Dirty Dancing

Movie Details:

Cast & Characters:

• Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman
• Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle
• Jerry Orbach as Jake Houseman
• Cynthia Rhodes as Penny Johnson
• Jack Weston as Max Kellerman
• Jane Brucker as Lisa Houseman
• Kelly Bishop as Marjorie Houseman
• Lonny Price as Neil Kellerman
• Max Cantor as Robbie Gould
• Charles Honi Coles as Tito Suarez
• Neal Jones as Billy Kostecki
• Wayne Knight as Stan
• Paula Trueman as Sylvia Schumacher
• Alvin Myerovich as Sydney Schumacher
• Miranda Garrison as Vivian Pressman
• Garry Goodrow as Moe Pressman

Storyline:

In 1963, Frances “Baby” Houseman, a sweet daddy’s girl, goes with her family to a resort in upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains. Baby has grown up in privileged surroundings and all expect her to go on to college, join the Peace Corps and save the world before marrying a doctor, just like her father. Unexpectedly, Baby becomes infatuated with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle, a man whose background is vastly different from her own. Baby lies to her father to get money to pay for an illegal abortion for Johnny’s dance partner. She then fills in as Johnny’s dance partner and it is as he is teaching her the dance routine that they fall in love. It all comes apart when Johnny’s friend falls seriously ill after her abortion and Baby gets her father, who saves the girl’s life. He then learns what Baby has been up to, who with and worse, that he funded the illegal abortion. He bans his daughter from any further association with “those people”. In the first deliberately willful action of her life, Baby later sneaks out to see Johnny, ostensibly to apologize for her father’s rudeness, and ends up consummating her relationship with Johnny. A jealous fellow vacationer sees Baby sneaking out of Johnny’s bungalow the next morning, and in an act of retribution, tells management that he is responsible for a theft the evening before, knowing he would not furnish his real whereabouts.

About Movie:

Dirty Dancing is an American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, and Cynthia Rhodes.

The film was based on screenwriter Bergstein’s own childhood. She originally wrote a screenplay for the Michael Douglas film It’s My Turn, but she ultimately ended up conceiving a story for a film which became Dirty Dancing. She finished the script in 1985, but management changes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer put the film in development hell. The production company was changed to Vestron Pictures with Emile Ardolino as director and Linda Gottlieb as producer.

Filming took place in Lake Lure, North Carolina, and Mountain Lake, Virginia, with the film’s score composed by John Morris and dance choreography by Kenny Ortega. The approved film was budgeted at the relatively low amount of $5 million, at a time when the average cost for a film was $12 million.

Filming started for Dirty Dancing on September 5, 1986, and lasted just 43 days. The production had to battle bad weather, including outside temperatures of 105 °F (41 °C). With the camera and lighting equipment needed for filming, the temperature inside could be as high as 120 °F (49 °C). According to choreographer Kenny Ortega, 10 people passed out within 25 minutes of shooting one day.

Dirty Dancing premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 1987 and was released on August 21 in the United States, earning over $214 million worldwide—$64 million in the US and Canada and $150 million in other territories. It earned positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised the performances of Grey and Swayze, and its soundtrack, created by Jimmy Ienner, generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

The film’s popularity successfully launched its titular franchise, including a 1988 television series, multiple reality competition shows, a 2004 prequel titled Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a stage production which has had sellout performances in multiple countries, a made-for-television musical adaptation in 2017, and an untitled sequel scheduled to be released in 2025, with Grey reprising her role.

Budget & Box Office Collection: