DIRTY DANCING
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Good story about a teenaged girl's
coming-of-age at a Jewish resort in the Catskills of New York
(actually it was filmed in North Carolina). Some very good
dancing. The plot was a little contrived.
At least one film critic and one three-dimensional person have told me that DIRTY DANCING is the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER of the 1980s. I can see what they mean. The dancing hooks the kids and then they see a good story of human values anyway. It's a good way to solve the problem of "I don't want to see a film with character development. hey, let's get Mikey to watch it." The problem is that while the story is good, it is a little pat. Things work out a little too well. Life is not really like that. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER is a genuine slice-of-life film. Things do not all work out right, but they do work out like they do in life. It is not true at the end of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER that "all's right with the world," but some progress has been made and that is a victory. DIRTY DANCING is a good film too. It is good like ON GOLDEN POND. But it lacks the grit of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.
DIRTY DANCING is the story, set in 1963, of how Baby Houseman (played by Jennifer Grey) comes of age during a two-week stay at a resort in the Catskill Mountains. (Actually the resort film is becoming its own sub- genre. The best of the lot is probably THE GIG.) She gets involved with the resort dance instructor (played by Patrick Swayze), and Penny, a pregnant but unwed dancer (played by Cynthia Rhodes). Baby has a natural desire to get involved with people in trouble and try to set things right, but in doing so she risks hurting her own relationship with her father (played by Jerry Orbach).
The title refers to two or three steamy scenes of dancing, but really erotic "dirty" dancing is sort of a paste-on to the plot. Professional mambo dancing is much more important, but let's face it, who under 60 years of age would go to see a film called PROFESSIONAL MAMBO DANCING? When it got to video, it would end up with the instruction tapes.
Acting honors for the piece go to Grey, who really does seem to transform, but they also go to Jerry Orbach, who presents a real aura of integrity. He is sort of the father that everyone wishes they had. For being a little too neat and pat, this film gets a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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