Dirty Dancing

r96sk 1/28/2024 1:44:03 PM 8.4

Pretty iconic. Not sure how I hadn't logged this until now, given it's a film I watched quite a bit growing up due to it being my mum's favourite movie. Better late than never! <em>'Dirty Dancing'</em> is entertaining - cheesy, but entertaining. What helps is the ace soundtrack, which culminates with the classic <em>'(I've Had) The Time of My Life'</em> scene. The film flies through its 100-minute run time and features super chemistry between leads Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, two who give strong performances. Jerry Orbach (Just me confusing him with Jonathan Hyde? Probably.) is good too. As you'd expect, the dance numbers are all on point as well. I've never checked out the 2004 prequel, <em>'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights'</em>. It's next up, though high hopes I do not hold - but we'll see.

talisencrw 6/23/2021 3:57:50 PM 8.4

This was schmaltzy but decent and could have been a lot worse. Normally I run from this sort of film like the plague but Patrick Swayze's recent death and me greatly enjoying 'Point Break' recently made me want to check out another one of his finest roles ('Ghost' and 'Road House' will have to wait, methinks.). When I got my first DJ-ing job, working the night shift at the now-defunct K-102 FM in Woodstock as a teenager, I often received calls asking for any of the three hit songs from its stellar and nostalgia-wringing soundtrack: Eric Carmen's 'Hungry Eyes', Swayze's own 'She's Like the Wind' or the Oscar-winning 'The Time of My Life' by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. It was interesting now, almost three decades later, finally seeing the music I had played on the airwaves eon before now shown in some sort of cinematic context. It was OK to see as a tribute to Swayze's craft (he was trained in classic ballet as well as in acting) but I'm left with no interest whatsoever in either the sequel or remake, unless as a special gift for my lady, Tammy.

testr 7/15/2022 2:56:44 PM 8.4

A pretty simplistic film with a plot that's more of an excuse to show dance scenes and an extremely surface level handling of the issues of gender and class that it raises, but it's pretty cute and also I'm bisexual so I like it anyway.