There are a number of movies that come to mind when you try to list movies that define the 80′s. One of them is without a doubt, Dirty Dancing (1987). This relatively low budget film was a major hit, and the music won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe as well as being nominated for a Grammy Award.

Not normally what I would spotlight as I like to go typically with lesser known films, I thought now on the 20th anniversary of the release, it was worth mentioning. Despite several attempts (most dubiously, Dirty Dancing – Havana Nights) no “dance” film in the past 20 years has managed to catch the lighting in a bottle that this film produced.

No, Jennifer Grey (“Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman”) nor Patrick Swayze ( “Johnny”) would ever be mistaken as the best actors, and even accomplished veteran Jerry Orbach (Dr. Jake Houseman) gave a performance that was a bit wooden.  But the film, powered by an awesome sountrack, some great dancing, and a good story is able to keep people enthralled, tapping their feet to the beats of the music, and almost weeping for joy (that’s ok guys you don’t have to admit it), when Johnny comes over and takes ‘Baby’ up on the stage for that final dance number.

Like, I have mentioned of some actors and actresses in the past, sometimes when something gets “too popular” it becomes fair game to start to dislike it, “just because” and that seems to be the case with Dirty Dancing over the years as this wonderful film has been derided as a fluffy ‘chick flick’ and  as such does not get the recognition it deserves.

The pace of the film never gets too fast or too slow, the twists in the plot are not subtle or hard to pick out ahead of time, so there are few surprises.  But what the film does and does well, it make you feel like part of the Catskills Resorts of the 1960′s and brings you into a world of music and dance that is fun.  Watch it.  Or, go back and watch it again.  You may just be surprised to find it is even better than you remember.