A Top Ten Movie
“Nobody puts Baby in the corner.” Yes, you guessed it. Dirty Dancing is one of my all-time favorite movies. Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t go any further.
Dirty Dancing has all the components of an entertaining, thought-provoking, uplifting film. Also, I’m a sucker for song-and-dance movies. It has fantastic music and dancing that follow a good storyline. All the while reflecting the times of the ‘60s, the soundtrack provides the songs that were the backdrop to my teenage years. The movie not only nudges out the staid, conventional dance steps of the fox trot with provocative body gyrations but skillfully unveils the prejudices of that time period.
What female doesn’t adore an alluring “bad boy” like Patrick Swayze, who can dance? The sensual gyrations with good old classic tunes make for an irresistible combination. You can’t help but fall for Johnny, as he captures the heart of Baby (Frances), the protected, naive, idealistic protagonist of the story. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijK0WTB_-RY
The time and place happen in the summer of 1963, before JFK is assassinated and the Beatles come to America, at the Kellerman’s Mountain Lake Lodge in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Kellerman’s resort is an isolated bubble away from the early unrest over Vietnam, protests of inequality and capitalism, and Peace Corps recruitments. Days are filled with softball, dance lessons, crafts, horseshoes, and magic, culminating in the ubiquitous camp talent show.
Throughout the movie, there is an undertone of the “haves” versus the “have-nots” with two kinds of employees serving the guests at the lodge. The Ivy League college students mingle with the guests, particularly the daughters, while the blue-collar staff remains at a distance with a “hands-off” policy. Expectations and rules become confused and unclear. Baby’s father, Dr. Houseman, assumes Johnny is the culprit for impregnating Penny and yet Robbie, the Yale medical school student, is assumed innocent. Baby and her father face disappointment with one another over lies and deception.
The contrast of the “haves,” with Robbie stating, “some people count, and some people don’t,” versus the “have-nots,” with Johnny saying, “being treated like nothing ‘cause I am nothing” articulates the inequality of class, education, and opportunity. Baby begins blurring the lines on both sides. Dr. Jake Houseman, Max Kellerman, Penny, Johnny – all step over this chasm ever so slightly. Johnny sees in Baby how optimism in one person can make the world a better place.
Dirty Dancing epitomizes the moral compass of The Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In other words, treat people like you want to be treated. The movie’s finale has Johnny pulling Baby up on stage for the last dance with the perfect, uplifting ending, literally and figuratively, as Johnny lifts Baby to the song, “Time of My Life.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpmILPAcRQo
Do you have a favorite movie to recommend? Why did it make an impact? I’m forever searching for a good movie to watch that touches my soul like Dirty Dancing did.
Bit by bit, that’s all she wrote…