Dirty Dancing (1987)
Directed by Emile Ardolino
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
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9 films that influenced Dirty Dancing
What critics say influenced Dirty Dancing
And like "Saturday Night Fever," "Flashdance," "The Turning Point" and, for that matter, "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle," it is about the almost magical power of dance to transform the mean and mundane into the thrilling, the sexual and the transcendent.
But there was a countercultural outlet for the frustrated, other than re-viewing "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Wild One."
Director Emile Ardolino best known for his award-winning documentary about Jacques d'Amboise titled He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing gives this film more foot tappin' fervor than any flick since Saturday Night Fever.
And like "Saturday Night Fever," "Flashdance," "The Turning Point" and, for that matter, "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle," it is about the almost magical power of dance to transform the mean and mundane into the thrilling, the sexual and the transcendent.
The dancing itself, especially the dirty dancing, choreographed by Kenny Ortega, looks very contemporary, or, at least, as contemporary as ''Saturday Night Fever,'' but it has a drive and a pulse that give the film real excitement.
The movie makes some kind of a half-hearted attempt to rip off " West Side Story " by making the girl Jewish and the boy Italian - or Irish, I forget.
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And like "Saturday Night Fever," "Flashdance," "The Turning Point" and, for that matter, "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle," it is about the almost magical power of dance to transform the mean and mundane into the thrilling, the sexual and the transcendent.
Like "The Flamingo Kid," "American Graffiti," "Stand by Me," ''Diner" and numerous other movies, "Dirty Dancing" is about coming of age in the early 1960s.
It has the kind of sweet simplicity that somehow always eludes John Hughes (''Sixteen Candles,'' ''Pretty in Pink,'' ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'').
Like "The Flamingo Kid," "American Graffiti," "Stand by Me," ''Diner" and numerous other movies, "Dirty Dancing" is about coming of age in the early 1960s.
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It has the kind of sweet simplicity that somehow always eludes John Hughes (''Sixteen Candles,'' ''Pretty in Pink,'' ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'').