Film Critique

Brittanay Miller

Humanities 101

Professor Bomboy

30 April 2015

Critique of Dirty Dancing

            I have decided to do my film critique on the movie Dirty Dancing that was directed by Emile Ardolino.  I have also decided to critique about how the music determined the plot of the story.

            Dirty Dancing has two main characters, Frances “Baby” Houseman and Johnny Castle.  Baby was on vacation with her family at a resort in the Catskill Mountains during the summer of ’63.  This resort is where she met the resort’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.  She was intrigued by his handsome looks and rebellious, provocative dance moves.  Dance moves that she has never performed or saw before.  After following Johnny and his friends to their own building at the resort where they dance provocatively at, Baby finds herself being almost corrupted in a way, and tries to dance how they all do.  She envies Penny, Johnny’s dance partner, and when Penny ends up needing an illegal abortion because the man who impregnated her does not want her to go through with the pregnancy, she has to receive an abortion.  Baby gets the money to help pay for the abortion and once Penny’s surgery is over; she is in excruciating pain.  Baby runs off to get her farther, Dr. Jake Houseman, and he comes to help young Penny.  When Dr. Houseman asks who was responsible for Penny, Johnny spoke up to say that he was, but Dr. Houseman thought that Johnny meant that he was the one who impregnated her, made her get the abortion and is the reason why she is in so much pain.  Dr. Houseman rushes off quickly after that, along with Baby.  Dr. Houseman tells Baby that she must not speak to or see Johnny anymore while they are on vacation there because they are bad people for her, so he thought.  Of course as any young teenager would act, Baby rebelled and went back to see Johnny Castle that night.  They most definitely “dirty danced” and ended up having sexual intercourse since all their past emotions and feelings caught up to them in the right moment.  Baby was a fill in for Penny during their annual, big performance at the Sheldrake.  Baby did great except she could not do the jump into a lift.  Johnny was accused of stealing a wallet at the resort since he worked there and Baby stood up to defend him, telling them Johnny could not have stolen the wallet because she was with him at this cabin that entire night.  Johnny was still fired regardless because of having a relationship with a guest.  After all the commotion, Baby and her family attend the talent show at the resort.  Johnny ends up coming back to the resort, coming up to the Houseman’s table, reached out for Baby’s hand while saying “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”  Johnny and Baby ended up dancing in the talent show and Baby finally mastered the jump into a lift!  Johnny declared his feelings for Baby and how she has made him become a better person, and her father Dr. Houseman, finally accepts Johnny for who he really is and not who he thought Johnny was.

            Throughout this entire movie, the music has definitely made parts of the story more dramatic and emotional.  Some examples of music choices that made scenes dramatic were “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons when it is played in the beginning of the film, where it introduces the audience to Baby; “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen was played when Baby and Johnny started to become infatuated with each other; “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel playing when you can see Johnny and Baby getting closer to each other.  Ironic how it is almost like the song was made for Johnny, speaking to Baby; And “Some kind of wonderful” by The Drifters playing when Johnny and Baby were on their way back from dancing at the Sheldrake.  This is yet another ironic song because the song’s title describes how they were feeling after their dance at the Sheldrake.

            The last and most important music choice for this movie was at the end when Baby and Johnny danced their last dance together, in the movie, and it is also where Baby fully trusts Johnny because she does the lift into a jump move whereas before, she was too afraid to follow through with it.  The song “I’ve had the Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes was the perfect song to show how much Baby and Johnny literally had the time of their lives together during that summer. 

Work Cited

Dirty Dancing. By Eleanor Bergstein. Perf. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. IMBd, 1987.  

DVD.