Dirty Dancing (1987)

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

Director:

Emile Ardolino

Writer:

Eleanor Bergstein

Stars:

Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach

Won 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Grey	...	Baby Houseman
Patrick Swayze	...	Johnny Castle
Jerry Orbach	...	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:

coming of age | abortion | teenager | pantyhose | sexy woman | 

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Taglines:

Have the time of your life

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dirty Dancing

Filming Locations:

Appalachian region, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,900,000, 23 August 1987, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$63,954,274, 31 December 1997

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$170,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Great American Films Limited Partnership,Vestron Pictures

Technical Specs

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

According to a December 2008 interview with Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein, the characters of Baby and Johnny were both influenced by Bergstein's own biography. Like "Baby" Houseman, Bergstein came from a liberal Jewish family who visited Catskills resorts during the 1960s. Her father was a doctor, she was nicknamed "Baby" until she was twenty-two-years-old, and her real first name was the same as a famous woman with strong ties to the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration (Eleanor Roosevelt). Like Johnny Castle, Bergstein was a skilled "dirty dancer" who learned at house parties, and later became an Arthur Murray instructor.

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Goofs

Before the final show/dance, Baby is sitting on her bed getting ready. She is wearing a no-seam bra (not available at the time) and rolling up stockings before putting them on when her sister comes in. When Baby is at the party/final dance, she is wearing a backless dress (no bra) and when dancing, she is wearing pantyhose instead of the stockings (and necessary garter-belt) that she was preparing earlier.

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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 Siskel & Ebert: On the Sunny Side of the Screen (1994)

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Soundtracks

Be My Baby
Written by Jeff Barry (uncredited), Ellie Greenwich (uncredited), and Phil Spector (uncredited)
Performed by The Ronettes
Courtesy of Phil Spector International, Inc.
Produced by Phil Spector

User Reviews

Maybe a predictable story of girl gets man of her dreams but this film is still brilliant!!!!

I have been waiting to see this film for ages and I finally have! As soon as I heard the title I knew that this film would be my favourite film ever and when I saw it believe me I wasn't disappointed!

This film had everything dance, love and Patrick Swayze! There was so much in it and it dealt with important issues, (that were at the time, 1960's) , such as abortion.

The dancing in this film was fantastic, just like the acting was! Swayze was brilliant just like Grey was too!

Although this film was absolutely fantastic you cannot say that you have seen it if you haven't seen the last scene. It really does take your breath away as the whole choreography of the last dance was done brilliantly, it had you dancing at the end of the film and it really wouldn't surprise me if it influenced people to take up dancing!

Overall Dirty Dancing is a film NOT to be missed and even if half the actors are in the: "Where are they now?" period the actors will always have this superb film in their career!