Poster © Vestron Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama, Music & Romance
RatedNot Rated
Runtime1 hr 40 mins
ReleasedAugust 21, 1987
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorEmile Ardolino
StarringPatrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach
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Dirty Dancing (1987)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Dirty Dancing's Details | |
| Genre | Drama, Music & Romance |
| Rated | Not Rated |
| Released | 05/12/1987 (Cannes); 08/21/1987 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Budget | $4.5M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Dirty Dancing's Interests | |
| General | Mambo lessons, staff-only parties, resort talent shows, the Catskills, summer of 1963. |
| Music | John Morris on score. The soundtrack is the real star, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" included. |
| Movies | Footloose (1984). Another movie where dancing is basically rebellion. |
| Television | So You Think You Can Dance. Every season someone tries the lift. |
| Heroes | Baby. Planning to change the world, learning the mambo first. |
| Dirty Dancing's Crew | |
| Director | Emile Ardolino |
| Writers | Eleanor Bergstein |
| Producers | Linda Gottlieb |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey Jur |
| Music | John Morris, Erich Bulling, Jon Barns |
| Edited By | Peter C. Frank |
| Production | Great American Films Limited Partnership |
| Distributed By | Vestron Pictures |
Strip out the dancing and Dirty Dancing is a thin summer romance with a dad who frowns a lot. Good news: you can’t strip out the dancing. Jennifer Grey plays Baby as a smart, gawky kid headed for the Peace Corps, and watching her get the mambo wrong over and over, on a staircase, on a log, in a lake, is the whole joy. Patrick Swayze’s Johnny is all posture and attitude, a working-class instructor who knows the rich guests see him as the help. That class divide is the movie’s best idea, and it’s drawn with a fat marker: the staff party is sweaty and alive, while the ballroom feels like a funeral with a band. Jerry Orbach does a lot with one disappointed stare. Some of the dialogue belongs on a greeting card. It made $214.6 million worldwide on a reported $4.5M. A 7.1 because the story is thin and every dance scene still works. $994 says you carry a grocery bag into a party this year and announce what’s in it like a formal introduction.
What works: Jennifer Grey’s clumsy, determined Baby is completely winning, and the dance scenes still have more energy than most musicals.
What doesn’t: The story is thin, some of the dialogue is pure greeting card, and Johnny is more posture than personality.
Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a summer movie night with great music, a little romance and a big finish.
Spoilers
Johnny gets fired before the summer ends, but he walks back in for the season’s final show, pulls Baby up on stage, and they finally nail the lift. Her dad admits he misjudged Johnny, and the whole resort ends up dancing.
Summer 1963. Frances Houseman (Jennifer Grey), better known as Baby, is vacationing with her family at Kellerman's, a resort in the Catskills, where her doctor dad Jake (Jerry Orbach) is old friends with the owner. One night she wanders over to the staff cabins and finds a secret party with way better dancing than the ballroom, led by instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). When his partner Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) can't make a big upcoming performance, Baby offers to fill in, even though she has never danced like this. Emile Ardolino directs. One hundred minutes, one very awkward watermelon.
Anyone willing to teach a total beginner the mambo. Watermelon optional.
| Jennifer Grey | Frances "Baby" Houseman |
| Patrick Swayze | Johnny Castle |
| Jerry Orbach | Jake Houseman |
| Cynthia Rhodes | Penny Johnson |
| Jack Weston | Max Kellerman |
| Jane Brucker | Lisa Houseman |
| Kelly Bishop | Marge Houseman |
| Lonny Price | Neil Kellerman |
| Max Cantor | Robbie Gould |
| Charles "Honi" Coles | Tito Suarez |
| Neal Jones | Billy Kostecki |
| Wayne Knight | Stan |
| Paula Trueman | Sylvia Schumacher |
| Alvin Myerovich | Sydney Schumacher |
| Miranda Garrison | Vivian Pressman |
| Garry Goodrow | Moe Pressman |
| "Cousin Brucie" Morrow | a magician |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (285,437 votes) → 7.1 / 10 (285,462 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $214.6M; Domestic box office $64.6M; Opening weekend $3.9M; Profit / loss (est.) +$100.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 73%; CinemaScore A−; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 73% (80 reviews); Metacritic 65 / 100; CinemaScore A−; IMDb users 7.1 / 10 (285,437 votes); movie.guru score 6.7.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.