June 9

Dirty Dancing, 1987

Hello and welcome back to another all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! With summer upon us, Dion Baia and J. Blake have decided to chat about an absolute fan favorite which turns 30 in August- a film that immediately adored itself to multiple generations of women and fans alike. Well the boys are putting on their Cuban heels and stepping onto the dance floor this week with the 1987 classic, Dirty Dancing !

Dirty Dancing Movie Poster

After joking around about keeping their parents up all night long while hosting sleepovers growing up, they segue into the meat and potatoes of the podcast. They frame the period in which the film takes place, and touch on some of the themes layered within. They analyze not only the idea of the ‘scandalous’ music that swept through the country at that point in history (first through the lower-economic communities and the gradual and eventual infiltration into the white middle-class in the 1950s and early 60s, influencing a generation), but also discuss the bygone era of the Catskills destination resort getaways, and the boy’s serendipitous connection to it. Blake talks about his own grandfather Al Fisher, who was part of a comedy duo known as Fisher and Marks, who along with members of the Rat Pack would tour the country and particularly the Catskills/Poconos Circuit that thrived in the middle of the last century, where our 1987 Dirty Dancing takes place. The boys then unpack the movie and explore the various layers of the film’s individual characters and their relationships, set against the aforementioned August of 1963. Dion and Blake also take care in tackling the controversial aspect within the film and chat about how they feel the filmmakers handled it. Dion also brings in some extra insight as just having seen the touring stage version ofDirty Dancing this passed April at the famed Shubert Theater in New Haven, and they mull over a new subplot added into the stage play and speculate as to why they think this heavy plot-point was wovened into our classic story. They also discuss the impact the film’s amazing soundtrack had on a generation of fans and also the resurgence in the late 80s of everything 1950’s and 50’s Doo-Wop music, and the part this film might of played in that. So, what problems did this film have before it’s release- did it really have everything and everyone against it? What major company backed out of sponsoring the film due to a major controversial plot point within the story that the filmmakers refused to delete? And what is Blake‘s touching story about this film’s soundtrack and the part it played in a major moment in his young life? And to the overall point, how do the fellas feel about the movie after watching it this go-around? Well everybody start stretching, find your dancing partners and ditch your parents, cause this week the boys are sneaking over to the other side of the tracks, to do a little Dirty Dancing on this all new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!