Dirty Dancing
Hey, Do You Remember...?
Christopher Schrader
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2021
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We're having the time of our lives with one of the most requested titles in the history of this podcast. Yes, we swear - it's the truth! And we owe it all to you.
Topics include: how the director wound up using the real life tension between stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey to the film's advantage, the adverse conditions the production faced and where that's reflected in the movie, how many elements of this the screenwriter pulled from her own life, some mixed feelings about the inclusion of 80s pop music in an otherwise period appropriate, the maligned prequel, how shocked we were to discover just how much further this franchise has expanded beyond that, and more!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, do you remember dirty dancing? |
| 0:06.6 | Hello and welcome, Hey, do you remember, Hey Do You Remember, a show where we reminisce about the movies or TV series we grew up with, then take off the rose-tinted glasses to see how it holds up. |
| 0:32.0 | I'm Chris. |
| 0:32.7 | I'm Donna. |
| 0:33.5 | And I'm Carlos. |
| 0:34.2 | And today we're revisiting Dirty Dancing. |
| 0:53.3 | Music And I'm Carlos. And today we're revisiting Dirty Dancing. Burn the negative and collect the insurance money. |
| 0:56.9 | That was one producer's advice when studio executives asked him for his feedback on a rough cut of dirty dancing. |
| 1:03.6 | Having already divorced themselves from the notion that the film might achieve any degree of critical acclaim, they were now also concerned about its |
| 1:12.0 | commercial viability. For some, the title was a little confusing. For others, it was flat out |
| 1:18.8 | off-putting. Test screenings had also revealed that many audience members weren't even aware of what |
| 1:24.5 | was going on with the abortion subplot. |
| 1:33.4 | But corporate sponsors certainly were, and that particular plot point meant licensing deals were tough to secure. |
| 1:35.1 | So the studio's original plan was to release the film for a single weekend and then |
| 1:40.2 | immediately put it out on home video, where their hope was that it might eventually break even. |
| 1:46.8 | And then a curious thing happened. People showed up for this, but it wasn't the teenage demographic |
| 1:52.9 | they'd been chasing. It was adults who were seeing the film and coming back for repeat viewings, |
| 1:58.5 | then telling their friends that they should go see it, too. |
| 2:01.8 | So even though it didn't do huge business that first weekend, |
| 2:05.4 | it was enough to encourage the studio to reevaluate the film's potential. |
| 2:09.7 | And the strong word of mouth from viewers meant that Dirty Dancing |
| 2:12.8 | had a chance to find its audience over the course of weeks and then months |
... |
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