DIRTY DANCING
A film review by Sharon Badian
Copyright 1987 Sharon Badian
I went to see DIRTY DANCING because one of the critics on a NY independent station loved it. Not that I always listen to the critics (far from it, believe me), but he gave it such a glowing review that I couldn't resist. I had not seen any of the ads for it. Which is probably a good thing since it's being pushed as the next SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER-FLASHDANCE-FOOTLOOSE type movie. Obviously they hope to draw the teenagers who spend most of the big bucks on movie tickets. Well, don't be fooled by this bogus advertising!! The movie has more to offer than slick dancing! And it doesn't fall into the all too familiar trap of gratuitous female flesh used only to satisfy a bunch of horny teenage boys.
This movie is not about anything new; the pain of growing up has been dealt with in many movies. But I can't remember another one that does it with such charm and affection. Baby (Jennifer Grey) goes to the Catskills* with her family for a three week vacation. In three weeks, her world changes forever; she becomes a woman, an adult. She's not Daddy's little Baby anymore. There is pain and turmoil, but also humor. It's like real life and maybe, that's why I liked it so much.
The title DIRTY DANCING comes from the fact that the help at the hotel engage in very close dancing at their parties and it is seeing this dancing for the first time, that starts Baby's transformation.
The acting is wonderful. These people seem real. You feel for them. And they can all dance. It's nice to see actors and actresses dancing instead of dancers doing the dancing and actors doing the acting. Both Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze started out as dancers. It's to their credit that they can act too. Together they are like dynamite, dancing or acting.
And I can't stop without saying something about Patrick Swayze. I think all the women in the theater were sighing. He just takes your breath away.
So, forget the advertising. Go see the movie. It will make you feel better.
Sharon Badian ihnp4!hoqax!qaseb
* The Catskills are mountains in NY State where many New York City Jews spent their summers (my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and me included). Though it looks like the Catskills, the movie was actually filmed at a pretty hotel on a lake in southwestern Virginia, near Blacksburg.
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