FREE: Dirty Dancing: The Ultimate Edition (2 Discs)

The listing, Dirty Dancing: The Ultimate Edition (2 Discs) has ended.

As with Grease (1978) and Footloose (1984) before it, Dirty Dancing was a cultural phenomenon that now plays more like camp. That very campiness, though, is part of its biggest charm. And if the dancing in the movie doesn't seem particularly "dirty" by today's standards--or 1987's--it does take place in an era (the early '60s) when it would have. Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey, daughter of ageless hoofer Joel Grey) has been vacationing in the Catskills with her family for many years. Uneventfully. One summer, she falls under the sway (as it were) of dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Baby is a pampered pup, but Johnny is a man of the world. Baby's father, can't see the basic decency in greaser Johnny that she can. It should come as no surprise to find that Baby, who can be as immature as her name, learns more about love and life--and dancing--from free-spirited Johnny than traditionalist Jake. It is awfully hard not to get swept up into the nostalgic heat and sentiment of this unabashedly, and well-done, teen romance. It is, by turns, sexy, funny, melodramatic, jamming (what with that soundtrack chock full of some of the best pop hits of the 60s mixed with a few great new songs) and campy.