Dirty Dancing: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."''}}

 

 

The film is essentially a coming of age story, documenting Baby's rebellion against her father as she pursues her relationship with Johnny. A sleeper hit, ''Dirty Dancing'' became a sensation upon release, with reports of people actually viewing the film, then immediately returning to the theater to watch it a second time. Ironically, the studio that produced and released ''Dirty Dancing'', Vestron Pictures, had originally planned to release the film in theaters for only a weekend, and then send it straight to home video, since Vestron had originally been in the video distribution business long before entering film production. The film's soundtrack also became a surprise hit, selling more than 42 million copies and even spawning a ''sequel'' soundtrack that also went multi-platinum. The plethora of oldies in the film sparked a nostalgic revival, and oldies actually featured in the film became hits all over again. To this day, lines from the film have acquired memetic status. Paradoxically, while it made Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey famous, the film did not end up helping either one as Swayze became permanently associated with chick flicks and Grey had a botched rhinoplasty that made her virtually unrecognizable only a few years later. However, the actor who was probably hurt most by the film was Max Cantor, who played Robbie. Cantor made only one film after ''Dirty Dancing'' was released, ''Fear, Anxiety, and Depression'', released in 1989, and he tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1991 at the age of 32. As for Vestron, despite the film's huge monetary success, they followed it up with a series of flops, and ran out of money, and these flops, coupled with the fact that many of Vestron's former clients were now forming their own home video divisions and thus no longer needed their services, caused Vestron's parent company, Vestron, Inc., to go bankrupt in 1990, and it was bought out in January 1991 by LIVE Entertainment for $26 million. The company went on to become Artisan Entertainment, which was bought by the current rights-holder [[Lionsgate]] Entertainment in 2004.

 

In addition to the prequel, there was a ''very'' short lived TV series based on the film, which ran on [[CBS]] from 1988 to 1989. It was mostly true to the movie, with one ''glaring'' change: Baby was now Max Kellerman's daughter and she was now in charge of Johnny as the resort's talent director.

{{tropelist}}

* [[All for Nothing]]: Baby provides an alibi (ahem) for Johnny when he's accused of theft. He gets canned anyway.

* [[Back-Alley Doctor]]: The abortion clinic. i.e. "A dirty knife and a folding table."

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: One of the songs on the soundtrack ("She's Like the Wind") is actually sang by Swayze.

* [[Caught with Your Pants Down]]: How Lisa gets wise to Robbie. Lisa goes to Robbie's cabin in order to surprise him and finally go all the way with him, only to catch him in bed with Vivian (see Jerk Ass below).

* [[Dance of Romance]]: Pretty much the entire point of the movie.

* [[Dance Party Ending]]

** Also Lake Lure, North Carolina. Every Girl Scout at Camp Occoneechee knew it too.

* [[Fan Service]]: Mostly of shirtless Patrick Swayze.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Sixties]]

[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]

[[Category:Independent Films]]

[[Category:Film]]