Talkin’ DIRTY DANCING with Alex Kittle

Despite being a child of The MTV generation, there were a lot of films from the the era that I didn’t see until three, four, or five years after the fact (sometimes even longer!). However, for reasons that I’m not entirely sure, everyone around me – my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and older friends – made dead certain that I caught up with DIRTY DANCING almost as it happened.

I didn’t see it in theatres of course (perish the thought), but all of that spring and summer I pretty much committed the soundtrack – both volumes! – to memory. And by the time it dropped on home video, it was a quick rental, and strangely one I saw over and over through the years. I blame cable.

Despite my position that a lot of films from  the 80’s don’t hold up, I’ve actually always believed that DIRTY DANCING still worked. I couldn’t tell you why, but it seemed somehow to transcend the “Me Decade” and exceed its status as a pop culture touchstone.

Of course, it’s hard for me to say for sure: I needed someone who hasn’t seen it before to confirm it for me.

Enter Alex Kittle the Film Forager.

 

Ryan McNeil: I didn’t think I’d be including this film in the discussion series. How was it that you’d never seen it befeore?

Alex Kittle: I’m not sure, I guess no one ever sat me down to watch it and I was never a big Patrick Swayze fan so it didn’t seem necessary viewing.

RM: I thought everyone was a Patirck Swayze fan! Did you have any preconceptions coming into the film?

AK: From clips I’d seen and general pop cultural awareness I knew it was about Jennifer Grey going to a summer resort and falling in love with Swayze as they danced around. I had no idea it was set in the 60s though, from the hairstyles and “Time After Time” I assumed it was set in the 80s when it was made. I figured it would be a cheesy, dated romance with some fun dance numbers, sort of a guilty pleasure-type of movie.

RM: I can certainly see how you’d make that assumption, and that tells me you were in for a good time. What did you think of it now that you’ve finally seen it?

AK: I was impressed with it to be honest, it was better than I thought it would be! It’s not that I expected it to be bad, I just thought it would be fluffier and it turns out to be this pretty well-written romantic drama with a good female lead. I was thrown off by the early 60’s setting but I realized the time period allowed the story and characters to develop a certain way, especially in reference to the abortion subplot and the way young people are interacting. And of course, I loved the dance numbers! Swayze’s got moves, it must be said. I can totally see why this was turned into a stage musical.

RM: Interesting that you put it that way – I can’t say I’ve ever thought of Jennifer Grey’s Baby as a “good female lead”. What about her made you see her as such?

AK: I like that she stood by her principles and stayed true to herself even when she was unsure of how to act. At the beginning she’s surrounded by these awful yuppie/snobby people, and she knows she doesn’t fit in with them but doesn’t really know who she does align herself with, so she just sort of stalks around in a gloom until she meets Johnny and Billy and their whole gang. She’s open-minded and non-judgmental, and wants to help people in a non-condescending way (unlike her father). She’s still a teenager and sort of bratty at times, but part of the story is definitely her coming-of-age and I think it’s done well. Plus I love that she’s going to study “economics of under-developed countries” at Mt Holyoke.

RM: Well that’s all well and good, but it’s still a leading lady that everybody calls “Baby”.

AK: I couldn’t STAND that everyone called her “Baby”, it made every single person who talked to her sound patronizing and I hated that she let it happen. Especially when she was named for the first female Cabinet member! That’s awesome! At least in the opening monologue she makes a comment to the effect of “Back then everyone called me ‘Baby’ and it never occurred to me to mind.” She realizes that it’s a disrespectful nickname and I’d like to think after the events of the film she goes by her real name, as indicated by Johnny calling her Frances in the final scene. I believe the whole thing was inspired by screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein’s nickname of “Baby” when she was young, so there is some sort of context there.

RM: Well also, if nobody called her “Baby”, then we’d never get the iconic “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” line.

AK: Yeah I was sort of underwhelmed when it finally came time for that line, though! It seemed out of the blue, like he just barged into the talent show, ran up to her, and yelled the line. It was kinda silly.

RM: Blasphemy!

I’m not sure if this is a question or not, so bear with me, and just comment as best you can. As you’re coming to this film for the first time, I think about how I saw it when it hit video stores in 1988, making me 10 years old. In hindsight, I can’t believe I got away with watching it that young, but then again a lot of things flew over my head (like the fact that Penny was pregnant, or why she was so sick later).

I guess my question is, can you believe that kids – and other kids my age – got away with watching this?

AK: Yeah a lot of it is a little inappropriate! I certainly wouldn’t have caught on to the abortion thing, especially since it’s never stated explicitly. But I can think of a lot of films I watched when I was younger and enjoyed even though the dialogue or plot might have been beyond my understanding. DIRTY DANCING doesn’t have graphic sex or cussing or anything extreme, and its basic romance/family storylines seem fine for children who are 9 or 10. I would put it in the same league as GREASE, which I watched obsessively as a child despite the heavy sexual innuendo and similar references to pregnancy. And they’ve both got so much dancing!

Have you rewatched it as an adult, and if so did you find it more or less enjoyable now versus when you were a kid?

RM: I have – given who I’m married to, I can’t not. I’ve been impressed by how well it holds up, and taken aback by so much of what I didn’t catch as a kid – granted I was something of a sheltered kid.

I actually find it even more enjoyable because I recognize even more of the songs on the soundtrack than I did when I was a kid. Back then I had the soundtrack on cassette – everybody did – and I usually only listened to Side A, which was mostly the 80’s tunes. Now hearing all those great 60’s songs, especially the Solomon Burke number, puts me in a great mood.

AK: Well that leads to the other best thing about it, which IS the dancing! I really loved the hip 60s music (as opposed to the synth-heavy 80s stuff I was expecting – not that there’s anything wrong with that), and the emphasis on Latin styles since they had become so popular by that time. The dances are fun and loose, they’re not over-the-top fantasy numbers but a little more grounded.

RM: I think I’m going to have to cue up the soundtrack as soon as we’re done here. Was there anything else about the film that jumped out and caught your attention?

AK: I’m a huge fan of montages, so I dug Baby’s whole “learning to dance” sequence, and I was kinda glad she wasn’t perfect when they performed since that would be ludicrous after a few days of lessons and no prior training. The amount of grinding and “sexy” dancing is a little much but hey, it’s right there in the title! And Grey’s stripping dance-thing with Swayze (who is always already shirtless, it seems) is pretty hot.

RM: Didn’t I see on Twitter that you actually got a kick out of that sequence? Including the moments when Baby keeps feeling ticklish.

AK: I thought the tickle thing was cute mainly because I myself am extremely ticklish and I can relate to being accidentally tickled all the time. Then I found out it wasn’t even scripted, Jennifer Grey really was cracking up! Adorable. Apparently several other moments in their training were unscripted as well, like their crawling toward one another was just them warming up before starting the scene. The actors have great chemistry and I like that they had these fun unplanned moments worked into the final film.

RM: Well it sounds like you sure had a great time with this one! But what about it’s eightiesness – is there anything about it that has dated it somewhat?

AK: Actually, a lot of the styling is more 80s than 60s, especially some of the women’s hairstyles, but that’s a minor thing. I think the “Time of My Life” moment is suuuuuper 80s and not in the best way since I don’t like that song, it’s so cheesy and feels out of place on the soundtrack. (But I know it’s an iconic scene.) I think making it a period piece helps it to age better, and it’s primarily the lead actors who make it feel dated, just because I identify Grey and Swayze so strongly with films of that decade. And some of the film techniques, like the peppy “training” montage, are things I identify with 80s films. It’s not as if this movie could only have been made during that time, but it’s pretty clear that it was. And that’s ok!

RM: Well that’s not so bad. Anything about the film that you specifically didn’t like?

AK: I didn’t like how mean everyone was to Baby at first, like Penny and Johnny were real jerks at the beginning and it seemed so uncalled for when she was trying to help out. I didn’t really care for her sister’s subplot either, just because it isn’t developed at all so I wasn’t sure how committed she was when she caught her beau in the act.

And, as previously stated, I hate that everyone calls her Baby.

RM: OK, but allow me to play Devil’s Advocate here for a moment, but it a new person was dropped into a circle of friends like that, isn’t it possible/probable that they wouldn’t be so accepting?

Remember that they were talking about really personal things, and that Baby was on the other side of a clearly defined class line.

AK: Yeah but even before it got personal they were jerks to her, and later when she was trying to help out they resented her for even offering. I understand that part of it is a reaction against her class and youth, it just seemed extreme and less realistic than the characters’ other interactions.

It’s not a major criticism, just a sour point for me. I just want everyone to be nice!

RM: Don’t we all! Well it sure sounds like you had fun with the film, what sort of score would you give it on a scale of 1 to 10?

AK: And I’d probably rate it a 7 out of 10