Dirty Dancing

"First dance. First love. The time of your life."

1987 1h 40m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 6,702

DramaMusicRomance

Synopsis

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Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.

“First dance. First love. The time of your life.”

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Cast

Jennifer Grey
Baby Houseman
Patrick Swayze
Johnny Castle
Jerry Orbach
Jake Houseman
Cynthia Rhodes
Penny Johnson
Jack Weston
Max Kellerman
Jane Brucker
Lisa Houseman
Kelly Bishop
Marjorie Houseman
Lonny Price
Neil Kellerman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Emile Ardolino
Writers: Eleanor Bergstein
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $215M — a 35.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

39 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Dirty Dancing Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Emile Ardolino, shot by Jeffrey Jur. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Morris. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter C. Frank shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze and Jerry Orbach carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "First dance. First love. The time of your life.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Emile Ardolino directs. Jeffrey Jur behind the camera. John Morris scores. Peter C. Frank cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $215M — a 35.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
239 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Dirty Dancing Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Emile Ardolino, shot by Jeffrey Jur. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Morris. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Peter C. Frank shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze and Jerry Orbach carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "First dance. First love. The time of your life.".
9IMDB entry: tt0092890 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 21 themes, including "hotel", "daughter", "dancing", "secret love".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jeffrey Jur
Original score: John Morris
Editing: Peter C. Frank
Production design: David Chapman
Costume design: Hilary Rosenfeld
Makeup / hair: Fríða Aradóttir
Sound: Sacha Semeria
Stunt coordinator: Jim Lovelett
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,000,000
Box office: $214,577,242
Return: 3576% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Dirty Dancing (1987)

Awards

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
Amanda Award for Best Foreign Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Dirty Dancing Collection

Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romance film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach. The story is a coming of age drama that documents a teenage girl's coming of age through a relationship with a dance instructor whom she encounters during the family's summer vacation. In 2004, a prequel to the film was released, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Although not a remake, Havana Nights showcases a similar storyline about an American teenager learning about life through dance, when her family relocates to Havana, Cuba just before the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Swayze was paid $5 million to appear in a cameo role as a dance teacher — considerably more than the $200,000 he earned for the first film.

Also by

Emile Ardolino

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Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-08-14
★ 7/10
This was schmaltzy but decent and could have been a lot worse. Normally I run from this sort of film like the plague but Patrick Swayze's recent death and me greatly enjoying 'Point Break' recently made me want to check out another one of his finest roles ('Ghost' and 'Road House' will have to wait, methinks.). When I got my first DJ-ing job, working the night shift at the now-defunct K-102 FM in Woodstock as a teenager, I often received calls asking for any of the three hit songs from its stellar and nostalgia-wringing soundtrack: Eric Carmen's 'Hungry Eyes', Swayze's own 'She's Like the Wind' or the Oscar-winning 'The Time of My Life' by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes. It was interesting now, almost three decades later, finally seeing the music I had played on the airwaves eon before now shown in some sort of cinematic context. It was OK to see as a tribute to Swayze's craft (he was trained in classic ballet as well as in acting) but I'm left with no interest whatsoever in either the sequel or remake, unless as a special gift for my lady, Tammy.
Wuchak2018-07-28
★ 6/10
Entertaining hit with lush Appalachian locations, but the writing doesn't respect the intelligence of the viewer RELEASED IN 1987 and directed by Emile Ardolino, "Dirty Dancing" stars Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle, a working-class dance instructor at a mountain resort in the Catskills in 1963. Jennifer Grey costars as "Baby," the 17-year-old daughter of an affluent Jewish doctor vacationing at the resort. She takes the place of Johnny's dance partner after his partner gets pregnant, albeit not by Johnny. Baby naturally develops a crush. This was the hit romantic drama of 1987, but it actually didn’t make as much at the domestic box office compared to the other two dance flicks of the 80s: “Flashdance” (1983) made $95 million and “Footloose” (1984) $80 million while “Dirty Dancing” brought it $64 million. The two main cast members are a highlight. Swayze was in his prime and Jennifer Grey cute & nimble, like a fawn. In reality Grey was 26 years-old during filming, although she passes for late teens pretty well. Swayze, however, was 34 and looked it, albeit trim and fit. The lush Appalachian locations are outstanding and the story keeps your attention but you'll roll your eyes at the idiotic misunderstanding where Baby's father assumes Johnny's the one who got his partner pregnant and, for some strange reason, no one sets him straight. Not to mention, the characters always say the wrong thing at the wrong time, which perpetuates the misunderstanding. Also, the sexual union of Johnny & Baby is both premature and unbelievable in light of the time period, Baby's age (17 years-old) and her upbringing. Frankie Avalon was once asked about his early 60’s "Beach" movies if the male-female relationships were as "squeaky clean" as portrayed and he answered (paraphrasing): "As a teen back then 'going all the way' wasn't even considered an option." The obvious exception would be disreputable kids from the "other side of the tracks." Moreover, the fact that Johnny is having sex with the doctor's daughter, a minor at that, can't win any points in his favor. Hence, even without the misunderstanding there's little reason for the father to warm up to Johnny. So why does the doctor show respect for Johnny at the end, a dude who's fornicating with his under-aged daughter and is clearly much older than her as well, although it could be argued that he’s naïve and doesn’t necessarily know they’re having sex already. Flaws like these smack of lazy writing and are offensive to anyone with an ounce of intelligence. If you can look past these problems, however, the film is entertaining. The dance sequences shown in the staff area are akin to vertical sex with clothes on. I guess that's why it's called "Dirty Dancing," huh? Yet this is another flaw of the movie: these scenes are so amped-up and choreographed they shout to the viewer via megaphone: "This is A MOVIE; it's NOT REAL." Nonetheless, Grey's a cutie, Swayze's The Man and the beautiful Appalachian locations are a highlight, filmed at Mountain Lake Resort, Pembroke, Virginia, and Lake Lure, NC. THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 45 minutes. WRITER: Eleanor Bergstein. GRADE: B-/C+
testr2022-07-12
★ 7/10
A pretty simplistic film with a plot that's more of an excuse to show dance scenes and an extremely surface level handling of the issues of gender and class that it raises, but it's pretty cute and also I'm bisexual so I like it anyway.