Dirty Dancing Review

About the Dirty Dancing 20th Anniversary DVD Set

Most Dirty Dancing fans have the original DVD. I don't think I need to tell you the story of Baby and Johnny, of a 1963 family vacation, and of love between an innocent young girl and a bad boy with a heart of gold dance instructor and the personal growth both did during the movie. Jennifer Grey as Baby and Patrick Swayze as Johnny will always be remembered as will all of the main characters of this coming of age movie with a dancing backdrop.

However, the anniversary edition includes a second DVD that is a must have for true DD fans.

Just a note about the actual movie DVD. It is in widescreen with Dolby Digital Audio. It's close captioned optionally and in both English and Spanish. It also has some commentary from a writer/co-producer about the making of the movie and a quick trivia track.

1) The additional anniversary DVD opens with Patrick Swayze, noticeably older and looking like he had some recent plastic surgery, talking about the making of the movie. He highly praises Jennifer Grey which surprised me as I heard they did not get along and did not stay in touch since the movie. He does a little impromptu singing of "She's Like the Wind" and explains why he wrote it. Good stuff to open the DVD with.

2) Tribute to Jerry Orbach.
He played baby's father in the movie and was a great actor. Other actors and crewmembers talk about his professionalism and their respect for his work.

3) Deleted Scenes
This is a FUN section. There are several scenes that never made it into the movie and some are funny and others actually seem better than the ones that took their places.

4) Alternate Scenes
Kelly Bishop wasn't cast to play Baby's mother originally. She was going to be the scorned older married woman who Johnny turned down in favor of being with Baby. However, the original actress became ill after just a few scenes and Bishop took her place. Some scenes are the exact ones we see in the movie but with the first actress as the mother. It's funny because no one else is Baby's mother like Kelly Bishop.

Another alternate scene, and one that I think is the hottest I have seen, is the dance scene between Baby and Johnny in his room. The one we all saw was sexy but this one is smoldering HOT. The moves they do are nothing short of sex with clothes on. I watched with my eye bulging at how sexy that scene was and then I realized it was probably enough to bump the rating up and also might have been a bit too sophisticated for the movie. But boy, oh, boy, it's smoldering.

5) Extended Scenes
These are just longer versions of scenes we saw in the movie. One scene, where Baby tells her sister Lisa to tell their parents she has a headache and is in bed so she could go be with Johnny, shows a very manipulative Baby blackmailing her sister into silence. I suppose the producers didn't think that fit in well with Baby's innocent character. There are a number of extended scenes, all enjoyable.

6) Outtakes
Just a few silly bloopers and gaffs.

7) Original Screen Tests
These are fascinating. Watching Jennifer Grey read her lines, seeing her dance with actors other than Swayze, and seeing Swayze do his stuff for the cameras was all really fun to watch. It was obvious that the two had instant chemistry when they danced even before they even met!

8) Multiangle Dance Sequences
A series of the best known dances that you can see from the original angle and other camera angles. My favorite is when Baby finally does the lift. One alternate angle shows her face as she is lifted and she looks petrified. We never saw that in the movie. You can go back and forth between angles.

9) The Classic Story on Stage
Blah blah blah. Hype for the UK stage version.

10) Interactive Photo Gallery
Just as it says. Many photos from the movie you can click on and see.

11) Jennifer Grey Interview
Man, since she had her nose job, I barely recognize her. She still looks really young but different! She talks a lot about the movie, not realizing what a success it would be, thinking the movie bombed when it first came out, and more. It's an interesting interview but the way they edited it was a tad annoying.

12) Eleanor Bergstein Interview
The writer and co-producer from DVD 1 talks about the making of the movie and how the cast all came together to work on it even though no one believed it would be a success.

13) Kenny Ortega Interview
The choreographer of the movie tells us what it was like to work with dancers of all skill levels and praises Jennifer Grey's persistence.

14) Emile Ardelino Tribute
A poignant tribute to the director of the movie who died in 1993.

15) "Hungry Eyes" Music Video
Eric Carmen looked corny back then and the video is corny too.

16) "She's Like the Wind" Music Video
A weird montage of Dirty Dancing scenes and other stuff. Could have been done so much better.

17) "I've Had the Time of my Life" Music Video.
Such a corny looking duo singing such a great song. They try to dance and act in love but she's wearing a suit like a secretary and he's balding and kind of goofy and, well, it's better to listen to the song than to watch the video.

At any rate, for the inexpensive price of under $14.00, I got the movie and all the above. It was well, well worth it. If you are a fan of the movie, you will love the deleted and alternate scenes and most of the rest. And catch the alternate dance scene between Grey and Swayze. Yikes. Smokin!

My Viewpoint

A great double DVD set well worth the money even if you have the original DVD. 5 stars all the way around. They packed the extra DVD with TONS of never before released scenes and other things that any fan will want to experience.