Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing

Some movies become so ingrained in popular culture that it's hard for the whole thing to live up to its more iconic moments. The Seven Year Itch has that part where Marilyn Monroe's dress flies up, but literally everything else about it is terrible. The Jazz Singer famously brought sound to film, but it's also an hour and a half of Al Jolson doing blackface. Dirty Dancing famously has "Nobody puts baby in the corner" and "Time of My Life," but the rest is actually pretty surprising.

The story itself is typical. A rich girl has to learn how to dance before a big recital because the boy she's in love with is a dancer and his usual partner can't do the dance because she's getting an abortion. Oh, yeah, abortion plays a huge part in this movie. It's pretty shocking considering the film was made in the 80's and is pretty much only known as "that Patrick Swayze dance movie," but it doesn't get too graphic or depressing when dealing with the subject. It's all pretty clinical and never feels judgmental. Other than that it's the typical training sequences and falling in love and parents disapproving and someone getting caught lying and the couple having a falling out but then getting back together again, and so on and so forth. Even though it burns through a lot of cliches, it does so in a well-paced and entertaining way. I never felt bored.

A lot of the entertainment comes from the chemistry between Grey and Swayze. This is a very sexy movie, with lots of sexy dancing and sexy moments between sexy people. The dancing truly does live up to its dirty title. While Swayze is initially unlikable and Grey is initially awkward, they help each other grow into more interesting and fun characters through their tension-filled interactions. Swayze has a gruff charm and Grey an earnest likability, which makes them a very enticing onscreen couple.

There are more memorable sequences in this film besides the famous line and the famous song. In fact, it's been a week or so since I watched the movie and I still remember almost all of it. Each training scene is put in a memorable location (like on a log or on the floor), every character is distinct whether it be in an good or a bad way, and the song choices are all right on the money. When Grey enters that undoubtedly sweaty room to see everyone her age bumping and grinding to "Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)" by The Contours, it's kind of a perfect moment. Same can be said for the "Lover Boy" and "Time of My Life" sequences. While the whole film takes place in one location (a recreational resort in the Catskills), they find ways to make each scene stand out in one way or another. It's impressive.

If you love dancing (especially sexy dancing) or romance (especially sexy romance), you'll have a fun sexy time watching this fun sexy movie that you won't soon fun sexy forget.