Dirty Dancing

I've decided to review my favorite movie. This is the first movie I really loved. I first watched Dirty Dancing when I was 12 or 13 - which was 13-14 years after the movie first came out. I have watched its hundreds of times since then, and it is timeless and perfect each time I watch. I rate this a 5 without a doubt, and here's why...

The movie opens with a voice-over of Baby saying:
"That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's."

That introduction sends a wave of nostalgia for summer, youth, and naivety. Every time I watch it - I'm reminded of summer love.

Naturally, a love story with Patrick Swayze totally won me over as I was developing crushes and dreaming about my Romeo. Forbidden summer love, combined with some hot ballroom dancing, is enough to to make any girl swoon.  I loved how shy and convincing Baby (Jennifer Grey) is in the beginning, and how she matures and gains confidence by the end of the movie. Her relationship with her sister Lisa (Jane Brucker) and her father Dr. Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach) create an interesting triangle of sibling rivalry, as well as parallel love stories. Dr. Houseman is concerned that Johnny Castle (Swayze) is no good because of a misunderstanding, and forbids Baby from seeing Johnny; while unwittingly approving of Lisa's relationship with Robbie Gould, the waitor - who ends up knocking Lisa up, and deceiving Dr. Houseman. Johnny, a misunderstood leather-wearing bad boy, wins Dr. Houseman back over in the final scene - in a surprising twist of events when he is accidentally vindicated by Robbie. Dr. Houseman ultimately admits "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong", forgiving Johnny, and approving his youngest daughters relationship with an unconventional young man.

This movie has been the cornerstone of all Romance and Romantic Comedies I have seen since. Many are great, a lot are not so much, and none have been able to supersede it yet.