Dirty Dancing

Actors: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhode, Jerry Orbach, Jack Weston, Jane Brucker

Running Time: 96mins

Consumer Advice: Contains moderate sex references

It was the era of Camelot, Kennedy and Cape Canaveral, a vibrant time when anything was possible and everything was exciting.

By the summer of 1963, every American knew and felt that the future had arrived. They were facing it wide-eyed like a child seeing Disneyland for the very first time.

And what a time of firsts it was The first outrageously costumed contestant opted for the bounty behind a chosen door on "Let's Make A Deal." The "Beverly Hillbillies" were America's favorite TV faimily. The movies' James Bond made a good first impression in "Dr. No." The Beatles were emerging out of Liverpool's dance clubs and America was getting ready for the four mop-tops to invade its shores.

However, though veiled in innocence, things were changing in the soul of America: frontiers were opening, movement was happening all over. Betty Friedan published "The Feminine Mystique." Martin Luther King shared an exquisite dream on the Kail in Washington. The Mercury Astronauts commuted to work via outer space. American advisors reported for duty in French Indo-China (a.k.a. Vietnam). And President Kennedy would be assassinated that November.

"Dirty Dancing," a Vestron Pictures Release starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, is set when "the sixties" were beginning to happen, but before anybody saw it coming, before anybody understood the change in rules, the widening gap between generations, the revising of political, sexual and even emotional lines.

One part of the popular culture that was changing was the music. Young people were so engaged by songs in the air, they could not separate what happened in the lyrics and what was happening in their hearts. The explosion of sultry R&B music, coupled with the steady influx of Latin rhythms wafting up from South America was rising from below ground, alerting young people to a music all their own � and the movements they made to its driving sexual beat, finding their own rhythms through dance, seemed to foreshadow a new world.

Touch dancing was in vogue, but with a drastic difference. Unlike the Lindy or the Charleston, even unlike Chubby Checkers' revolutionary but semi-stationary Twist, the whole body was now inspired to move! For America's youth, it was an ebullient form of uninhibited expression and its energetic message scandalized the older generations.

"Dirty Dancing" chronicles social dancing's place in this turning point time as experienced by one 17-year-old girl. Like the world at large, Frances "Baby" Houseman, portrayed by Jennifer Grey, comes into her own in the summer of 1963, but in the most unlikely of places � Kellerman's Mountain House in the Catskills, where she accompanies her family (Jerry Orbach, Kelly Bishop and Jane Brucker) � doctor father, nurturing mother, princess sister � on a summer vacation.

Baby, who dreams of joining the Peace Corps, to experience the world and change it, can see little purpose or joy in learning the Merengue, playing charades or taking part in the normal roster of the resort's activities.

However, one evening while exploring the grounds, Baby comes upon the staff's quarters where an all-night dance party is in full swing. The staff � not the Ivy Leaguers but the streetwise kids � are wriggling and writhing together to the blasting, syncopated sexiness of the great R&B classic "Do You Love Me." What they are doing � sensuous and exhilarating � is "dirty dancing." To Baby, it's both mesmerizing and mortifying and, for a reason only her body can explain, deliciously inviting.

Amidst the excitement, Baby discovers Johnny Castle, played by Patrick Swayze, the resort's dance instructor, an enigmatic amalgam of Brando and Astaire.

Overnight, her life changes dramatically when Johnny's dazzling dance partner. Penny (Cynthia Rhodes), is sidelined by a devastating personal trauma, and Baby seizes the opportunity to help her and agrees to become Johnny's new on-stage leading lady.

At first, Baby is reluctant to let herself go in her dancing, her awkwardness about her body is compounded by her nervousness around Johnny. Johnny, a perfectionist and a demanding teacher, pushes her hard, insisting that she give him � and herself � nothing but her best. Gradually, she relaxes into the moves. As she does, Johnny also eases up. His tough demeanor breaks, revealing an appealing vulnerability.

Baby's rapid maturation in the summer of '63 is not without consequences. The freedom and boldness she discovers through dancing, and through Johnny's love, drives a wedge between her and her family. She is not their little girl any longer, and her family must learn to accept her new independence.

By summer's end, Frances � no longer is she a "Baby" � has learned how to share her heart, how to express herself freely and generously. And Johnny comes to terms with himself through Frances' concern and caring. Both of them come to understand their places in a rapidly changing world � a world that ultimately will come to accept "dirty dancing" the way it will come to terms with the social/sexual revolution that is just around the bend.

"'Dirty dancing� is the most erotic form of partner dancing," states Director Emile Ardolino. "A few years later, when people started dancing away from each other what was lost was the wonderful experience of taking someone in your arms and dancing cheek to cheek or hip to hip or shoulder to shoulder. Touching each other, communicating with each other, that's what dancing has always been. If two people are dancing, looking into each other's eyes and trying to convey, "I Love You� that's the most intimete kind of communication, the most intimate outside the bedroom."

The choreography in "Dirty Dancing" is a release of the character's self expression, and for Baby it is the means with which she changes and discovers her sexuality. Choreographer Kenny Ortega based the dances on "all the original dancing of the early '60's. 'Dirty Dancing' is like soul dancing, only with a partner. A little Mambo is thrown in, a little Cuban motion, too, a conglomeration of rhythms and movements."

"And because it is soul dancing, it's something that comes out as an expression. It's not about technique as much as it is about feeling."

"Dirty Dancing," a Vestron Pictures presentation of a Linda Gottlieb production/ was directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach and Cynthia Rhodes, the film was written by Eleanor Bergstein. "Dirty Dancing" was produced by Linda Gottlieb; Eleanor Bergstein was co-producer, with Mitchell Cannold and Steven Reuther serving as executive producers. The director of photography was Jeff Jur, and the editor was Peter C. Frank. John Morris composed the musical score and Jimmy lenner served as musical consultant. The choreography was created by Kenny Ortega. "Dirty Dancing" is a Vestron Pictures release