“NOBODY PUTS BABY in a corner,” yet this two-disc, features-filled DVD set (released Dec. 9) does just that. If Jennifer Grey was surprised to see the low-budget indie “nobody would ever see” open in 1987 to become a major phenomenon, she must have been less humble 15-plus years later when she learned that DD was going digital. After a movie’s inspired two hit soundtracks, a live concert tour, a single-season TV series, and a 10-year anniversary rerelease, any further fanfare is just icing on the cult.
This is a fun set, with the original theatrical trailer and music videos for “Hungry Eyes,” “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” and the Patrick Swayze-penned and -performed ballad “She’s Like the Wind.” Grey is striking in her screen testunpolished and naturally, vulnerably beautiful. The commentary is shared between choreographer Kenny Ortega and other crew members; Grey and Swayze are absent.
So who was sleeping with whom on the set? Assistant choreographer Miranda Garrisonwho also played bed-hopping cabin bunny Vivianspeaks very highly of Swayze, but “as an actor,” of course. Hmm. Amid the mutually back-patting interviews with Grey (post-nose job) and others, we learn that Swayze beat out Billy Zane for the part of Johnny Castle; that Grey was 27 when she played 17-year-old Baby; and that the famous lift scene was actually shot in late autumn in a nipple-numbingly cold lake.
The film is gorgeously rendered in this newly remastered original wide-screen version. As long as Grey’s on-screen, she’s still America’s wide-eyed Jewish sweetheart. DD isn’t about a girl coming into her own, but a young woman making people pay attention to her for the first time. Many fans never stopped paying attention.
The set also includes a preview for Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. Look for supporting roles by M´ya and, incredibly, a 50-plus-year-old Swayze in a Johnny Castle reprise. Bring it on. KATIE MILLBAUER
YOU MIGHT WANT to wait before purchasing And Now, Ladies & Gentlemen (with Jeremy Irons), Freddy vs. Jason (with, um, Freddy and Jason), and Johnny English (with Rowan Atkinson). Also out Jan. 13, the Cold War military satire Buffalo Soldiers is bracingly unpatriotic; Charlotte Rampling stars in the tart, teasing Swimming Pool; and Billy Bob Thornton appears in Daddy and Them. Also worth a look: the creepy Japanese horror flick Cure. EDS
