Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance... more
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Dirty Dancing [1987]
As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural
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phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by...
Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Christopher Misiano, Alex Graves, Vincent Misiano, Paris Barclay, Thomas Schlamme - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over
Advantages: Total Escapism, great dancing and music Disadvantages: None at all unless you hate 80's kitch
...have done so far. As Dirty Dancing was her favourite I thought it only fair I give it a go. I only hope I can do it justice!
Director: Emile Ardolino
Writer:Eleanor Bergstein
Release Date: 1987
Genre: Romantic Drama/Dance
Run Time: 100mins
Age Suitability: 15+ (not sure why as it is fairly clean)
Amazon DVD Price: £5.49
***About the Director***
Emile Ardolino, who died at the age of 50 in 1993 of Aids had enjoyed a moderate amount of success ... ...in a cameo appearance in Dirty Dancing.
***About the Writer***
Eleanor hasn't had a huge amount of success as a Writer apart from Dirty Dancing which was based on the summer camp she and her family used to visit as a child. Apart from Dirty Dancing she has written two relatively unknown films (well, I have never heard of them) Let it be me for which she also acted as Director in 1995 and her first film in 1980, It's my Turn. ***Plot Summary***
...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Best combination of passionate dancing and a wonderful love story! Disadvantages: It's just a film ;)
...Genre: Dancing film
Original title: Dirty Dancing
Dolby Digital
Year: 1987
Country: USA
Captions: German, English and Spanish
Freed at 12
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The actors
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Let's begin with the best or just most popular actor of the film: Patrick Swayze. In Dirty Dancing he takes the part of Johnny Castle and he does a perfect job! Apart from the aspect that he graduated a training as ballet dancer before his career as an actor, the observer ... ...so, because with the film Dirty Dancing Jennifer Grey had the breakthrough in the show business, for what she, and also Patrick Swayze, got nominated for the Golden Globe.
Another important actor in Dirty Dancing is Cynthia Rhodes alias Penny Johnson, the real dancing partner and passed by love of Johnny. Even if her scenes aren't that full of dancing than the ones of our leading actors, you can see her love in dancing, too. But of course there ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Dirty Dancing. What a film. This film was up there with the big boys when it was released back in 1987. I suppose you could call it the Billy Elliot of the late 80’s (though having not seen Billy Elliot, I can’t say I’m right on this one!) I know that I only got to watch it when I was about 11, so that would have been about 1990, and I also can’t remember much of the hype that may have surrounded it. I’m just going on ... ...which is basically where the dirty dancing part comes into it! At this staff get together we have Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Basically he is the good looking bloke that everyone seems to look up to. He is also the top dance teacher on the camp. Frances falls for him straight away. However, he already has a girl. Fast forward a bit and Johnny’s now ex girlfriend want an abortion as she is pregnant. Trouble is, she needs some money, which ...
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Advantages: Great girlie film for the young, nice music and simple plot Disadvantages: none
...Orbach). The watching of Dirty Dancing became a regular occurrence in my home and even today I confess to owning a copy on DvD, which when I am feeling a little blue or want to have some me time I put my feet up, get a bottle of white wine and relax. The Story.
It is the Summer of 1963 and 16 year old Frances Houseman is travelling on holiday with her parents and elder sister Lisa. Her father being a doctor does not get the luxury of holidays very ... ...their 3 week break to Kellerman’s. ‘Baby’ has aspirations of joining the peace corp but within a couple of hours of arriving at the site she attends a forbidden staff party where they no longer dance the Mambo or Cha-cha but have learnt dances of their own. The lead dancers are the dance instructors Johnny Castle and Penny who have known and worked with each other for years. During the day they teach the dances that Kellermans expects but by night. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: very romantic, great music Disadvantages: none
...the most romantic movies ever… Dirty Dancing! I was 12 years old when this film came into the cinemas in 1987, and until today I like watching it sometimes.
The plot
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Summer 1963 Francis (Jennifer Grey) is 16 and everyone still calls her ‘Baby’. She goes to a 3-week-club-holiday to 'Kellerman’s' with her parents and her stupid sister Lisa. She still cannot imagine meeting one day a better guy than her Dad. But ... ...(Patrick Swayze) at a forbidden staff-party. Johnny and his dance-partner Penny give dance lessons. Baby is stunned about the ‘dirty’ way these people dance on this party – during the day they all behave very normal and Johnny teaches ‘civilised’ dances like Merengue, Mambo, Chacha.
One of the next days, Baby finds a crying Penny in the hotel’s kitchen. She gives Johnny a shout for help and thy bring Penny to ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...DirtyDancing is fantastic and will have you tapping your feet the whole way through I stronlgy recommend this film as it has been my favourite for years from a very young age and is suitable for all different generations with a gripping love story between baby and johnny castle and music you cant help but move your feet to. The dertermination of babys father to keep baby and johnny apart after babys change of character also makes this film must see viewing. The various dancing types makes the film interesting and very fun to watch. If your enjoy dancing yourself as I then this film will really get your taste buds tingling. This is a must have for any DVD collection....
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Advantages: It's a good laugh to watch people getting it wrong Disadvantages: Expensive, poor soundtrack, does not resemble routines from movie
...I love dirtydancing and was expecting this DVD to at least contain some of the music from the original soundtrack, if not routines that were choreographed to bare some resemblance to the routines in the movie.
The music at time is so bad that it is barely recognizable as being from the soundtrack and the routines, that are not 'dirty' by any stretch of the imagination, are not in time with the music that is being played so even those with a great sense of rhythm struggle to follow them.
It's also very confusing when being told there will be two repetitions of a move, there are actually three and when being told to go to the right the instructor goes to his left. The four women doing the routines struggle to follow the instructor so I am not surprised in the least that I struggled.
The only sweat I broke into whilst doing this DVD...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Dancing and Patrick Swayze Disadvantages: Absolutley NONE
...Well another great little pressie from Santa this year was my DirtyDancingDVD. I am a massive fan of this film and never miss it when it is shown on the TV.
STORY
The film is set in the summer of 1963.
'Baby' Frances Houseman and her family are on their holiday staying at a holiday resort in the Catskill Mountains.
Baby takes no interest in the holiday resorts activities and really starts to enjoy her holiday when she stumbles upon the staff quarters and sees a whole new side to life. She walks into a dance party and gets to meet Johnny, the resorts dance teacher. She soon learns that she cannot dance and has no rhythm.
Johnny's dance partner is forced to pull out of a dance show due to ill health and so she suggests that Baby learns the dance routine and takes her place.
The story develops showing the process of learning...
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Actor(s): Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, Jerry Orbach, Wayne Knight, Jack Weston, Kelly Bishop, Max Cantor, Miranda Garrison, Garry Goodrow, Neal Jones, Lonny Price
Director(s): Emile Ardolino
Genre: Drama - Romantic
Classification: 15 years and over
Production Year: 1987
Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Video Category: Feature Film
Country Of Origin: United States of America
Plot: It's summer, 1963. Frances, seventeen and innocent, is on holiday with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny--the hotel dance instructor--and is mesmerised by him and his dance style. She soon becomes Johnny's prize pupil, in dance and in love.
Release details
DVD Region: Region 2 (Europe)
Studio(s): COLUMBIA TRI-STAR HOME VIDEO; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date: 02/07/2001
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: ARD 11002
Editor: Peter Frank
Barcode: 5035822100251
Production Designer: David Chapman
Choreographer: Kenny Ortega
Composer: John Morris
Director of Photography: Jeffrey Jur
Producer: Linda Gottlieb, Eleanor Bergstein
Voice: John Morris
Art Director: David Chapman
Costume Designer: Hilary Rosenfeld
DVD Description
Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance instructor from the wrong side of the tracks. Johnny's facing a crisis: his dance partner and friend Penny is pregnant and has reluctantly decided to get an abortion. This leaves Johnny a solo act--until Baby agrees to take Penny's place. She has to learn how to dance first, however, and as Johnny teaches her the choreography's sexy, seductive moves, the two fall in love. But Baby's father believes that Johnny is the creep who got Penny pregnant, and he furiously orders Baby to end the relationship. Baby knows that Johnny's innocent--and with her feisty idealism and his dance talent, the two will prove to Baby's father that their love is worth fighting for.
Languages
Main Language: English
Subtitle Language: None
Technical information
Special Features: Learn To Dirty Dance, Audio Commentary From The Creator Eleanor Bergstein, Filmographies, Trailer
Aspect Ratio: 1.78 Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review: "...Nicely bittersweet....A drive and a pulse that give the film real excitement..." (New York Times, p.C3, 21/08/1987)
"...Some nice dance sequences and a likable performance by Jennifer Grey make the film more than watchable..." (Variety, 20/05/1987)