(That Are Not “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”)
I have a watermelon sitting in my office. It was sent by the network to promote our new reality event series, The Real Dirty Dancing. As soon as I saw it I laughed, because I could picture the exact moment it was referencing in the original Dirty Dancing film. So you can imagine my surprise when no one else in the office seemed to get it.
Now I’ll admit I’ve probably seen Dirty Dancing more times than a lot of people. My family had it on VHS when I was growing up and my sisters and I played it on a regular basis, especially during summer break from school. We knew all the dialogue, all the songs, even some of the dances (and to this day I’m impressed we didn’t break any bones trying out the lift with each other – we weren’t exactly the most graceful of young ladies). To me, every scene is memorable.
But even accepting that I know Dirty Dancing better than a lot of people couldn’t prepare me for the shock of discovering that everyone who has walked into my office and seen the watermelon has been confused by it. EVERYONE. And when I’ve pointed out it was to promote The Real Dirty Dancing, they’ve just gotten more confused. Which makes me sad for them (what DID they watch growing up if not Dirty Dancing?) and dedicated to clearing up the confusion.
Everyone seems to know “Nobody puts Baby in the corner”, but do they know “spaghetti arms”? Or “standing here dead”? Or the significance of the coral shoes? When they watch The Real Dirty Dancing and see the contestants re-enact iconic moments, do they even recognize those moments? Dirty Dancing is made up of a lot more than Catskills’ resorts and fantastic songs and Patrick Swayze. And here are five iconic scenes that prove it.
“I carried a watermelon.” – Baby
The first real meeting between independent, optimistic Baby Houseman and cynical dance instructor Johnny Castle is wonderfully cringe-worthy. She’s in the staff area after helping Billy carry watermelons, and it is clear from the start that she is out of her comfort zone. People are dancing around her in the most sensuous of ways, smashing chests together and grinding hips in a dance style she’s obviously never seen before.
When Johnny and his partner Penny take the dance floor to show off their superior skills, Baby is so captivated, she can’t seem to look away from them. You know she wants to say something really clever and witty to attract Johnny at their first introduction. But when she opens her mouth, all that comes out is “I carried a watermelon”. The horror at what she’s done immediately crosses her face. We question her life choices with her, and are just as surprised as she is when Johnny chooses to dance with her a little while later.
Ticklish
The dance training montage is a crowd pleaser for many reasons. The music is great, the stars are extra attractive in their workout gear, and Baby’s progress – as a dancer and a young woman coming into her own – is fun to see. While there are several moments in the montage that stand out, the one that rises above them all is the adorable sequence where Johnny is attempting to run his hand down Baby’s side, and she can’t stop laughing.
The backstory on the scene is that Jennifer Grey (Baby) was exhausted from a long day of filming, and she really couldn’t stop giggling when Patrick Swayze (Johnny) ran his hand down her body. And Swayze, also tired from working all day, was honestly annoyed with her. Director Emilio Ardolino had a habit of letting the cameras roll even between scenes, so he caught the entire interaction on film. Re-watching it later, he realized it was so good he had to include it in the movie.
Lifts in the River
The dance routine at the end of the movie is pretty much a ubiquitous cultural reference these days. Even people who have never seen Dirty Dancing know that dance routine – or at least the lift that serves as its climax. It is a moment so iconic, it has not only been re-enacted in other movies, it also won the 2008 TV Land Award for “Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room”.
It is an impressive moment, but it took some steps for Baby and Johnny to get to a point where they trusted each other enough to make it possible. Johnny doesn’t even show his new partner how to do lifts until after they have been training for a while. They escape the resort to attempt the tricky move with no interruptions – first in a field and later in a river.
The river is obviously a turning point in the couple’s relationship. Not only have they recently shared bits and pieces of their lives with each other after leaving the confines of the hotel, but they’ve honestly started to trust and believe in each other. The music gets softer, the lighting grows rosier, and the touches and looks between the two begin to linger. It still takes some time to get the lift right – to get their relationship right – but it’s definitely this moment when their happy ending starts to become possible.
A Punch So Satisfying
Between the romance and the family drama and the coming-of-age revelations and the awesome dancing, it can be hard to remember that there is a pretty serious sub-plot going on in this movie. The whole reason that Baby ends up learning to dance with Johnny in the first place is because his regular partner Penny needs time off to take care of a Big Problem.
This Problem is the catalyst for so many important moments in the film. It also helps set the theme of trust, which all of the main characters struggle with. When Baby first learns of Penny’s Problem, she automatically assumes Johnny is responsible. Her father, Dr. Houseman, does the same thing. And Johnny is so used to being looked down on and suspected by people that he doesn’t even try to argue with their assumptions (at least in Dr. Houseman’s case).
But Johnny is not the one responsible for the Problem. Robbie the Waiter (Robbie the Creep) is. The same Robbie the Waiter who has been sucking up to the Houseman’s and flirting with Baby’s older sister, Lisa. The same Robbie who Lisa decides she wants to sleep with, rich guest Vivian Pressman DOES sleep with (after Johnny turns her down), and Penny learns the hard way not to believe when he says “I love you”.
Robbie refuses to take responsibility for the Problem, and makes sure Baby understands it is because he’s out for himself and only himself. She pours a pitcher of water on him, but it definitely doesn’t feel like enough. Especially after Penny almost dies later on. Robbie really is a creep, and Dr. Houseman treating him like a good guy – and Johnny like a loser – is incredibly frustrating. So when he catches Baby and Johnny together and makes a sleazy comment about it, it is VERY satisfying to see Johnny lose his cool and knock Robbie to the ground.
“But you let me down too.” – Baby
We meet Baby at the beginning of the film as a bright-eyed, college-bound, upper-class young woman, who is ready to change the world for the better. She has been raised to believe in the good in people, and that the people she loves will never let her down. Over the course of the movie we watch her learn some hard truths about what the world is really like.
The secret dancing, the lies about reasons she hasn’t spent time with the family, the relationships she’s formed with people her parents might not approve of – it all comes to a head when Penny needs emergency medical treatment and Baby rushes to her father the doctor for help. Dr. Houseman is kind with Penny, but immediately attacks Johnny (who he thinks is responsible), and then Baby who has been lying to him.
But Baby doesn’t sit back and take the attack against her quietly. By this point she has seen and experienced things that have opened her eyes to the ugly parts of life. And hero doctor or not, she’s realized her father may not be the best man in the world (which she made a point of saying in her opening narration). She reminds him, between heart-breaking sobs, that he taught her all people are equal and deserve fair treatment. But he certainly isn’t acting like he believes that with his treatment of Johnny.
Here that theme of trust rears its head again. Baby and her father trusted each other completely at the beginning of the movie – or at least trusted what they believed about each other completely. And now they’ve had their trust shattered by the reality of who they really are. It will take some further disappointments, reveals, and epic dance moves to help them rebuild that trust.
The Real Dirty Dancing airs Tuesday nights in February at 9pm. Tune in each week to see all of the iconic moments for yourself!
