Dirty Dancing

I get emotional when I watch this movie. Sure, it's a heartwarming love story with challenges to overcome and hard times that make characters grow, but it's also the memories. I was 12 when this film was originally released. I never saw it in theaters. Had my best friend growing up not had a gigantic crush on Patrick Swayze I probably wouldn't have seen it on VHS (yes, I am THAT old). It became one of my favorite all time movies, not only for the movie itself, but for the memories of watching it with friends, and watching it alone and thinking of friends. And now my girls love it too. 

Our local cinema (and many others across the country) is just reopening, and in the midst of all the new regulations and encouraging people to come, they are bringing back movies from yesteryear (okay, I just love that word and had to work it in somewhere, though it makes me think of the 1800's, not 1980 something). Reduced prices, no fees for pre-purchasing online tickets, concession specials, a free welcome back ticket, etc. They have a "Clean Freak Squad" of employees whose entire job is to clean up after people. There was a young lady stationed at the soda machines to wipe them between customers, they were wiping handrails and seats in between shows, and sanitizing restrooms (which also had every other stall closed off, which I hadn't seen anywhere else).  They are doing the best they can to make people feel comfortable coming back to the movies and following the guidelines laid out for them.

Anyway, back to the movie...and that's what their reopening theme is, Back to the Movies (with the Back to the Future design).  Right now, and for the foreseeable future, they are showing a lot of movies that were popular a few years ago. Our current offerings include: Dirty Dancing, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Grease, Wizard of Oz, Jurassic Park, Zootopia, The Avengers, The Goonies, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And yes, I very much want to see The Goonies in the theater as well.

I do love the fact that at the beginning of the movie we learned a little about the history and the making of the movie itself. Eleanor Bergstein wrote about her own life and based the script on some of her experiences. She specifically titled it Dirty Dancing so that none of the "dirty dancing" scenes could be cut, as in another movie she had previously choreographed. There's a whole page of trivia on the IMDB site, as well as information about the entire movie if you want to know more.

I owned this soundtrack on cassette, on CD, and now it's in my Spotify library. And still, until we were watching it in the theater with the little "movie history" lesson before, I had no idea Patrick Swayze co-wrote and sang the song "She's Like the Wind". Now when I listen to it I can hear his speech patterns in some of the letter and word pronunciations. 

And there's one more great thing about social distancing...I could sing along with every single song and say the lines right along with the actors, and there wasn't anyone sitting next to me to bother!

This was a fun family experience, and I have to thank my husband for suffering through the uncomfortableness of being one of the only two guys in the theater to spend time with his girls :).

Then we all went out to dinner together at Old Chicago :).