Sometimes the movie business is completely unpredictable. There is no telling what type of movie the audience will respond to. Dirty Dancing is a low budget film, made with out any big name stars and released by a studio that had never released a film before. It was directed by a director who's only other film was a documentary and almost every one who saw it in pre-screenings thought it was terrible. Vestron, the studio that made it released the movie in late August 1987 expecting it to spend a weekend being seen by teens, it's target audience, and then go straight to home video.
Instead the movie became a worldwide phenomenon. The movie made $63 million dollars in it's initial release. Dirty dancing became a cultural touchstone for the '80s. It had a worldwide gross of $170 million dollars and the majority of tickets were sold to adults who admitted to seeing the movie more than once. It has been nicknamed "Star Wars for girls". The movie was the first film to sell over a million copies on home video. It had multi-platinum soundtrack albums, spawned a sequel and a stage musical adaptation bound for Broadway.
Why did this film strike such a chord with audiences, especially women? The secret is way director Emile Ardolino captured the chemistry between stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Their relationship on screen appears to be totally authentic. In addition they make the actual dancing look effortless, but still appear that they have to work at it. The odd mix of pop hits from the 60's and new music from 1987 seems to work. And the final dance seen, crackling with energy, leaves the audience feeling so good they forget any of the contrived moments that came before. Simply put the movie makes you feel good. You end up believing in the possibility of romance and idea that with a little practice you could dance like that.
At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars
2 comments:
For the reasons you explain, this movie certainly earns more than 2.5stars....A key aspect you left out and why this movie touched such a chord was because it too was a major coming of age movie in a bygone time....The annual retreat to the Catskills of NY by the Jewish community of NY
City was an endearing phenomenon for a couple of decades. It quickly evaporated once air travel became common. This movie captures that time perfectly. The reason audiences reacted to this flick was because,pure and simple, it was a very good movie
By the way, your excursion through these summer flicks has been quite enjoyable...by coincidence, last night on regular TV was "The summer of 42"...I had never seen it and that thought had crossed my mind while reading your reviews the past few days. To my surprise I saw it was on TV and I watched it...Quite honestly, this was a beautiful film. In fact, I thought it was a masterpiece...It had a strong affect on me. Its strange but it seems like the decades from the 1940's through the 70's reflected an America that is now gone...I really don't think too many people will look back at the 90's or the first decade of the 2000's and say they were special times....actually, the ones who will say that will be the ones who have enjoyed the passing of America.
Dear Anonymous,
Thanks but I disagree. The movie does capture the catskill time perfectly. But the relationship between Baby and Johnny feels very 1987, including the music they play together.
Much of the dialogue is poorly written, including Patrick Swayze's speech at the end. the two sub-plots involving the abortion and the old couple stealing wallets are muddled. And Baby's forced revelation to her father that she has been with Johnny feels forced.
What works in the film is the relationship betweeen Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swazye and Jennifer Gey and Jerry Orbach. This triangle is what holds the film up and makes it work.
By coincidence the Summer of 42 was my movie for Sunday. I recorded it off Tivo. The movie is extremely nostalig and that is because it's told that way. It is a man remembering his youth. All you remember are the good times and the fun and the important moments. The pain, anguish, frustration and fear that you experience growing up fades into the background. Every generation looks back and sees the past as more innocent and simpler and it never really is.
Kids who grow up in the 90's will fondly look back at their youth when they are 50 and think that it was a better, easier time.
I am glad you have been enjoying the Summer's End Film Festival. there has been another anonymous reader who expressed displeasure at this series of films.
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