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:

First dance. First love. 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

The "Cry to Me" love scene was longer and featured "She's Like The Wind" performed by Patrick Swayze. The scene was cut and replaced by Johnny and Baby making love. The longer version of the "Cry to Me" love scene was featured in the deleted scenes on the 2007 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD release.

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Goofs

During the final dance, Johnny signals to Baby they should leave. They head for the exit and are stopped by Baby's dad who tells Johnny that he knows about Robbie and Penny. The next scene they are in the middle of the dance floor again finishing the song.

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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

Referenced in Along Came Polly (2004)

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Soundtracks

Love Is Strange
Written by Mickey Baker (uncredited), Sylvia Robinson (uncredited), and Ethel Smith (uncredited)
Performed by Mickey & Sylvia
Courtesy of Sugar Hill Records

User Reviews

Perfection

One word sums up this film "Perfection". That's it really!! I saw this film in 1987 when it was released and was completely blown away and like Baby I fell in love with Johnny and Patrick Swayze. It has such classic lines as "I carried a watermelon" and "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" and too many others to mention. I loved the story, the characters, the setting, the dancing, and well … the music was phenomenal not one bad song in the whole soundtrack. It just shows that you don't have to spend a fortune to make a great film. Thank you to the cast and crew for making such a wonderful film which makes me smile like a Cheshire cat whenever I watch it.