Dirty Dancing: Keepsake Edition review (Blu-ray) ★★★

While I’m not sure why this is the “Keepsake Edition” — as opposed to what, all those watch once, throw them away disposable DVDs?  — there is an undoubted charm to Dirty Dancing. As with Burlesque, the fact that the film can only ever score a maximum of three against my (sometimes bizarre) internal rating system is not a criticism. This is a film that revels in its clichés, throwing in enough sight gags and knowing moments to show that everyone involved was thinking “yeah, we know, you’ve seen it all before, so have we – but fun isn’t it?”

I also have a confession. I am old enough to remember the cinema release of this film – indeed, I distinctly remember turning down a couple of opportunities to see it with female friends. There was a reason for that. Two in fact: they’re called “testicles”. That’s not the confession (the age is irrelevant, and from my name alone you should realise the biological details of my bits and pieces), the confession is I didn’t actually see the film until a couple of years ago.

The thing is, by the time I did see it, I was already incredibly familiar with it. That’s not just the familiarity of the Romeo and Juliet (with added pregnancy) storyline, but more to do with the way the film has been absorbed into modern life. Obviously there were the hit singles, and that climactic dance which had been much shown and imitated in everything from TV shows to wedding videos, but there are also those lines which you’re expected to know, like “nobody puts baby in the corner” or the one about the melon. Having seen the film a couple of times since I’m still not sure I understand the fruit-based one, but hey ho. The point is that Dirty Dancing, while really not that great a film, has become an established part of modern culture, a reference that crosses gender divides that everyone from those possibly conceived to the theme song to great-grandparents will now recognise. That’s a hell of an achievement. That it also introduced a new generation to Solomon Burke almost warrants an extra star... but no. This is one of those three-stars-and-proud-of-it films.

Do we need to discuss the plot? Frances “Baby” Houseman (Grey) is the good girl about to go sort of (12 Certificate) bad while on holiday with her parents. The weeks at their 1960s Catskills resort is shaping up to be predictably tedious but then Baby meets Johnny (Swayze), the resort’s dance instructor. She’s instantly smitten, doubly so when she discovers that, behind the scenes, the dancers leave the guest-pleasing waltzes and foxtrots behind for — shock horror —some dirty dancing. Baby wants in, Johnny is all too pleased to teach her and a forbidden romance ensues. 

As mentioned above, the fact that the plot is so by the numbers doesn’t detract from the film’s charms one iota. The dancing is thrilling, the music is excellent and, most of all, Grey and Swayze — however you cut it, one of the most unlikely film couples of all time — have the sort of chemistry that other films can only dream of.

EXTRAS ★★★?? Let’s be honest here. This umpteenth re-release of the film isn’t reason enough to buy it. You can watch it several times a year on TV anyway, plus everyone who wants a copy surely already owns a copy? Yes, it looks pretty decent on Blu-Ray but, as with many films of this era, the quality of the cameras wasn’t that high anyway. Happily, the distributors have gone the “pack it with extras” route and, in the process, have given other re-issues food for thought. As well as the best bits of the extras on previous editions (or so I’m reliably informed:  it’s not like I have a VHS, a DVD and the earlier Blu-Ray release to cross reference here), this one comes with a hardback book of photos and a raft of new stuff. Most predictable of these is the tribute to the late Swayze, but that’s a mere 15 minutes in several hours of background detail including the full Dirty Dancing: Live In Concert. You’ve got two commentaries, documentaries on everything from the locations to the phenomenon of the film itself, music videos, interviews with Grey and screenwriter Bergstein amongst several others, a copy of the original script, deleted scenes, alternate takes... It’s a pretty definitive package.