way too much info about a film you probably hate.

The Humans

Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes.

The Nutshell

Frances “Baby” Houseman, a spoiled little daddy’s girl is stuck vacationing with her parents at a posh summer camp in the Catskills in 1963. Initially thinking that the summer going to be a torturous snooze, Baby is surprised when she discovers Johnny Castle, the lead camp dance instructor and instantly falls for him. Johnny is a greaser and free spirit and moonlights dancing at a club with his partner. They also spend their nights with their working class colleagues partaking of much more risqué dance and music than is allowed at the camp. Baby finds herself drawn not only to Johnny, but his music and dance and the potential to escape all of the restrictions her parents have placed on her and that she’s placed on herself (god I’ve just grown tits from writing that single paragraph).

The Lowdown

Okay, we all know that this film vies with either Pretty Woman, Ghost, Steel Magnolias or Beaches for king of the all-time chick flicks. It was a cultural phenomenon when this low budget and little-heralded film burst on the scene and made a mint at the box office, even before ticket prices made it so you had to pawn something in order to see a movie. Not only did it essentially launch the career of ex-Russkie fighter Patrick Swayze, but also showed us that Ferris Bueller’s sister was hotter than we thought, despite a nose that could shade most of sub-Saharan Africa. It spawned three hit songs, including one that was sung by said Soviet battler and another that won the Oscar. Chances are, if you were horny in 1987 and had a lively prospect with ovaries, this film helped you close the deal. So now it’s 20 years later and Dirty Dancing’s back with this anniversary edition DVD.

Since it’s highly doubtful that many of you have managed to not see this film at some point within the last two decades – especially if you’ve spent time with a chick you had carnal interest in. I consider Saturday Night Fever to be the modern harbinger of several types of movies, including the young person struggling toward a dream, which include Flashdance, 8 Mile, Save the Last Dance, Center Stage, Coyote Ugly, and a gazillion other films of that ilk; and also just good ole fashion dance movies. Dirty Dancing wasn’t simply the latest in that long line; it stood out like no other film mentioned in terms of establishing an ironclad cult following that didn’t involve fake Vulcan ears or fat teens battling with lit up glow rods, or the word “boomstick”. Dirty Dancing is an honest to god fangirl flick. And it can be as scary as any Trekkie with a homemade bat’leth.

So with all that being said, can the film possibly be watchable, even 20 years later? Well, I’m about to say something that you may think is going to take what meager street cred I’ve got and pour estrogen all over it, but I’ve never minded Dirty Dancing. I’ve never gone out of my way to watch it (until now), but I’ve never minded it. In terms of quality chick flicks (oxymoron I know), I rate it quite a bit below Pretty Woman and Ghost but still far above the dreck of Beaches and Steel Magnolias. Thus, allow me to give you five quick reasons why Dirty Dancing doesn’t suck…at least not entirely:

1. It gave us the Swayze. Despite his dearth of watchable films in the last decade plus, there was a time when Swayze got gimself on somewhat of a roll with Ghost, and the endlessly fun Road House and Point Break.. Of course before then there was The Outsiders, Red Dawn, and TV’s North and South (which I liked quite a bit at the time). But this was the film that made him a household name. Yes friends, was a time, however brief, that the Swayze ruled all.

2. Jennifer Grey was never hotter. Can’t say much more than that because I haven’t seen her in anything other than this and Bueller…and apparently neither has anyone else.

3. Umm…did I mention Swayze?

Regardless, what you can at least partially admire about the film is that it didn’t have many pretensions when it was made. You look at any teen coming-of-age movie these days and they’re all such derivative angst-ridden, flashy, hip hop cookie cutter twaddle that could be recast totally and not miss a beat. Dirty Dancing did at least have an earnestness to it. It just tried to tell a story (in a period piece no less, which you hardly ever see anymore), and although it ended up baselining estrogen directly into your bloodstream, there was a sincerity and purity of motive to it. The film barely got made to begin with, so there wasn’t a big machine behind it to subvert worldwide maleness…that was just happenstance.

The Package