Product Description

Movie DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #833 in DVD
• Brand: LIONS GATE HOME ENT.
• Released on: 2003-12-09
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, Jake (Law and Order's Jerry Orbach), can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake.

Dirty Dancing spawned two successful soundtracks, a short-lived TV series, and a stage musical. It may be predictable, but Grey and Swayze have chemistry, charisma, and all the right moves. It's a sometimes silly movie with occasionally mind-boggling dialogue--"No one puts Baby in a corner!"--that nonetheless carries an underlying message about tolerance and is filled with the kind of exuberant spirit that's hard for even the most cynical to resist. Not that they'd ever admit it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

The best movie from the 80s
In Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey stars as Frances "Baby" Houseman, a girl who goes on vacation to the Catskills with her father, mother and sister in the summer of 1963. She meets the handsome dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), who works at the lodge where they're staying, and is smitten with him. When she volunteers to fill in for Johnny's dance partner, Baby experiences love and life firsthand from the free-spirited Johnny.

The DVD version of this movie is terrific. The clarity is amazing, the sound is crisp & clear and the bonuses are wonderful. With the bonus features, you get commentary from the movie's creator, a behind-the-scenes featurette (with no audio), the videos for "She's Like the Wind," "I've Had the Time of My Life" & "Hungry Eyes," biographies about the cast & crew (Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Rhodes, Jerry Orbach, Jack Weston, the director, the producer, the writer and the choreographer), a short "Reliving the 60s" documentary, the theatrical trailer and a concert featuring the music from the movie.

If you love Dirty Dancing, I highly recommended getting this DVD. It would be a great addition to add to your collection!

THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
It is awfully hard not to get swept up into the nostalgic heat and sentiment of this unabashedly, and well-done, teen romance. It is, by turns, sexy, funny, melodramatic, jamming (what with that soundtrack chock full of some of the best pop hits of the 60s mixed with a few great new songs) and campy. Yet the overriding feeling of melancholy and wistfulness, portrayed with real talent by Jennifer Grey, as the perfect Baby, transforms this movie into something lasting, something to really love. Cynthia Rhodes is absolutely riveting -- as usual -- in the second female lead; she is a spectacular dancer and electrifying whenever she is on the screen. The aching feeling of first true love/lust/whatever, here directed at hunky Patrick Swayze, who is by the way an excellent dancer, comes to full flower at a Poconos resort. As all manner of soapy subplots move through their predictable paces, we are treated to the transformation of our young heroine and any number of delightful musical numbers, capped off by the irresistably romantic Time Of My Life -- that feeling of moving through a romance that has somehow changed your life is captured with a rare sweetness, and it stays with you.

Nobody puts baby in the corner
Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release Dirty Dancing: 20th Anniversary Edition on May 8th. The two-disc set will feature an anamorphic widescreen transfer and newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 tracks. Extras include commentary with writer/ co-producer Eleanor Bergstein, never-before-seen deleted & alternate scenes, outtakes, a new exclusive interview with Patrick Swayze, a tribute to Jerry Orbach, original screen tests, multi angle dance sequences, "The Classic Story on Stage," interviews with Emile Ardolino, Eleanor Bergstein, Jennifer Grey and Kenny Ortega, music videos ("Hungry Eyes," "She's Like The Wind," "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life"), a photo gallery and trailers.