EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
It's summer, 1963. Baby, 17 years old and all idealistic innocence, is vacationing with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and is mesmerized by him as well as his dance style. She soon becomes Johnny's prize pupil - in dance and in love. Academy Awards: Best Song ("(I've Had) The Time of My Life"). () Copyright 1987 Vestron Pictures, Inc. () "The reason people treat me like nothing is because I am nothing." -- Johnny Castle [Patrick Swayze] () Headstrong 17-year-old Baby Houseman hardly expects her family's usual summer vacation in the Catskills to be momentous. But then Baby spies Johnny Castle, the resort's dance instructor from the wrong side of the tracks. Johnny's facing a crisis: his dance partner and friend, Penny, is pregnant and has reluctantly decided to get an abortion. This leaves Johnny a solo act -- until Baby agrees to take Penny's place. She has to learn how to dance first, however, and as Johnny teaches her the choreography's sexy, seductive moves, the two fall in love. But Baby's father believes that Johnny is the creep who got Penny pregnant, and he furiously orders Baby to end the relationship. Baby knows that Johnny's innocent -- and with her feisty idealism and his dance talent, the two will prove to Baby's father that their love is worth fighting for. () "...Nicely bittersweet....A drive and a pulse that give the film real excitement..." New York Times (08/21/1987) "...Some nice dance sequences and a likable performance by Jennifer Grey make the film more than watchable..." Variety (05/20/1987) "...Smart and funny, touching and unabashedly sexual....Grey and Swayze are tough, thoughtful, lovely actors..." Los Angeles Times (08/21/1987) "[A] slumber-party classic..." Entertainment Weekly (04/15/2005) 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his '80s classic transcends cynicism to give warm-fuzzies the world over." Total Film (03/01/2007) 5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hanks to a fabulous soundtrack and enthusiastic performances, it's still as much fun as ever." Ultimate DVD (12/01/2007)
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION NOTES:
Director: Emile Ardolino
Producer: Linda Gottlieb, Eleanor Bergstein
Composer: John Morris Costume Designer: Hilary Rosenfeld Director of Photography: Jeffrey Jur Editor: Peter Frank Production Designer: David Chapman
AWARDS:
1987 - Academy Awards Best Original Song:Donald Markowitz Best Original Song:Franke Previte Best Original Song:John DeNicola
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