Trailer
Plot summary
In the summer of 1963, Frances "Baby" Houseman vacations with her family at Kellerman's, a Catskills resort. One night she sees Max order the waiters to romance the guests' daughters and belittle the entertainment staff, including Johnny Castle, a dance instructor. At a staff party Johnny's cousin Billy introduces them and they dance; Billy says Johnny and his partner Penny are childhood friends. Penny is expecting a child by Robbie, a waiter who will not help her. Baby borrows money from her father without saying why and offers it to Penny, then volunteers to take Penny's place in a performance.
Cast
- Charles "Honi" Colesas Tito Suarez
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dirty Dancing (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When the film was screened for producer Aaron Russo in May 1987, his reaction at the end, according to Vestron executive Mitchell Cannold, was to say simply: “Burn the negative, and collect the insurance.”
- The film's dailies kept being held up by authorities at the Canadian border, who thought from the title that it was a pornographic production, which led Bergstein to consider renaming it I Was a Teenage Mambo Queen.
- Marketers of the Clearasil acne product liked the film as a vehicle to reach a teen audience, but when they learned it contained an abortion scene they asked for that part of the plot to be cut; Bergstein refused and the promotion was dropped.
- Bergstein, the film's writer, tried to cast her friend, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, as Mrs. Schumacher, but Westheimer backed out when she learned the role involved playing a thief; the part went instead to 89-year-old Paula Trueman.
- Outside temperatures during the shoot reached 105 °F and, with the camera and lighting equipment running, it could be as high as 120 °F indoors; choreographer Kenny Ortega said 10 people passed out within 25 minutes one day, and Paula Trueman was taken to the local emergency room for dehydration.
- Dirty Dancing is based in large part on screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein's own childhood: she is the younger daughter of a Jewish doctor from New York, spent summers with her family in the Catskills where she took part in “Dirty Dancing” competitions, and was nicknamed “Baby” herself as a girl.
- For the female lead of Frances “Baby” Houseman, Winona Ryder, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone were considered; Bergstein chose the 26-year-old Jennifer Grey, daughter of the Oscar-winning actor and dancer Joel Grey.
- The next choice for Johnny was 34-year-old Patrick Swayze, a seasoned dancer with experience from the Joffrey Ballet whose resume read “No dancing” after a knee injury; he read the script, liked the multi-level character and took the part anyway.
