History Film / DirtyDancing

** You can probably throw in all the {{Panty Shot}}s of the dirty dancing girls, Penny in her dancing gear, and Lisa's rather large rack in the bikini in the end scene.

* BrainlessBeauty: Lisa.

* WedLocking: Becomes a point of confusion when Dr. Houseman asks who's responsible for the pregnant girl (meaning "who knocked her up?"), and Johnny Castle says "I am" (meaning "I'm taking responsibility for helping her out"). It should be noted, however, that Johnny actually knew very well what Dr. Houseman meant, and only claimed responsibility because he was afraid that it would be "Penny" who would be fired for sleeping with Robbie, due to the severe classicism going on at Kellerman's.

* PlayingGertrude: In real life, Kelly Bishop is only respectively 14 and 16 years older than on-screen daughters Jane Brucker and Creator/JenniferGrey, and is actually 23 years ''younger'' than on-screen husband Creator/JerryOrbach.

* FireForgedFriends:
** Max and Tito (see JerkWithAHeartOfGold below). Their conversation during the last song shows how much they had been through (the Great Depression and World War 2 to name a few) over at least 30 years together.
** Jake and Max as well, Jake having helped Max recuperate from heart problems.

* ActorAllusion: When Kelly Bishop, playing Baby's mother, Marge, says of her daughter's dancing abilities, "She gets that from me." Kelly Bishop is a former ballet and Broadway dancer who was Sheila Bryant in the original production of ''Theatre/AChorusLine''. Creator/JerryOrbach himself was also a well known Broadway dancer and he was Billy Flynn in the original production of ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}''. In fact, both musicals engaged in a famous rivalry for box office receipts and Tony awards when they opened within months of each other in 1975.

* DateRapeAverted: Katey's date--the son of her father's boss--gets fresh with her during their evening out. He actually has the decency to apologize and even provide her with an alibi for whenever she sneaks off to see Javier.

* CoordinatedClothes: {{Inverted}} with Baby and Johnny who wear clothes of contrasting colours throughout the movie, even for their dance number where couples very often wear matching outfits.

** Mostly of shirtless Patrick Swayze, although soaking wet Jennifer Grey(in the river scene) is nothing to sneeze at.
** You can probably throw in all the [[PantyShot Panty Shots]] of the dirty dancing girls, Penny in her dancing gear, and Lisa's rather large rack in the bikini in the end scene.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: One of the strongest aversions in cinema. [[spoiler: Penny goes through one without a second thought, even though she's scared, and her friends support her throughout. Although the operation turns out to be a back-alley abortion that nearly costs Penny her life, Dr. Houseman saves her, doesn't report her, and even assures her that she'll still be able to have children later, without once blaming her or condemning her for her choice; his criticism is reserved entirely for the guy who got her into the predicament to begin with, and to his daughter for lying to him and getting involved. The movie even has Penny shown wordlessly thanking him at the end of the movie]].

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Baby, whose real name was Frances, was named after Frances Perkins, the first female to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, serving as Secretary of Labor under UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt and during the first year in office for UsefulNotes/HarryTruman.

* TheBigDamnKiss : [[spoiler: After Johnny and Baby sleep together the first time, he gives her the cold shoulder, and she stands outside his cabin door yelling for him to come out and deal with her. He responds by throwing open the door and offering up the BigDamnKiss]].

* BreakupSong : Performed by Marjorie, with a Reprise from Jake.
* BrickJoke : The Marilyn wig Baby tries on at the start of the film reappears on someone else's head during the talent show.
* ChekhovsGun : [[spoiler: Vivian gives Johnny an expensive watch. Later, when he rejects her for Baby, Vivian accuses him of stealing it]].
* CompositeCharacter : Neil doubles as the Emcee/bad comic.
* DateRapeAverted : Just like in the first film, Robbie tries to do this to Lisa. Unlike the first film, however, Lisa actually dumps Robbie for good after it happens and instead pursues a new love interest, Marco Suarez, a member of the resort's house band, which is led by his father, Tito Suarez.
* DemotedToExtra : Robbie's role is much smaller than in the original film, with Lisa instead pursuing a new love interest, Marco, a member of the resort's house band, which is led by his father, Tito.
* DistantFinale : The film opens with a 1975 Baby watching [[ShowWithinAShow Dirty Dancing: The Musical]] and reminiscing about her time at Kellerman's. In the end Johnny catches up with her, and she wrote a book about the experience, upon which the musical is based.

* FriendshipSong : Penny teaches Baby how to be a sexy dance partner using "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
* MinorCharacterMajorSong : Penny, Marjorie, and Vivian each get a show-stopper.

* SheIsAllGrownUp : When Baby puts on her dancing dress, and the white gown at the end.
* SpicyLatina : Penny, although she's more AmbiguouslyBrown.
* TheVamp : Vivian, more so than in the original. Creator/KateySagal even gets to perform the ultimate "torch song."

* InterclassRomance: Wealthy Katey and waiter Javier.

* SexyDiscretionShot: Javier and Katey embrace, begin to undress. . .cut to the outside of the cabana as we see their [[SexySilhouette silhouettes]] lying down. The next morning, they're snuggled together, with him shirtless and her [[SexyShirtSwitch wearing his shirt]].

As mentioned above, this film was a major coup for Vestron Pictures, which, up until this point, was largely only involved with home video distribution. As a result of this film's success, Vestron turned it into a minor franchise, cranking out a TV series (see below) and a music tour which played in 90 cities for three months and was telecast on Creator/{{VH1}}. They also began getting more involved in making movies and actually began fully financing them (Vestron had released movies before ''Dirty Dancing'' came out, but those movies were made by outside filmmakers and Vestron was only handling distribution). Unfortunately, however, many of these other films ended up tanking at the box office, and these flops, coupled with the fact that many of Vestron's former clients were now forming their own home video divisions and thus no longer needed their services, caused the company to eventually declare bankruptcy and close down on January 11, 1991.

Soon after, she learns Johnny's dance partner Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) needs an illegal abortion resulting from an affair from resort waiter Robbie Gould (Max Cantor), who has begun dating Baby's older sister, Lisa (Jane Brucker). The only night they can see the abortion doctor is the same night Johnny and Penny earn extra money performing at a neighboring hotel named The Sheldrake with no one to fill in, they might lose the gig, so Baby offers to help. As Johnny teaches her how to dance, the two grow close. But Baby's family would never approve of the relationship, and she needs to decide if it's worth fighting for...

''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 romance film starring Creator/JenniferGrey and Creator/PatrickSwayze, written by Eleanor Bergstein, and directed by Emile Ardolino. A sleeper hit, it became a sensation upon release, with reports of people supposedly viewing the film, then immediately returning to the theater to watch it a second time. Amusingly, the studio that produced and distributed ''Dirty Dancing'', Vestron Pictures, only planned to release the film in theaters for only a weekend, and then send it straight to home video, since they had originally been in the video distribution business long before entering film production.

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Baby, whose real name was Frances, was named after Frances Perkins, the first female to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, serving as Secretary of Labor under UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt and during the first year in office for UsefulNotes/HarrySTruman.

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Baby, whose real name was Frances, was named after Frances Perkins, the first female to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, serving as Secretary of Labor under UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt and the during the first year in office for UsefulNotes/HarrySTruman.

* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Baby, whose real name was Frances, was named after Frances Perkins, the first female to serve in the U.S. Cabinet.

* InterclassRomance:
** Wealthy Baby and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Johnny.
** To a lesser extent with wealthy Robbie and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Penny.

* JerkAss: In addition to Robbie, there's also Vivian Pressman (Miranda Garrison[[note]]who also worked behind the scenes as assistant choreographer[[/note]]), a highly oversexed resort guest who falsely accuses Johnny of stealing her husband Moe's wallet after he spurns her sexual advances in favor of Baby.

* TheUnfavorite:

* BigDamnKiss : [[spoiler: After Johnny and Baby sleep together the first time, he gives her the cold shoulder, and she stands outside his cabin door yelling for him to come out and deal with her. He responds by throwing open the door and offering up the BigDamnKiss]].

* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Everything. It helps that "Baby" is a common song lyric.

In addition to the prequel, there was a ''very'' short lived TV series based on the film, which ran on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1988 to 1989. In addition to not having any of the original cast and very limited involvement from the crew, the show had one glaring plot change: Baby (played by a young Melora Hardin) was now Max Kellerman's (played by [=McLean=] Stevenson) daughter and in charge of Johnny (played by Patrick Cassidy) as the resort's talent director.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: One of the strongest aversions in cinema. [[spoiler: Penny goes through one without a second thought, even though she's scared, and her friends support her throughout. Although the operation turns out to be a back-alley abortion that nearly costs Penny her life, Dr. Houseman saves her, doesn't report her, and even assures her that she'll still be able to have children later, without once blaming her or condemning her for her choice; his criticism is reserved entirely for the guy who got her into the predicament to begin with, and to his daughter for lying to him and getting involved. The movie even has a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Penny is shown wordlessly thanking him at the end of the movie]].

* YouGottaBelieveMe: When Johnny was accused of theft, Baby tries to tell everyone it wasn't Johnny without revealing that she was sleeping with him. None of them take her word for it.

* AllForNothing: Baby provides an alibi (ahem) for Johnny when he's accused of theft. He gets canned anyway for having a sexual relationship with a guest. Though it wasn't ''all'' for nothing, not for Johnny anyway, since nobody like her ever stood up for someone like him.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Baby confesses to having spent the night with Johnny in order to keep him from being fired/arrested for stealing Moe Pressman's wallet. Only for him to get fired anyway for getting involved with a guest and for her parents to be furious with her.

* NotSoDifferent : A deleted scene and subplot (later expanded in the TV Musical) explains that Jake came from the a rough background, much like Johnny.

A Made for TV musical, starring Creator/AbigailBreslin as Baby, Colt Prattes as Johnny, Creator/DebraMessing as Mrs. Houseman, Bruce Greenwood as Dr. Houseman, Creator/SarahHyland as Lisa, Tony Roberts as Max Kellerman, Trevor Einhorn as Neil Kellerman, and Nicole Scherzinger as Penny, aired May 24, 2017 on Creator/{{ABC}}.