“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”-Johnny Castle
Dirty Dancing is known for three things: Patrick Swayze, the Catskills, and something about putting a baby in the corner. A lot of people assume they know what the movie’s about without ever having seen it because of the title – dancing and a lack of hygiene. It might surprise you, then, to learn that the ‘dancing’ in the film is essentially sex standing up, and a significant subplot involving a botched abortion makes this love story more substantial than the DVD cover would have you believe.
What You Need to Know About the Plot:
In the summer of 1963, Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and her family take a vacation in the Catskills, an area of upstate New York along the same lines as the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard, but populated by rich Jews. The resort is called Kellerman’s and comes complete with its own dorky camp anthem. Its owner, Max Kellerman, is an old friend of Baby’s father and mother (Jerry Orbach and Kelly Bishop). He has a pompous son, Neil, who decides to lay claim to Baby, while Baby’s sister Lisa (Jane Brucker) sets her sights on one of the college-educated busboys, Robbie Gould (Max Cantor).
Baby’s interest is piqued, however, not by Neil or his boasting about multiple hotel ownership, but by the resort’s working-class dance instructors, whose tango is to die for. Sneaking away from the fun resort activities like charades and capture the flag, Baby comes across staffer Billy Kostecki (Neal Jones) struggling with three watermelons - the fates of which are never satisfactorily explained - and offers to help carry. Even though guests and staff aren’t supposed to mingle in their free time, Billy directs her to the bungalow where the hip young people are getting down with their bad selves, bumping and grinding and whatnot. Baby is immediately entranced by Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and the way he “dirty dances” with his partner Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes), though Billy explains that they’re not a couple.
Which is good, since Penny’s been knocked up by Robbie, the prick who’s romancing Baby’s sister. When Baby confronts Robbie about the pregnancy, he tells her it’s not his problem because Penny isn’t ‘their kind of people.’ Baby dumps a pitcher of water on his crotch, tells him to stay away from her sister and goes to her father seeking the money Penny needs for an illegal abortion. It is, after all, the sixties. Dr. Daddy Houseman hands over the money without asking questions because he trusts his favorite daughter so much.
Johnny looks down on Baby for running to her daddy for the money, but thinks Penny should take it anyway. The only time the procedure can be performed happens to coincide with the annual dance Johnny and Penny perform at a neighboring resort, a show they have to put on or lose their jobs for the next summer. Billy volunteers Baby to take Penny’s place, and she spends the next two days learning to tango, cha-cha, mambo, pechanga, etc. Tempers flare, romance blossoms, and they get wet practicing lifts in a nearby lake.
The big night comes and Baby, made up like a hooker, makes it through the dance with most of her dignity intact, aside from chickening out on the lift and one unfortunate disco-esque move. She and Johnny return to Kellerman’s victorious, only to find that Penny’s abortion was botched. Baby dashes off to her family’s cabin and drags her father in to help. He manages to save Penny, but blames Johnny for the predicament, believing him to be the father. He’s disgusted with Baby for lying to him and forbids her to have anything to do with the townies again. Of course, no teenage girl listens to her father when the love of a bad boy is on the line, so she continues to see Johnny on the sly, and they sleep together after she goes to him to apologize for her father’s behavior.
Unfortunately a jealous ‘Bungalow Bunny’ sees Baby sneak out of his cabin the next morning, and decides to frame Johnny for a string of thefts at the resort, just because she can. Unable to defend himself without outing Baby, Johnny accepts his dismissal, but Baby comes forward and admits in front of her father that they were together the previous night, so there. Johnny’s fired anyway because of the whole fraternization thing, but he appreciates the gesture.
The rift in the Houseman family is only made worse when Lisa declares her intention of going all the way with Robbie. Baby tries to dissuade her, but Lisa accuses her sister of jealousy, and runs off to Robbie’s cabin, only to find him in bed with another guest. Baby tries to make amends with her father, but points out that she’s not a little girl anymore, and that he’s disappointed her with his bigotry as much as she’s disappointed him.
At the end-of-summer resort shindig, Johnny comes bursting in, despite having been banned, and takes a stand for Baby, inviting her up to dance the last dance with him. In conversation with Dr. Houseman, Robbie accidentally admits he was the father of Penny’s baby, and Dr. Houseman tears up the check he almost tipped him. Then he confronts Johnny and admits he was wrong. Johnny and Baby bring down the house and Baby finally opens herself up to try the lift, resulting in an iconic image for the 80s and beyond.
Who’s Who:
Frances “Baby” Houseman was named after the first woman in the Cabinet. She’s a seventeen year old daddy’s girl who plans to attend Mount Holyoke College and wants to join the Peace Corps. Baby leads a very sheltered life prior to her time at Kellerman’s, so much so that she doesn’t seem to mind everyone calling her Baby. She’s mousy-looking, but has a surprising amount of guts, and in a nod to fan service, she spends a portion of the film in her underwear.
Johnny Castle is the resort’s dance instructor-turned-gigolo. He’s dirt poor and not much of a brain, so he allows himself to be used by a number of the older, unhappily married women while at Kellerman’s because they smell nice and tip well. His devotion to his dance partner makes him swoon-worthy, especially since they haven’t been romantically involved since they were young, but he takes responsibility for her. More fan service: he spends a majority of his time in the movie shirtless.
Penny Johnson is Johnny’s dance partner, who gets knocked up by Robbie. When he dumps her to chase other skirts, she decides to have an illegal abortion which goes terribly wrong. Penny finds it hard to believe there’s anyone as innocent as Baby left in the world, and is hesitant to trust her. Though the girls become friends and braid each other’s hair, Penny warns Johnny off, reminding him that he’s always telling her not to get involved with guests, the hypocrite.
Dr. Jake Houseman, Baby’s father, thinks of himself as open-minded until he discovers his beloved daughter’s been associating with hoodlums. He eventually owns up to being overly-judgmental, and accepts that his ‘baby’ is all grown up, though it’s unclear if he’s realized she’s also sexually active.
Marjorie Houseman is played by Kelly Bishop who is largely wasted in the role of Baby’s mother. Mostly she sits around giving her husband disapproving looks. In the end, though, she sides with her daughter and suggests Baby inherited her dancing talent from her.
Lisa Houseman is Baby’s older and much less attractive sister, who sings off-key and is obsessed with her appearance. She falls for Robbie because he pays attention to her (with one eye on her father’s money), and she’s jealous of Baby for being the smart one and getting all their dad’s attention.
Robbie Gould, scumbag extraordinaire. Robbie’s got his eye on a higher education and waits tables at Kellerman’s because the guests give huge tips at the end of the summer. He doesn’t really get his comeuppance since no one punches him in the groin, though Johnny does pound on him a bit.
Billy Kosecki is Johnny’s cousin and the staffer who introduces Baby to the wild world of dirty dancing. He’s also very close to Penny, but the ‘doctor’ he found to perform the abortion turns out to be a hack. For some unknown reason, in the stage musical version, the character of Billy does all of the singing - including the theme song.
Phrases You Might Have Heard Before and Where They Come From:
“I carried a watermelon.” It’s Baby’s excuse for crashing the staff party, and the first thing she ever says to Johnny Castle. Just what every man wants to hear.
“You’re everything!” Johnny calls himself nothing because he doesn’t save lives like Baby’s father, but she tells him he’s everything. Not everything to her, but just everything, which is very earnest but factually incorrect, especially considering he has no education, no goals for the future, and allows himself to be used as a sex toy by a bunch of cougars.
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” Truthfully, this line doesn’t make any more sense in context, but according to Wikipedia, Johnny is “excoriating the Housemans for their choice of Baby’s seat.” Why he assumes they forced her to sit there as opposed to, say, one chair over is unknown.
(I've Had) The Time of My Life is the theme song of this film which plays in the final moments as Baby runs and jumps into Johnny's arms. It's actually a pretty good song.
Survey Says:
The woman who learned the merengue from this DVD is looking for a little spice in her life. She may be naïve, but she’s also an idealist, and really just wants the world to be a better place. She’s intimidated by what she doesn’t understand, but fascinated at the same time. Take her world by storm and she could return the favor.
Aside from Patrick Swayze being almost constantly bare-chested, women like this movie because there are plenty of us who were quiet and overlooked, who grew up longing for a summer romance that was built on nothing but passion, and settled instead. We wish some handsome man with hips that don’t quit had come and plucked us from obscurity. (Though personally, Johnny Castle doesn't do it for me.)
Plus, it has a nice soundtrack, and the rehearsal scenes between Baby and Johnny are refreshingly honest (because supposedly Jennifer Grey couldn't stop giggling during the takes, and the director decided to keep it.)
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