Let's not forget that what sets the story in motion - and the unforgettable love affair between Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) - is Baby stepping in to dance for Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) whose abortion goes wrong and leaves her bedridden.
I remember seeing the film in 1987 when I was ten years old and didn't really understand what was making Penny sick. I don't even think the film even uses the word "abortion" in the dialogue. Today I think it's quite compelling that the film centers around a woman trying to find access to safe abortion at a time when abortion was illegal.
As Dirty Dancing turns 35, women's right to safe abortions is under siege. Dirty Dancing is even more relevant today than it was in 1987.
There are many Pennys out there seeking out abortions, and we need more Babys to come out of their corners and playpens and stand up for women and to stand up for a woman's right to CHOOSE!!!
Thank you, Eleanor Bergstein, for not only writing a classic film but giving it depth with this very important subplot. A timeless and relevant film. Penny is a wonderful dancer who expresses herself through dance. When she is on the dancefloor, she seems to have autonomy and control over her body. But the sobering film reminds us that, back in 1963, she didn't.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 28, 2022 9:10 AM |
nobody puts baby in the wastebasket!
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 26, 2022 12:40 AM |
I was thinking about the movie the other day and will watch it sometime over the summer.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 26, 2022 12:44 AM |
Please. Penny was a slut.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 26, 2022 12:45 AM |
They should screen in it at the next Supreme Court movie night to raise some consciousness.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 26, 2022 12:52 AM |
I don't know how the sequel is going to work. Jennifer Grey as a middle-aged Baby with a husband and kids spending the whole movie walking around her house having flashbacks of Patrick Swayze from the first film (supplemented with clips from some of his other films if they run out of DD footage) and getting all misty eyed and wondering about how her life would be today if they were still together?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 26, 2022 1:07 AM |
About as relevant as Roadhouse.
Fun fluff but not much else.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 26, 2022 1:35 AM |
Top tier schmaltz, great fun for what it is. More fun than all those nonsense John Hughes teen movies (and I grew up in the same town he did!)
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 26, 2022 1:43 AM |
What happened to that actress?
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | May 26, 2022 1:44 AM |
10 posts in an hour , so relevant.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | May 26, 2022 1:49 AM |
Jennifer Grey deserved an Oscar nomination.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | August 28, 2022 6:57 AM |
Bitch never should have gotten that nose job...
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | August 28, 2022 7:25 AM |
Just remake the Dirty Dancing Cuba movie, was that Mexican dude and Romola Garai.
WHET Romola Garai?
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | August 28, 2022 7:30 AM |
Robbie was such a dick but so hot.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | August 28, 2022 7:40 AM |
I would totally have fucked Robbie.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | August 28, 2022 8:40 AM |
The actor who played Robbie, Max Cantor, was a Harvard grad. Unfortunately, he died from a heroin overdose at 32.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | August 28, 2022 9:04 AM |
Secretly love the film and the dancing too.
Great performances from the leads.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | August 28, 2022 9:10 AM |
