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Movies / On DVD / Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing

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Dirty Dancing (1987)

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Reviews Counted:43

Fresh:29

Rotten:14

Average Rating:5.9/10

Rated: 12A

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:09-02-2007

Synopsis: Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance instructor from the... Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance instructor from the wrong side of the tracks. Johnny's facing a crisis: his dance partner and friend, Penny, is pregnant and has reluctantly decided to get an abortion. This leaves Johnny a solo act -- until Baby agrees to take Penny's place. She has to learn how to dance first, however, and as Johnny teaches her the choreography's sexy, seductive moves, the two fall in love. But Baby's father believes that Johnny is the creep who got Penny pregnant, and he furiously orders Baby to end the relationship. Baby knows that Johnny's innocent -- and with her feisty idealism and his dance talent, the two will prove to Baby's father that their love is worth fighting for. [More]

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Jack Weston, Kelly Bishop, Lonny Price, Max Cantor, Neal Jones, Miranda Garrison, Garry Goodrow, Wayne Knight

Director: Emile Ardolino

Director: Emile Ardolino
Composer: John Morris
Producer: Linda Gottlieb, Eleanor Bergstein

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Dirty Dancing

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The purest spirit of the 1980s is distilled in this amiable film.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/10/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Chick flicks have hardly been bettered.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/03/03
Almar Haflidason
Almar Haflidason
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film’s easy charm, infectious soundtrack and tidy choreography should still win over new fans as well as old.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Anna Smith
Anna Smith
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Endlessly quotable, strangely fascinating and immensely charming.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/09/07
Caroline Westbrook
Caroline Westbrook
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
11/15/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Turned out to be one of those films that had something for everyone.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
01/01/00
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

I have to admit to feeling some dangerously warm fuzzies for this 1987 movie.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

Creatively covers one girl's coming of age and has more foot tappin' fervor since any flick since "Saturday Night Fever."

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
07/10/03
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Dirty Dancing works best when it's most direct and unpretentious.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Against all odds on the night of the Event, she steps up and shows the world that Baby can dance and only pictures this awful gross that much money.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
08/07/07
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Grey validates all the soap opera theatrics that revolve around her

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/15/03
Pete Croatto
Pete Croatto
Filmcritic.com

The movie plays like one long, sad, compromise; it places packaging ahead of ambition.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An animated rendering of its characters is virtually the only thing preventing the formulaic Dirty Dancing from being another one of Disney's crappy romances.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
05/01/07
Rob Humanick
Rob Humanick
Slant Magazine

A good film.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Guilty pleasure: Fluffy, schmaltzy and predicatble, this coming of age tale, set at a turing point of American culture, is extremely enjoyable due to erotic dancing and Oscar-winning tunes (just disregard the stereotypes and cliches).

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
07/17/09
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Its attitudes and its controversies are so dated that it feels like the film was made in 1963. And have you tried to watch a teenaged dance movie from 1963 lately?

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Tom Matthews
Tom Matthews
Boxoffice Magazine

The film's saving grace is that fully a third of the film has the actors dancing rather than talking.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

While the music on the soundtrack is predictably overloud, the period detail is refreshingly soft-pedaled.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
02/12/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Good production values, some nice dance sequences and a likable performance by Grey make the film more than watchable.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
02/12/08
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The dance finale between Gray and Swayze, although an obvious crowd-pleaser, is performed to a contemporary song clearly intended for the charts, which blows the period feel right off the dance floor.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 4 Comments
02/12/08
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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all

Latest News for Dirty Dancing

September 14, 2009: Patrick Swayze: 1952-2009
Patrick Swayze, the versatile actor who starred in some of the biggest Hollywood hits of the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Sept. 14 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He... More...

August 19, 2009: Lionsgate Limbers Up for More Dirty Dancing Opens in new window
Time to get back in your corner, Baby -- Lionsgate seems to be prepping a "Dirty Dancing" remake. More...

March 07, 2008: Patrick Swayze Diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer
Patrick Swayze, star of such hit films as Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and Road House, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. More...

February 13, 2008: Total Recall: It's a Dance Dance Revolution
Audiences have been historically dismissive of all the critical contempt, pushing dozens of fancy-footed extravaganzas to the upper reaches of the box-office charts. For this... More...

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