In 1987 a low-budget, semi-autobiographical, well cast, and very well sound-tracked movie premiered. It starred Patrick Swayze, an actor/dancer/martial artist on the rise, and featured so many iconic moments and songs that people are still talking about them over 30 years later. That movie was Dirty Dancing, and this February, FOX is honoring the movie’s enduring legacy with a special four-week event series – The Real Dirty Dancing.
In this series, a group of celebrities will not only learn the dances from the movie and perform them in competition, they’ll also live at the hotel where much of the movie was filmed (Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, VA). They’ll be immersed in a total “Dirty Dancing” experience – and viewers at home will get to experience it all with them.
But before The Real Dirty Dancing premieres (February 1st at 9pm PT), let’s take a few moments to remind ourselves why the original 80’s film was so popular, and why its influence continues to this day.
How It Began
Dirty Dancing was filmed in 1986. It starred Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle and Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman. Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, and Kelly Bishop co-starred. The screenplay was written by Eleanor Bergstein, based in-part on her own experiences growing up as the daughter of a doctor who took his family to the Catskills in the summers. Not only was her nickname Baby, she also competed in “dirty dancing” competitions.
Emile Andolino directed the film, and Kenny Ortega – a student of Gene Kelly – created the choreography. Though the story was set in the 1960’s Catskills, it was actually filmed in Lake Lune, North Carolina (at a former Boy Scout camp) and Mountain Lake, Virginia. Mainly because the majority of resorts in the Catskills had closed down by the 80s.
A Troubled Production
Filming lasted only 43 days. The actors had two weeks of rehearsal beforehand, but it was a low-budget production so only so much time could be spent teaching the actors their dances and lines. There was an end of summer heat wave during the start of the production, with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees daily. Many actors succumbed to dehydration and heat stroke, and some even had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. This caused delays that pushed filming into autumn, when the water temperatures dropped to below 40 degrees and the actors had to suffer all over again.
They managed to pull through, however, and the film was edited, viewed, hated, edited again, viewed again, enjoyed, and finally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1987. It was released into theaters in the US in August of 1987 and quickly gained an enthusiastic audience.
Small Film Hits Big
Dirty Dancing cost around $4.5 million to produce, and earned over $214 million worldwide. Audiences adored the story of the young woman discovering herself and the dance instructor finding acceptance and love. When the film left theaters and became available on home video it lost none of its momentum. Dirty Dancing was the top rental of 1988, and was the first movie to sell over a million copies on video tape.
Audiences weren’t the only ones who loved the movie. It was nominated for “Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy”, as well as “Best Actor” and “Best Actress”, at the 45th Golden Globe Awards. Director Emile Ardolino won “Best First Feature” at the Independent Spirit Awards, and the soundtrack swept up most “Best Original Song” statues.
To this day, Dirty Dancing is still winning accolades from fans, critics, and film societies. The finale dance was awarded “Movie Dance Sequence You Re-enacted in Your Living Room” at the 2008 TV Land Awards, and the American Film Institute (AFI) included the movie on multiple Top Films lists, including “100 Years, 100 Passions”, “100 Years, 100 Songs” (“(I Had) The Time of My Life”), and “100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes” (“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”).
Seeking Perfect Cast
In all respects, Dirty Dancing was the little film that could. But why did it strike such a cord with audiences? And why are we still talking about it and referencing it and watching it today? It probably starts with the cast. Emile Ardolino wanted real dancers for his movie (unlike similar film Flashdance that used some body doubles). That meant the stars who would play Johnny, Baby, and Penny (Johnny’s original dance partner) had to have more than a few acting credits in their resumes.
Cynthia Rhodes, who played Penny, was the first person hired for the film. She began her career as a singer and dancer at Opryland USA, then appeared as a dancer in Richard Marx’s “Don’t Mean Nothing” video, as well as Toto’s “Rosana” video (where she worked with Patrick Swayze). She had shown off her acting as well as dancing skills in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, and in Flashdance (she did not require a body double like some of the other actors). She was basically perfect for the Penny role.
Casting the two leads did not go quite as smoothly. Patrick Swayze was a star on the rise, who began his film career in 1979’s Skatetown USA as a roller-disco competitor, and had gone on to star in some of the biggest films of the early 80s, including The Outsiders and Red Dawn. He was a formally-trained dancer who also studied ice skating and martial arts. He’d been on Broadway (as Danny Zuko in Grease) and was able to perform many of his own stunts. Even though he was 34 years old at the time – and the Johnny character was around 24/25 – he was hired for the part. And then things got complicated.
Swazye had starred with Jennifer Grey in 1984’s Red Dawn, a coming of age/post-apocalypse/action/drama. And she hadn’t liked him. The animosity was so great, in fact, that she had no interest in appearing in another movie with Swayze. But Grey also had a background in dance and theater, and Swayze thought she was an excellent choice for Baby. It took some convincing to get her to agree to a screen test, which blew everyone out of the water with the intense chemistry between the actors. She ended up hired for the role (she was 26 at the time, but seemed convincing as an 18/19 year old), and eventually the actors were able to perform as needed for a couple falling in love.
Recognize Those Songs
The talented cast wasn’t the only thing Dirty Dancing had going for it, of course. It also had an amazing soundtrack. A soundtrack so popular, when it was released in 1987 it went on to sell 32 million copies worldwide. It spent 18 weeks at the top of the US Billboard 200 charts, was certified Platinum eleven times, became the all-time best-selling album in Germany, and, to this day, is one of the best-selling albums of all time in the US. It spawned two follow-up albums – More Dirty Dancing (1988) and Ultimate Dirty Dancing (2003) – and won countless awards.
Original song “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life” won the Oscar for “Best Original Song”, Golden Globe for “Best Original Song-Motion Picture”, and the Grammy for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” (for Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes). It was also nominated for the “Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television” Grammy. Though it didn’t win as many accolades, “She’s Like the Wind”, written and sung by Patrick Swayze (originally for a different film), was also a fan favorite.
Extended Universe
Though it wasn’t asuper common to build franchises out of popular films back in the 80s, Dirty Dancing was beloved enough for a whole universe to form around it. In 1988 the Dirty Dancing Concert Tour visited 90 cities across the US in three months. The short-lived television series sequel to the movie, starring Malora Hardin as Baby and Patrick Cassidy as Johnny, ran from 1988 to 1989. In 2004, Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage began running in Europe, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a sort-of prequel to the film, premiered in theaters. Havana Nights starred Diego Luna and Romola Garai as the main couple, whose characters had no connection to the characters from the first film. Patrick Swayze appeared as a dance instructor in the movie, though he had previously refused to do a sequel, even when offered $6 million for it.
The WE: Women’s Entertainment channel produced a reality dance-competition series, Dirty Dancing: Living the Dream, in 2006. It ran for only eight episodes and one season. British dance-competition series Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life proved more popular. Created for the 20th anniversary of the film, the series was filmed at Mountain Lake Lodge (the setting of Kellerman’s Hotel in the movie) and had enough of an audience to run for two seasons. Miranda Garrison, assistant choreographer for the original movie, appeared as one of the judges.
A New York stage production of Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage began a North American run in Canada during 2007. It moved to the US in 2008 and appeared in 31 cities. In 2014 it returned with an Australian and European tour, then made its way back to North America. It returned again with a new production on Broadway in 2017.
In 2010, Funny or Die released a two minute spoof trailer for Dirty Dancing 3: Capoeira Nights, starring Camilla Bell and Jesse Williams as lovers who learn to dance fight – and kick each other in the face. This was followed in 2017 by ABC’s television musical remake of Dirty Dancing, starring Abigail Breslin as Baby and Colt Prattes as Johnny. Billy Dee Williams, Katey Sagal, Debra Messing, and Nicole Scherzinger also appeared. Classic songs and a good cast did not save the production from mostly negative reviews.
No matter how much time has passed, the legacy of Dirty Dancing continues. In 2020, Jennifer Grey was in early talks to reprise her role of Baby in a sequel to the original movie (sadly, Patrick Swazye passed away in 2009 so cannot appear in any new films). And in February 2022, FOX will debut its own dance-competition series based on the songs, dances, and scenes that audiences continue to love.
Hosted by Stephen “tWich” Boss, former contestant/judge/and All-Star from So You Think You Can Dance, and featuring celebrity competitors such as WWE Hall of Fame inductee and Smackdown star Brie Bella, Culinary Hall of Fame inductee and television host Cat Cora, Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough, and former MADtv cast member Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, The Real Dirty Dancing promises iconic dances, surprise guest judges, fantastic music, and moments just as memorable as the original film.
Viewers can tune in Tuesdays at 9pm from February 1st to February 22nd and be transported back to the 80s, when Johnny Castle and Baby Houseman first met over a watermelon, and pop culture history was born.
