It’s time (at last) to revisit Dirty Dancing, because everyone knows it’s a cult classic from the 1980s, but we tend to forget why.
Last January, we learned that the (real) sequel to Dirty Dancing was indeed moving forward, with Jennifer Grey returning in the shoes of Baby, Frances (Frédérique in the French version) by her real name. An opportunity, perhaps, to recapture a bit of what made the feature released in 1987 a hit, with the late Patrick Swayze in the supporting lead.
Its success, both commercially and critically, was in fact unlikely at the time, given that no one believed in the project, except for its screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein and producer Linda Gottlieb.
The preproduction, which had actually kicked off at MGM, was at first a long desert crossing. The production that followed wasn’t easy either, mainly due to the tight budget, only a few weeks of shooting available, or the well-known rift (now infamous) between the two on-screen dance partners. But the result is there: 39 years after its release, Dirty Dancing remains a cult film, even if the flip side is that it’s often treated as just a romantic comedy, or a lightweight teen romance fluff.
Yet it’s simultaneously a Trojan horse for Hollywood, thanks to its delicate feminist themes and its strong political stance, but also a small miracle that could have never seen the light of day, given that nobody was willing to give it a chance. So it’s time to pay homage and justice to this misunderstood great film that is Dirty Dancing.
We explain all of this in detail in our video dedicated to the film :
