My wife convinced me to watch Dirty Dancing for the first time the other night.

It's a classic, and there's sex, so it's a win-win!"

There's no refuting an argument like that.

But I didn't get it. Not that I didn't follow the story, I just didn't believe the story. Movie trailers and clips had always led me to believe the plot revolved around two dancers (probably professional) and their dirty dancing (probably revolutionary or conflict-generating). That's only partly true of Dirty Dancing. My final summary was more like (spoiler alert), "So, Baby goes on a family vacation, falls in love with a womanizing dance instructor who plays victim to older women, has a bunch of sex with him -- on a family vacation -- then gets upset at her aloof father when he finds out. Oh, and there's some dancing now and then, too." Call me a cynic if you want, but I was surprised at how unrealistic the actual plot seemed.

LISTEN-LIVE4
loading...

That said, it was kind of neat to finally place lines and songs I'd heard before:

Nobody puts Baby in a corner. - Johnny"

I'd heard the line before but didn't realize it came from Dirty Dancing.

And the closing dance scene to Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was obviously recognizable (thanks to frequent rotation on 96.7 the River!).

I didn't personally find Dirty Dancing as the box office hit that it was. Maybe that's just the guy in me failing to empathize and find the beauty in forbidden love. Overall, though, I'm glad I watched it; I can finally cross it off my list of Must Watch films and move on to something else like Groundhog Day.

More From 96.7 The River