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“Dirty Dancing,” released in 1987, is a well-known classic romantic drama written by Eleanor Bergstein based on her personal experiences, such as summer vacations and dance parties. It’s a love story about a young woman named Frances Houseman (Jennifer Grey) falling in love with her dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) while on vacation at a resort with her parents and sister in Catskills, New York.
There is some controversy toward this movie, as it includes situations such as abortion and an age gap, however, it’s a huge part of the plot. Houseman is 17 years old and Castle is 25, which leaves an eight year difference. Houseman had to take the place of Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes), so Castle becomes her instructor, where she falls in love with him very fast.
Johnson couldn’t perform with Castle because of her pregnancy by Robbie Gould, known as the womanizing waiter who abandoned her. Houseman is known to be a kind, young, sweetheart of a character known to be the non rebel good girl. So Houseman asks her dad for money without telling him why (the abortion) for Johnson, giving her dad reasons not to trust her and building up tension throughout the movie.
Castle was known as the top style “hottie” dancer. In the film, some call him a show off, but at the end of the day he is lower class and living off the money he gets gig by gig. Although he is charming, yet cynical, he has a rebellious side that makes him very misunderstood, so people see him differently than who he really is.
Houseman sees a sensitive and vulnerable side of him, understanding him for his true, honest, and authentic self. However, her father had a problem with her feelings, since he views Castle as a threat, playboy, bad influence, and a lower class degenerate. Castle’s reputation is what everybody sees, people assume things about him, oftentimes making rumors of what’s not true.
This movie has numerous famous quotes, one being, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” which Castle said to Houseman’s father Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach) before pulling her away for the finale dance lift scene. The quote voices that a talented person should never be dismissed or forced to hide their true self, and to not shy away from what one’s capable of. Expressing the encouragement to embrace your own worth.
The second quote is Houseman’s first words to Castle, where he asked why she’s in the private dance, she said “I carried a watermelon.”. It’s a humorous line that reveals her moments of social awkwardness, but yet she is mesmerized by Castle’s conventional attractiveness and the confident expressive performance just moments ago.
The film goes between rough tension, feel-good moments, bold statements, and awkward bits, becoming an all-embracing emotional rollercoaster. Although the film is comedic and full of romantic value, you often have to try seeing from a character’s point of view to understand the emotional aspects with occasional empathy.
“Dirty Dancing” includes the art of largely based Latin and ballroom dancing, known for its sensual, upclose, and exaggerated romance style movements. Occasionally throughout the movie ballet and jazz makes an appearance in the dance choreography too, it gives the movie a better variety for the art of dance. The film embraces specific dances such as the cha-cha, mambo, rumba, and the classic lift also known as the high bird. Overall, the film’s characters are portrayed with emotions and tension, and the plot is surrounded by details that makes the movie captivating in its own unique expression. I would rate “Dirty Dancing” a 3.3 📼 out of 5.0 📼, for people who love dramatic tension filled romance and dance.
