Dirty Dancing (1987) – 2/5

Didn’t age well, a huge mess at times

„Dirty Dancing“ is an American movie from the 1980s, at pretty much exactly 100 minutes not a super long film by any means, but it has turned into a bit of a classic over the years, even if I myself only see guilty pleasure potential here if at all. The film is in the English language from beginning to end, so I suppose as you have come here to this American site to read this English-language review of mine, you won’t need subtitles for the watch. This was made in 1987, so it has its 35th anniversary this year. I don’t know if this had something to do with the fact that it got shown at the open-air movie theater I often go to (and actually also at a few others, all outdoors I think), but it is not important anyway. Maybe it had to do something with it from the perspective that they could fit in more people there than at most indoors theaters because almost every seat was filled really. 500 audience members is a solid guess I think and I am from Europe, not even America, so this shows that the film is still insanely popular. The director is Emile Ardolino, who like many others died from AIDS. Very untimely. He was an Oscar winner already when he made this film and that win came for a documentary that dealt with, yep you guessed it, dancing. This should stay the defining subject of his career. The writer here was Eleanor Bergstein and she is still with us now in her 80s and if you look at her career, you will not find many projects, but this one here and one film she made afterwards, even directed, made sure that her career was also all about the dance.

A few words on the cast: The male lead and (nice to see) first credit here is Patrick Swayze and we all suffered with him through the final years of his cancer-ridden existence. The headlines were full of him and his illness and it is a bit ironic to see how he is so physically fit and in great shape here and what he turned into eventually. I will always remember him not for this movie really, but rather for his Kathryn Bigelow film. Back to DD: The female lead is Jennifer Grey. She was under 30 back then, so is 60 now. Not too old. I cannot say anything positive about her. Swayze is not exactly giving a great performance either, but he is tolerable and she definitely is not and also he took the risk to sing while she shied away. I did not like her acting and I did not like her character. I am not sure which one of these two propelled the other, but they clearly wanted us to see her as likable. Impossible for me. I am also not one bit surprised that she did not have a strong career afterwards. From the supporting cast, it is for almost everybody their defining work. I will just mention two names there. The first is Jerry Orbach and it was wonderful to watch him here. Literally every time he was on the screen, you could see that he was a far too good actor for a project like this. Absolute scene stealer and I am not just saying this because I adore Law & Order. The second would be Lonny Price. I was not familiar with him before seeing this film, but he was convincing and shows us how it’s done to deliver a good performance with a character that is (supposed to be) unlikable. His musical talent is also undeniable. I am glad and not surprised he won two Emmys later on. His number towards the end that was supposed to be seen as boring and monotonous so we would appreciate the wild dancing sequence that followed immediately after was a highlight. Again, almost too good for a film like this. Also, I am glad to see he is still alive now at the almost same age like Grey. Finally, a guy from this film who lives. With this, I am of course referring to the tragic fates of Ardolino, Swayze and Orbach, who also did not reach 70.

So I just mentioned some of the music. Let me stay there. If there is any reason to watch this film (except Orbach), this is it. Yes, the dance sequences are good too, but the songs are even better. Many numbers are from the years, if not decades before this film. A lot of it dates back to the 1960s, but the (new) soundtrack is a revelation and not far away from masterpiece territory, so sometimes it is maybe the best idea to close your eyes when watching this film and just suck in the audio. I do not really put one song or piece above all the others and I already picked a personal favorite anyway, but the final sequence with the Oscar-winning song must be mentioned as well. That was very spectacular and at least 50% of it all was the song. Maybe more. Aside from all this, I struggled a lot with the film and its plot at times. I almost felt sorry for Orbach for example in the sequence when he was sitting there heartbroken over his daughter and watching the horizon. This was ridiculously cringeworthy. Yes, I felt sorry for the actor, not the character. There was a lot more stupid stuff. Like look at Grey’s character and how she borrows hundreds of euros from her father and the reason is that she wants a girl she barely new to have an abortion. The father of the unborn child was also depicted ridiculously. How Grey’s character despises him, how the latter’s sister it was I think catches him in the act with another girl, how in the end Orbach’s character despises him. I just wish they would have omitted this man altogether. This film really had zero subtlety at all and constantly went over the top in a not good way. Another example would be the escalation between the two protagonists when they have an argument and are almost breaking up. A minute later they sit in a car and joke around as if nothing happened. What are we supposed to think there? That their bond is so strong that they immediately get along again? Cringe is real. Also, I felt a bit bad for Swayze that the script had him almost always run around topless. Reminded me of the Taylor Lautner moment. A permanent state of it somehow.

Besides, the moments in which we see other characters being romantically interested in the protagonists were also poorly written, no matter if we are talking about Penny or Baby’s suitor. Yep, the female main character’s nickname here is Baby. I don’t even. When Swayze’s character talked to her and called her Baby there, that was very embarrassing, but these scenes did want to be taken seriously. This is not a comedy. I could go on and on. Look at the moment when Baby brings all the money and what ensues. How Swayze’s character still treats her poorly instead of being grateful or how the abortion can only be performed one specific evening and of course on that evening there is a dance, so Baby must fill in for the pregnant dancer and it becomes a success. And don’t even get me started on this pickpocketing old couple. Unreal stuff. Honestly, this was almost unintentional comedy level at times. Almost every time when they were not singing or dancing. Swayze’s revelation about women using him for easy sex and he gets money for it was also not exactly the film’s brightest moment. Gray’s laughing in other situations was even worse. The entire masculinity aspect was difficult to stomach here, everything linked to Swayze’s character. Be it the way how he is presented to us when entering the movie, be it his fight scene with a rival, be it when he returns in the end and says Baby only belongs to him, be it when he finds a very unique way to get inside a locked car and there are many more examples. Often these examples (especially his „surprise“ entrance in the end) resulted in female audience members screaming as if we were at some boy band concert from (over) 20 years ago or maybe also from today if we look at BTS etc. I found it very embarrassing though. By now, I have come to the conclusion that Germans overall just have really poor taste in film, especially if you look at the German comedies appreciated by many. This international film here is another example. It is totally okay if people watch it to check out if they see anything in it and have not seen it before, but if you have, then there is no reason to give it another watch, let alone go crazy while watching it.

I of course cannot say if and how much I would have liked the film if I had seen it after its release in the 1980s as a few days ago was the first time I watched it, but I think from today’s perspective the film has aged really badly. I am glad that because of my subscription I did not pay any money to see it. I see they also made a poorly-received sequel many years later with Abigail Breslin in the lead. Well, I kinda feel it could not have been worse than this movie here, so my suggestion is to stay far, far away. The film’s title is this movie in a nutshell. Just a very basic connection to the plot and all about the catchy alliteration. Tons of make-believe and style over substance. Listen to the soundtrack and skip the movie. I am glad it did not run for two hours and I must say this is one of the worst Oscar-winning films I have ever come across. Some moments are just unbearable and yeah just skip the watch or if you have already seen it, which is likely as you are here reading my review, then do not watch it again. Especially how they used coincidence here on some occasions to pull through with the idea that fate wants the two to be together was so shoddy and uninspired. Difficult to watch. Finally, I always thought of Dr. House (Laurie) when they mentioned Orbach’s character’s name which I found a bit funny and I was probably not the only one. Oh and you also see how armpit hair (on girls) was still a thing back then, at least during one specific shot of Grey’s character and you could hear some laughter in the audience. Including mine. Also that the big special move was working out in the end with him carrying her was so boringly predictable and unrealistic. I mean they had not trained for days before that and it never worked out at all during training, so yeah it is impossible to take this film seriously and as it wants to be taken seriously, this is a deal breaker. Certainly not recommended.