Dirty Dancing (1987)

Spending the summer in a holiday camp with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor Johnny Castle.

Director:

Emile Ardolino

Writer:

Eleanor Bergstein

Stars:

Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Grey	...	Frances 'Baby' Houseman
Patrick Swayze	...	Johnny Castle
Jerry Orbach	...	Dr. Jake Houseman
Cynthia Rhodes	...	Penny Johnson
Jack Weston	...	Max Kellerman
Jane Brucker	...	Lisa Houseman
Kelly Bishop	...	Marjorie Houseman
Lonny Price	...	Neil Kellerman
Max Cantor	...	Robbie Gould
Charles 'Honi' Coles	...	Tito Suarez (as Charles Honi Coles)
Neal Jones	...	Billy Kostecki
'Cousin Brucie' Morrow	...	Magician
Wayne Knight	...	Stan
Paula Trueman	...	Mrs. Schumacher
Alvin Myerovich	...	Mr. Schumacher

Storyline

In 1963, Frances "Baby" Houseman, a sweet daddy's girl, goes with her family to a resort in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains. Baby has grown up in privileged surroundings and all expect her to go on to college, join the Peace Corps and save the world before marrying a doctor, just like her father. Unexpectedly, Baby becomes infatuated with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle, a man whose background is vastly different from her own. Baby lies to her father to get money to pay for an illegal abortion for Johnny's dance partner. She then fills in as Johnny's dance partner and it is as he is teaching her the dance routine that they fall in love. It all comes apart when Johnny's friend falls seriously ill after her abortion and Baby gets her father, who saves the girl's life. He then learns what Baby has been up to, who with and worse - that he funded the illegal abortion. He bans his daughter from any further association with "those people". In the first deliberately willful ...

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Plot Keywords:

dance | abortion | dance instructor | love | resort | 

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Taglines:

First dance. First love. The time of your life.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Baile Caliente

Filming Locations:

Appalachian region, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$162,378 (USA) (22 August 1997)

Gross:

$63,892,689 (USA) (12 September 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Great American Films Limited Partnership, Vestron Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (re-release) Dolby Digital (re-release) Dolby (original release) SDDS (re-release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "She's Like The Wind", originally written for Grandview, U.S.A., was later used in this movie instead.

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Goofs

Before the final dance sequence, as Johnny leaves the stage he starts taking off his jacket. The camera then cuts to off-stage and his jacket is on and he starts taking it off again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Radio disc jockey: [on radio] Hi, everybody, this is your Cousin Brucie. Whoa! Our summer romances are in full bloom, and everybody, but everybody's in love. So cousins, here's a great song from The Four Seasons.
Baby: [voiceover] That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the ...

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Connections

Featured in Indie Sex: Teens (2007)

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Soundtracks

"You Don't Own Me"
Written by John Madara (uncredited) and Dave White Tricker (uncredited)
Performed by The Blow Monkeys
Produced by Peter Wilson and Doctor Robert
The Blow Monkeys - Courtesy of RCA / Ariola International

User Reviews

guilty pleasure

I first saw this movie with my fiancée many years after it came out. I thought I would hate it, but to my surprise it is so cheesy that it's great. We've spent many hours reenacting parts of the movie ("Sylvia?!Yes Mickey?" or "I'm sorry you had to see that Baby. Sometimes in this world we see things that we don't want to."). My financee cracks up every time I imitate Neil. Also the music is classic and fun to sing along with, especially on road trips. Of course I don't admit any of this to my male friends. It's like a guilty pleasure. I seriously watch Dirty Dancing once a month or more and it is just as good every time. Jennifer Grey is also so cute in this movie. Its too bad her career never really took off.