I have finally seen "Dirty Dancing"
The 80s were my formative years. Seriously, I rocked a spiral perm AND mismatched socks. And yet, I missed all the famous 80s movies. Up until this past weekend, I had never seen The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, OR Dirty Dancing, and I still haven't seen Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, and many others. I've always said I missed out on those movies because I was living in Germany, going to school at an American high school on an Air Force base during the 80s. And that's true -- American movies didn't get to the base movie theatre for quite a while back then (I'm not sure I ever even went to the base theatre in Germany; I know I did a few times in Turkey), and the kino that we loved in Landstuhl played the same movie (about 6 months after U.S. release) over and over and over and over again (in English). I've probably seen Octopussy and Flashdance a combined 30 times; no exaggeration. However, that only covers 1980-1984. What about the rest of the 80s? In the second half of the 80s, I evidently didn't go to the movies. I started thinking about it:
So anyway, the very kind wandererjen has undertaken my 80s Movie Re-education, and we started this weekend (with much giggling and junk food). Out of the three we saw, I liked "The Breakfast Club" best. Jen got a little upset with me in DD when I got upset about the back-to-back scene choice of the Director when we go from Penny almost dying from an abortion to Baby and Johnny doing it. Seriously, isn't that a little irresponsible? It's such an odd juxtaposition of scene choices. I can't possibly be the only person upset by that. I'm yelling at the screen: DON'T DO IT! YOU JUST SAW WHAT HAPPENED WHEN PENNY DID THAT! and Jen's telling me I'm too old to appreciate it (the movie; not that scene transition); that I should have seen it when I was 16. Honestly? When I was 16, I'd have said the same thing! That's me.
We also pinpointed why an actress like Mandy Moore (we also saw How to Deal -- blech) will never be Toni Collette. Jen nailed it on the head: Mandy is the kind of actress who practices all of her lines in front of a mirror for maximum cuteness. Toni says her lines without regard for how she looks while saying them, thus making the character you're watching in the movie exactly like the people you interact with in real life. So take note, you speechmakers -- practicing in front of the mirror: good for rehearsing a speech. Bad for rehearsing a part. This same quality was refreshing in Dirty Dancing -- even the cheesiest of lines was delivered with a certain believability and a freshness that made it not seem over-rehearsed, and contained no "affectation".
Four extra thoughts:
1. the first movie I saw back in the states (after living in Turkey for 2 years and Germany for 3) was on a really awful date, while I still had jet lag. It was 2010 or a Space Odyssey or something like that. I actually fell asleep during it, and then afterward had an apple dumpling at a Wendy's drive-thru (which I remember to this day as being surprisingly fabulous) while same date explained combining (it's a farming thing) to me. Perhaps that's why I never went to another movie in Grand Forks.
2. did they have condoms in the era Dirty Dancing is supposed to be about? Not the 80s when it was shot, but before Kennedy was (since that's part of the opening lines).
3. Emily Gilmore looked GOOD!
4. We were laughing about "dancing dirtily". I'm sure this doesn't surprise a single regular reader :)
- 1984-85: freshman year of college in Grand Forks, ND. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you where a theatre was in that town (I went to a drive-in once, and then got a subsequent lecture about nice girls not going to drive-ins (turns out you don't go to the drive-in to watch the movie).
- 1985-1987: living in Great Falls, MT and evidently didn't go to the movies there either. Again, couldn't tell you where the (or a) theatre was in that town.
- 1987 - 1990: moved to Denver, got first apartment, had no money ... or interest in seeing movies, I guess.
So anyway, the very kind wandererjen has undertaken my 80s Movie Re-education, and we started this weekend (with much giggling and junk food). Out of the three we saw, I liked "The Breakfast Club" best. Jen got a little upset with me in DD when I got upset about the back-to-back scene choice of the Director when we go from Penny almost dying from an abortion to Baby and Johnny doing it. Seriously, isn't that a little irresponsible? It's such an odd juxtaposition of scene choices. I can't possibly be the only person upset by that. I'm yelling at the screen: DON'T DO IT! YOU JUST SAW WHAT HAPPENED WHEN PENNY DID THAT! and Jen's telling me I'm too old to appreciate it (the movie; not that scene transition); that I should have seen it when I was 16. Honestly? When I was 16, I'd have said the same thing! That's me.
We also pinpointed why an actress like Mandy Moore (we also saw How to Deal -- blech) will never be Toni Collette. Jen nailed it on the head: Mandy is the kind of actress who practices all of her lines in front of a mirror for maximum cuteness. Toni says her lines without regard for how she looks while saying them, thus making the character you're watching in the movie exactly like the people you interact with in real life. So take note, you speechmakers -- practicing in front of the mirror: good for rehearsing a speech. Bad for rehearsing a part. This same quality was refreshing in Dirty Dancing -- even the cheesiest of lines was delivered with a certain believability and a freshness that made it not seem over-rehearsed, and contained no "affectation".
Four extra thoughts:
1. the first movie I saw back in the states (after living in Turkey for 2 years and Germany for 3) was on a really awful date, while I still had jet lag. It was 2010 or a Space Odyssey or something like that. I actually fell asleep during it, and then afterward had an apple dumpling at a Wendy's drive-thru (which I remember to this day as being surprisingly fabulous) while same date explained combining (it's a farming thing) to me. Perhaps that's why I never went to another movie in Grand Forks.
2. did they have condoms in the era Dirty Dancing is supposed to be about? Not the 80s when it was shot, but before Kennedy was (since that's part of the opening lines).
3. Emily Gilmore looked GOOD!
4. We were laughing about "dancing dirtily". I'm sure this doesn't surprise a single regular reader :)