Dirty Dancing (Blu-ray) (1987)

"Jennifer Grey is a knockout.  David Ansen, NewsWeek
"...[Swayze] is a seething mass of sensuality...  Jami Bernard, New York Post
"Absolutely sensational!  Jeffrey Lyons, INN/Sneak Previews
"Excellent performances...the dancing, especially the dirty dancing, has a drive and a pulse that gives the film real excitement.  The New York Times
"...a phenomenon...the enduring appeal of the feature lies beyond the pelvic thrusts...  Wendy Wilson, TNT's Rough Cut

Editor's Note It's summer, 1963. Baby, 17 years old and all idealistic innocence, is vacationing with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and is mesmerized by him as well as his dance style. She soon becomes Johnny's prize pupil - in dance and in love. Academy Awards: Best Song ("(I've Had) The Time of My Life").

	Cynthia Rhodes
	Jack Weston
	Jane Brucker
	Jennifer Grey
	Jerry Orbach
	Kelly Bishop
	Lonny Price
	Patrick Swayze
	Doro Bachrach - Executive Producer
	Eleanor Bergstein - Writer
	Emile Ardolino - Director
	Jeff Jur - Cinematographer
	John Morris - Original Music By
	Linda Gottlieb - Producer
	Mark Haack - Art Director
	Peter C. Frank - Editor
	Stephen J. Lineweaver - Art Director

Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance instructor from the wrong side of the tracks. Johnny's facing a crisis: his dance partner and friend, Penny, is pregnant and has reluctantly decided to get an abortion. This leaves Johnny a solo act -- until Baby agrees to take Penny's place. She has to learn how to dance first, however, and as Johnny teaches her the choreography's sexy, seductive moves, the two fall in love.| But Baby's father believes that Johnny is the creep who got Penny pregnant, and he furiously orders Baby to end the relationship. Baby knows that Johnny's innocent -- and with her feisty idealism and his dance talent, the two will prove to Baby's father that their love is worth fighting for.

"The reason people treat me like nothing is because I am nothing." ---- Johnny Castle [Patrick Swayze]

New York Times
"...Nicely bittersweet....A drive and a pulse that give the film real excitement..." 08/21/1987 p.C3

Variety
"...Some nice dance sequences and a likable performance by Jennifer Grey make the film more than watchable..." 05/20/1987

Los Angeles Times
"...Smart and funny, touching and unabashedly sexual....Grey and Swayze are tough, thoughtful, lovely actors..." 08/21/1987 p.C1

Entertainment Weekly
"[A] slumber-party classic..." 04/15/2005 p.48

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his '80s classic transcends cynicism to give warm-fuzzies the world over." 03/01/2007 p.46

Ultimate DVD
5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hanks to a fabulous soundtrack and enthusiastic performances, it's still as much fun as ever." 12/01/2007 p.98

Entertainment Weekly
?[Swayze?s] sweaty, smoldering, swivel-hipped rebel Johnny Castle still comes across as James Dean in snug slacks.? -- Grade: B 05/13/2010

DVD Verdict 9 of 10
A small film that wasn't expected to be anything fabulous, Dirty Dancing defied the odds to become both a box office smash and part of popular culture in 1987. The film is actually much better than people think, and its popularity is still going strong...Dance films were in vogue in the 1980s. In that decade, we were "treated" to such films as Breakin' (1983), Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), Body Rock (1984), Fast Forward (1985), and Dancers (1987). All of these films have one thing in common: they're terrible. So common sense would ask: why should a low-budget film entitled Dirty Dancing be any different?...Dear readers, Dirty Dancing turns out to be the real thing. It's one of the few dance pictures made in contemporary times that doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience. It's honest and entertaining, something few Hollywood films are these days. - Bill Treadway

Eye Weekly 10 of 10
It's 1963 and Baby (Grey) is visiting a resort in the Catskills with her family. She meets Johnny (Swayze) who is a dance instructor, and before you can say "out-of-commission-dance-partner" Johnny and Baby are busy practising the horizontal mambo...The supporting cast is solid, but the whole thing hinges on Grey and Swayze's chemistry, and, oh my, do they ever sizzle...The interesting thing here is that she is the aggressor. The first time 17-year-old Baby sees Johnny dance in the smoky staff hang-out, something happens to her. She has discovered sex and she knows that she wants some...Dirty Dancing has that rare teenaged female character who knows exactly what she desires and gets it without suffering some terrible retribution. Even if what she wants is sex. Not to mention that the character who has an abortion doesn't get punished for it...All of which makes Dirty Dancing the perfect film for the feminist romantic in all of us. - Malene Arpe