Blu-Ray Review: DIRTY DANCING KEEPSAKE EDITION
The Perfect Treatment for a Classic Film
I'm quite oddly proud to admit that 'Dirty Dancing' is one of the first films I ever remember watching and enjoying enough to want to watch again. It was also the first time I ever noticed how much a soundtrack can add to the experience of watching a film, and I was instantly reminded of how good I thought Solomon Burke's 'Cry To Me' was when the news broke earlier this month that the great man had died.
That song is only one highlight of an exceptional soundtrack, which has come to mean as much to fans as the film itself: why else would almost every wedding after-party now feature a "Dirty Dancing Mega-mix" alongside the "Grease Mega-mix"? Not exactly an auspicious accolade, but one of the best indicators of a film's importance is the manner in which it saturates other cultural mediums, and 'Dirty Dancing' has risen to a status well above a mere single film (even surviving the terrible sequel that could easily have diluted its success).
Released today 'Dirty Dancing' hits shelves in a limited, fan-friendly Keepsake edition featuring some excellent extra features, read on for the full review.
'Dirty Dancing' isn't exactly cult in the same way as say a film like 'Boondock Saints' is - there are the same fan conventions, spin-offs including a stage-show, a raft of merchandise and numerous DVD and now Blu-ray releases, but 'Dirty Dancing' is actually far more main-stream than anything else called cult. Cult is usually just a fan-powered phenomenon, in spite of the critical reception of a film, and is sometimes something to be sneered at by higher brow critics since it seemingly confirms to them how bad everyone else's judgement is, but 'Dirty Dancing' is regarded (probably begrudgingly) among even the most joyless of critics as a good film.
Of course, the caveat of that judgement is that they call it a "guilty pleasure" or "good despite being utterly cliched", but still, a positive review is a positive review.
Everyone is surely familiar with the Romeo & Juliet culture clash plot, with Baby Houseman (Jennifer Grey) finding her calling and the forbidden love of her life while holidaying in the usually boring Catskills with her parents and wayward older sister thanks to the discovery of an under-ground dirty dancing scene. Of course it is cliched - that is surely part of the joy of this type of self-consciously sentimental romance- but reducing the film to those terms is to ignore its enormous charm, a fantastic on-screen chemistry between Patrick Swayze (as Johnny) and Grey and a genuinely uplifting effect that some recent po-faced movies could have done well to copy themselves.
'Dirty Dancing' is an easy film, a wonderfully entertaining feel-good flick for which familiarity definitely breeds further charm. And when it boils down to it, that success isn't because the tone channels that Disney feel-good factor, or the serious message against classism: the reason we all love 'Dirty Dancing' is entirely down to Grey and Swayze.
Grey, in the break-out role of a life-time is hugely endearing, bringing a very fresh charm to the role that adds authenticity to Baby's naivety. And Patrick Swayze, in his most iconic role, is very believable as Johnny, and genuinely seeks to make his predicament important to the audience, even despite the potential the character clearly had to be a throw-away Rebel Without a Cause figure. Together they carry an incredible chemistry, making their romance all the more believable and all the more engaging.
This edition isn't really about the film per se- obviously it counts, but most people will already own the film in one form or another, so we have to look at the new high-definition transfer as well as the huge amount of Extras to decide whether or not this edition is worth shelling out more money for.
Quality
The former Blu-ray edition wasn't exactly the best, with some obvious atrocities plaguing that transfer, and it is good to note that this new edition, having returned to the source, redresses some (though certainly not all) of those deficiencies. The best advance is the change in pallette, with the fairly muted colour scheme being given an injection of naturalism that makes it stand out like never before. Overall though, the transfer is definitely marred by a fundamental lack of quality in the original source material, and in all honesty this edition should be classed only as a fix for the earlier, lesser transfer, and not the huge step up in quality that some might be expecting from the cinematic and DVD versions.
What is rather unforgivable is the lack of work that seems to have gone in to kicking the soundtrack up another notch, which would have been very possible considering the presumable availability of the tracks for remastering. As it stands, the songs don't pack anything like the punch that the Blu-ray platform should be able to instil, and even simpler audio concerns like adding a crisper finish too dialogue aren't done with any kind of quality.
Extras
This is where the release comes into its own, with some very good Extras included and goddamn there are a lot of them: really, this is a definitive collection of all of the best Special Features already included in some of the many video releases of the film, as well as some new additions that improve the collection hugely. Aside from those additions, the "Keepsake Edition" also comes housed in a rather bulky 2-inch thick box that is unfortunately about an inch taller than a typical Blu-ray case, making it a nightmare box if you have limited shelf space (or like me prefer uniformity). Inside the tri-fold cardboard case is a separate hardbound book with full color photos and nostalgic pieces from the film, two random marketing advertisements and the digital download code sheet (for use with the separate digital copy disc).
The highlights of the new features are definitely the Patrick Swayze tribute, in which his brother Donnie and wife Lisa Niemi take a very sentimental look back at his life which will definitely include some fan tears when watched, and the guilty pleasure Live In Concert feature. But really, everything is good here, and the selection of extras definitely makes this the definitive edition: even ignoring the slight lack of quality in the transfer, there is enough to here to appease even the most un
New to this edition
Kellerman's: Reliving the Locations of the Film (12:24 mins) The Dirty Dancing Phenomenon (13:43 mins) In Memoriam (1:58 mins) A Tribute to Patrick Swayze (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 15:15 min) The Rhythm of the Dancing (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:08 min) Fan Reel (1:42 mins) James and Julia Derbyshire: Dancing Across the Pond (4:41 mins) Dancing to the Music (16:32 mins) Theatrical Trailer (2:25 mins) Eleanor Bergstein Script (with Introduction by Bergstein) Interview with Miranda Garrison (13:19 mins) Vintage Featurette (6:45 mins) Dirty Dancing: Live in Concert (1:22:56 mins) Digital Copy Carried over from the prior release: Feature-Length Audio Commentary 1 : featuring writer Eleanor Bergstein Feature-Length Audio Commentary 2 : featuring Choreographer Kenny Ortega, Assistant Choreographer Miranda Garrison, Cinematographer Jeff Jur, Costume Designer Hilary Rosenfeld, and Production Designer David Chapman. A Tribute to Emile Ardolino (13:28 mins) A Tribute to Jerry Orbach (6:33 mins) Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze (12:28 mins) Outtakes (38 secs) Music Videos: "Hungry Eyes", "She's Like the Wind", and "The Time of my Life". Multi-Angle Dance Sequences (2 mins) Interviews: Jennifer Grey (11:13 mins), Eleanor Bergstein (18:36 mins), and Kenny Ortega (15:21 mins) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey Screen Test Montage (1:10 mins) Jennifer Grey Screen Test Comparisons 11 Deleted Scenes (11:48 mins) 3 Alternate Scenes (2:38 mins) 7 Extended Scenes (7:47 mins) Photo Gallery Feature Length Trivia Track