Saturday Night Fever (1977) vs. Dirty Dancing (1987): Part 2

<v Speaker 1>This is a podcast from Minute Media.
<v Speaker 2>No time of my.
<v Speaker 3>Life like this people.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, us, it's up and I'm a hello everybody, and
<v Speaker 1>welcome back to the Shirley You Can't Be Serious podcast.
<v Speaker 1>We are back for part two of our Dirty Dancing
<v Speaker 1>Versus Saturday Night Fever escapade movie versus movie, album versus album.
<v Speaker 1>And the music on this stuff is amazing.
<v Speaker 2>The music is great, the movies are great, the characters
<v Speaker 2>are great. It's iconic, two of the most iconic musical
<v Speaker 2>movies of the decades. Yeah, now we're gonna be talking
<v Speaker 2>about Saturday Night Fever, which has reached its forty fifth anniversary,
<v Speaker 2>and Dirty Dancing, which has reached it's thirty fifth anniversary.
<v Speaker 2>Movie to movie, we're trying not to talk to music
<v Speaker 2>this time around. Then we'll compare soundtrack to soundtrack. We'll
<v Speaker 2>dive into the music. But I want you to know
<v Speaker 2>that talking about these movies is much more than just talking.
<v Speaker 2>You gotta feel it. It's a heartbeat.
<v Speaker 1>Boom boom, boom boom. Jason, you have your hand on
<v Speaker 1>my chest.
<v Speaker 2>Watch the hair, watch the hair.
<v Speaker 1>All right, everybody, welcome back. We're so glad to have you.
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<v Speaker 1>But if in your review you mentioned that you carried
<v Speaker 1>the watermelon or that you have a night fever, then
<v Speaker 1>we will put you in a contest for special prize.
<v Speaker 1>Get to be determined.
<v Speaker 2>That is a challenge right there. We did that for
<v Speaker 2>our Toto and Duran Duran episode and we had some
<v Speaker 2>people meet that challenge.
<v Speaker 1>They went from the Serengetti plane up to the top
<v Speaker 1>of Mount Kilimanjar.
<v Speaker 2>Let me read you one of these okay, okay, okay.
<v Speaker 2>So we received one of these reviews from Sean Niehoff.
<v Speaker 2>This was from the Toto and Duran Duran episodes we
<v Speaker 2>just got done doing.
<v Speaker 1>I love Sean Niehoff. He's on our Facebook page all
<v Speaker 1>the time. Super fan.
<v Speaker 2>Well here from them a lot, great guy. Thanks Sean,
<v Speaker 2>We appreciate you. Here's what he had to say. It's
<v Speaker 2>titled the Best Great Poto. I love pop culture and
<v Speaker 2>these guys hit the best of the best of movies
<v Speaker 2>and music. Keep up the good work. This podcast is
<v Speaker 2>more explosive than Killiman Jarro. I highly recommend you will
<v Speaker 2>not be disappointed. And I have been promoting this podcast
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<v Speaker 1>Love it, love it, love it. I hope you enjoyed
<v Speaker 1>this episode, and thank you for referring us out.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks Sean, appreciate you. Buddy. Take the challenge, five star review.
<v Speaker 2>Hashtag Night Fever, hashtag carry the Watermelon?
<v Speaker 1>What are we like teenagers? You don't have to put
<v Speaker 1>a hashtag. Just say the word, man, just say the word.
<v Speaker 1>I thought hashtag was like the thing you don't even
<v Speaker 1>know what I.
<v Speaker 2>All right, so let's dive back into the movies, Saturday
<v Speaker 2>Night Fever and Dirty Dancing.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So we just finished up our last episode
<v Speaker 1>with casting. Now we're into production, and so Saturday Night fever.
<v Speaker 1>In addition to not having the completed script and just
<v Speaker 1>now getting the actors and a very new director and
<v Speaker 1>a music style that was going out, they had another problem.
<v Speaker 1>New York City knew who John Travolta was and they
<v Speaker 1>wanted to.
<v Speaker 2>See Yeah, this is incredible. So the first day of shooting,
<v Speaker 2>they're shooting in Brooklyn and all of a sudden word
<v Speaker 2>gets out that Bennie Barberino is out on the street
<v Speaker 2>filming a movie, and they had thousands upon thousands of
<v Speaker 2>people show up right ever ruined the first day. They
<v Speaker 2>had to go home on lunchtime.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they couldn't film a scene where there weren't hordes
<v Speaker 1>of people in the background messing up the scene.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they went home at lunch. He's like, forget this,
<v Speaker 2>we'll start over. They had to come out with fake
<v Speaker 2>call sheets, we're going to be here when we're really here,
<v Speaker 2>and they had to get up at five o'clock in
<v Speaker 2>the morning and shoot before people were up and around.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Yeah, they it was all very bait and switch
<v Speaker 1>and sneaking around just to get the scenes that they
<v Speaker 1>needed to avoid. The fan base that John Travolta had
<v Speaker 1>developed at that point.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's really cool. One of the things I thought
<v Speaker 2>was interesting about the development of this movie. Yeah, they
<v Speaker 2>had to they're trying to find the tone, and the
<v Speaker 2>movie that they were trying to sort of remake was
<v Speaker 2>Rebel Without a Cause.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I can see that now.
<v Speaker 2>Then I have a question for you. Yes, sidebar okay,
<v Speaker 2>is Urban Cowboy a remake of Saturday Night Fever except countryfied?
<v Speaker 1>It is kind of a countryfied version, isn't it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because there's dancing and sex and dishonest nastiness all
<v Speaker 1>over the Yeah, it could.
<v Speaker 2>Be talking about yourselves. Yeah, Urban Cowboy modern remake.
<v Speaker 1>Topic for a discussion. Hit us up on Facebook. What
<v Speaker 1>do you think Is Urban Cowboy just the countryfied version
<v Speaker 1>of Saturday Night Fever.
<v Speaker 2>Hey, I've got something for you. This is a really
<v Speaker 2>cool tidbit I found. Okay, okay, Yeah, So John Badam
<v Speaker 2>who became the second director and ultimately the director of
<v Speaker 2>Saturday Night Fever. So he's a Birmingham, Alabama guy.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, okay.
<v Speaker 2>And we've got a couple of buddies of ours that
<v Speaker 2>we've interacted with. One of them is Van Allen Plexico.
<v Speaker 2>He's an Alabama guy and David Wright lived in Birmingham,
<v Speaker 2>Alabama for a long time. Okay, so I texted him aike, hey, Dave,
<v Speaker 2>you got you know who John Badam is. He said, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he's He's a huge Birmingham guy and he ultimately did wargames.
<v Speaker 2>Remember the So here's the tidbit that I that I read. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>So the multi colored dance floor that is hugely famous.
<v Speaker 2>It's on the album cover, it's on the movie cover.
<v Speaker 1>It's iconic.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well that wasn't in the Odyssey. They got that
<v Speaker 2>from a place called the Club in Birmingham, Alabama. What
<v Speaker 2>does that match up with Birmingham, Alabama, not Birmingham in
<v Speaker 2>England where is from? Birmingham, Alabama is responsible for the
<v Speaker 2>dance floor in the New York City Discotheque. Yeah, that's crazy.
<v Speaker 1>But like I think, after this, everybody probably started emulating that,
<v Speaker 1>trying to get that same light up floor.
<v Speaker 2>So I called him, I said, hey, listen, are you
<v Speaker 2>familiar with the club in Birmingham. He's like, oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>like yeah, yeah, everybody knows the club.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>It's like this fancy country club like place. Wow, that's
<v Speaker 2>where they got the multicolored dance floor.
<v Speaker 1>Fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>How about that great?
<v Speaker 1>So we mentioned before in our last episode that John
<v Speaker 1>Travolta had fallen in love with this girl named Diana Hyland. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>when he was making the first TV movie that he made,
<v Speaker 1>which was Boy in the Bubble, and they were together,
<v Speaker 1>they were close, and she was the one who had
<v Speaker 1>encouraged him to go make this movie, even though at
<v Speaker 1>the time she was battling breast cancer.
<v Speaker 3>Yes.
<v Speaker 1>And so while he's filming the movie, he gets a
<v Speaker 1>phone call. They say, she's only got a couple days left.
<v Speaker 1>You need to get out here. And so he has
<v Speaker 1>to leave the movie in the middle of the movie,
<v Speaker 1>has to leave, go to be with her, watch her die,
<v Speaker 1>go to her funeral, and then go back and continue
<v Speaker 1>to film this movie.
<v Speaker 2>Wow.
<v Speaker 1>And they said they'd see him on set and he
<v Speaker 1>would just be over in a corner and quiet and
<v Speaker 1>maybe tearful and looking away in a despondent way. And
<v Speaker 1>they're like John, I've ever seen And he would pop up,
<v Speaker 1>go do the scene, nail it, and then go back
<v Speaker 1>and sit down and contemplate life. Wow.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, all right, I got a couple of tidbits for you. Okay, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>these are found fascinating. Okay, so one of the very
<v Speaker 2>first times ever in history, you have the use of
<v Speaker 2>the steady cam. Okay, this guy named Garrett Brown who
<v Speaker 2>would ultimately win a nineteen seventy eight oscar for his invention.
<v Speaker 2>H He came up with this camera stabilizing device. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that allowed him to carry it and it looked.
<v Speaker 1>Smooth on film. We've talked about him before. I'm not
<v Speaker 1>remembering what episode, but I know that we've talked about
<v Speaker 1>Garrett Brown and the steady cam before.
<v Speaker 2>You know what else? Was the first time to appear
<v Speaker 2>in this movie the term.
<v Speaker 1>Job as in okay, just give me a yes, Oh
<v Speaker 1>my gosh.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, we're gonna break down a few of the scenes
<v Speaker 2>in this movie. But that's the first time ever.
<v Speaker 1>So talking about the steady cam.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, the opening scene of this movie is iconic.
<v Speaker 1>Walk him along the sidewalk, you know, he looks like
<v Speaker 1>he's ready to go to the club. And we figure
<v Speaker 1>out later why is he carrying a paint can? I know,
<v Speaker 1>but you have this ultra cool, ultra well dressed guy
<v Speaker 1>walking with a paint can checking out the girls and
<v Speaker 1>it's all to the music staying alive and he's got
<v Speaker 1>these amazing shoes.
<v Speaker 2>Right, he does have amazing shoes.
<v Speaker 1>So there was a rumor that went around for a
<v Speaker 1>long time that those were not John travolt his feet. Now,
<v Speaker 1>if you look at some point, you can see it
<v Speaker 1>pans up from his shoes up to his face. So
<v Speaker 1>at least part of it has to be his feet.
<v Speaker 1>And that was the reason that they invented that steady cam,
<v Speaker 1>in addition to the dance scenes, of course, is that
<v Speaker 1>they wanted to be able to go from foot to face.
<v Speaker 1>You can't. You don't want to cut away because you
<v Speaker 1>want to see the rhythm of the walk and you
<v Speaker 1>want to see the beautiful man.
<v Speaker 2>Right, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>And so that's how he had invented this steady cam,
<v Speaker 1>is to put together this thing that could go backwards
<v Speaker 1>and raise up in a smooth transition the whole way.
<v Speaker 1>So John Travolta is like, finally I'm going to address
<v Speaker 1>these rumors. Those were my feet. Those were not a
<v Speaker 1>stand in's feet, not at all except for one scene. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>And the one scene is the very first time you
<v Speaker 1>haven't even seen his face yet. He walks up next
<v Speaker 1>to the shoe store, sees the shoes in the window,
<v Speaker 1>lifts his own foot up. That was the stand in,
<v Speaker 1>and John Travolta was like, when I saw the movie
<v Speaker 1>and I saw that and saw him kind of bounce
<v Speaker 1>up and down like no balance, I would not have
<v Speaker 1>done that to me. It was he was like dancing
<v Speaker 1>to the rhythm of the music in his head or whatever.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, John Travolta was unhappy with the one stunt
<v Speaker 1>double foot that he had.
<v Speaker 2>That guy's foot pissed him off. So here's what I
<v Speaker 2>found interesting. Okay, the beaches weren't involved until post production, right, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>the songs that they're dancing to, yeah, it's like Boss gags. Right,
<v Speaker 2>So when Tony and Neett are in the dance studio
<v Speaker 2>and they're dancing to the song, they weren't actually dancing
<v Speaker 2>to more than a woman. They were dancing to a
<v Speaker 2>song called low Down by Boss Skaggs. And I text
<v Speaker 2>you this week, right, you know who wrote that song?
<v Speaker 1>I do because you texted it to me. Why don't
<v Speaker 1>you tell.
<v Speaker 2>Me Boss Skaggs and David Page that's right, of Toto,
<v Speaker 2>and who was playing on it, Steve Picaro and David
<v Speaker 2>Hungate of Toto once again Toto making their stamp.
<v Speaker 1>So the Boss Skaggs song did not end up in
<v Speaker 1>the movie, but they had done this. They had done
<v Speaker 1>a dance scene to this Boss Gag song. Yes, so
<v Speaker 1>there's a composer for this movie. Beyond the Beg's there's
<v Speaker 1>a guy named David Shire. You hear the classical pieces
<v Speaker 1>that are to the disco sound, right, He's the guy
<v Speaker 1>that would put that stuff in. And so whenever they
<v Speaker 1>had that scene that they thought they had music too
<v Speaker 1>that they no longer did, he was the one that
<v Speaker 1>was charged with composing music that would fit the scene
<v Speaker 1>to the rhythm of the Boss Skag song.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, here's something that I heard and I don't quite understand.
<v Speaker 2>But when they took the Beg's music and they're going
<v Speaker 2>to plug and play as they do the dancing and
<v Speaker 2>the music didn't match up perfectly, and so they had
<v Speaker 2>to adjust some of the cuts to make it work. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it seems to me when you hit exactly on the
<v Speaker 2>same beat, it's just plug and play. But it wasn't
<v Speaker 2>plug and play.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, things were much less computerized back then.
<v Speaker 2>They thought they were in trouble. Yeah, so before I
<v Speaker 2>leave the Boss Gags thing, Okay, he turned down the
<v Speaker 2>opportunity to have low Down on the soundtrack.
<v Speaker 1>Yep.
<v Speaker 2>They were actually hoping to put it in another disco
<v Speaker 2>movie that ultimately didn't pan out. Estimated costing five million dollars.
<v Speaker 2>What five million bucks is.
<v Speaker 1>What he could have made had he left it.
<v Speaker 2>In there, if it had been on the soundtrack.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, we're going to get into the soundtrack next week.
<v Speaker 2>But gosh, it was the biggest selling soundtrack of all
<v Speaker 2>time until The Bodyguard overtook it in ninety two. But
<v Speaker 2>it was the best selling album of all time until
<v Speaker 2>Thriller overtook it.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 2>One of the things I want to talk about is
<v Speaker 2>the dancing scene. So John Tavolda we talked about how
<v Speaker 2>he would have worked three hours a day. I cracked up, laughing,
<v Speaker 2>I can't dance. But John Tavilda said, I would dance
<v Speaker 2>for three hours and I'd run two miles a day. Mike, Well,
<v Speaker 2>the three hours is impressive, two miles not so much.
<v Speaker 2>He lost twenty pounds and actually when you look at
<v Speaker 2>his audition tape, you can tell he lost He trimmed up, right,
<v Speaker 2>He slimmed up. So he goes to watch the premiere
<v Speaker 2>and when he watches it, He's like, where's my dance
<v Speaker 2>and scene? I worked for nine months dancing every single
<v Speaker 2>day and it's all close up. She can't see my feet.
<v Speaker 2>So he got really mad. He's like, this is bull crap.
<v Speaker 2>I worked freaking hard and you can't see my feet.
<v Speaker 2>Are you kidding me? Nobody's gonna buy this, So he
<v Speaker 2>called the producer, called Robert Stigman, and Robert Stigman said, listen,
<v Speaker 2>here's the deal. I will let you choose which scenes
<v Speaker 2>you want and which angles you want the directors in
<v Speaker 2>the editing room right now, you know more about this
<v Speaker 2>than I do. Go to the editing room, sit down
<v Speaker 2>with them, and choose your scenes. So essentially, he gave
<v Speaker 2>him final approval on all the scenes. So when he
<v Speaker 2>shows up in the editing room, the director is like, say, what,
<v Speaker 2>you're gonna tell me what to put in this movie?
<v Speaker 2>So they're really mad and Jodge Villas, Look, I'm not
<v Speaker 2>gonna take up your time. Here's what I'm gonna tell you.
<v Speaker 2>I want full by. I want head to toe coverage
<v Speaker 2>until I point the finger, then you can go close
<v Speaker 2>up everything else. I want to see everything on the
<v Speaker 2>dance floor. That's the difference. Yeah, we believe he can
<v Speaker 2>dance because we can see it.
<v Speaker 1>The scene would have lost all meaning had it been
<v Speaker 1>in a close up. The entire time, John Travolta was
<v Speaker 1>one hundred percent right, stay on the main shot until
<v Speaker 1>I point and move, go to a medium shot for that,
<v Speaker 1>and then go back to the main shot to That's
<v Speaker 1>all you have to do, not hard.
<v Speaker 2>I thought it was interesting. He So he's shooting Greece
<v Speaker 2>at the time they're editing this, right, he invites the
<v Speaker 2>Grease people with him, okay, and that's when he's sitting
<v Speaker 2>there and he's like, this is bull crap. You guys
<v Speaker 2>don't understand. I've been dancing for nine months.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And they're like this is great, and he's like, I'm
<v Speaker 2>freaking getting a piece of somebody tomorrow, right.
<v Speaker 1>Robert Stegman also produced Grease, By the way, is that right? Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>I did not know that.
<v Speaker 2>That's why freaking the Beegi's are on the Grease soundtrack.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, it makes sense now, it all makes sense. Wow, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I got something. This cracked me up, all right. Huh
<v Speaker 2>So the iconic pose of John Travolta in the white
<v Speaker 2>suit with us out and the one arm pointed in
<v Speaker 2>the air, right, It's on the freaking soundtrack, It's on
<v Speaker 2>the movie cover, it was on posters, it was everywhere.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's not in the movie. It's not in the movie.
<v Speaker 1>Waiting for that, I'm like, where's the scene from Airplane?
<v Speaker 2>Exactly? I was just getting ready to say, you know
<v Speaker 2>what movie it is in Airplane? Yep, but that finger
<v Speaker 2>pointing thing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>This happened at the end of a fourteen hour day
<v Speaker 2>and the photographer said to John Travolti. He's like, okay,
<v Speaker 2>I need a couple of pictures. He's liked, dude, I'm
<v Speaker 2>so tired. I just want to go home and go
<v Speaker 2>to bed. And he's like, no, no, no, just a
<v Speaker 2>few more minutes. Let's just take some pictures while you're
<v Speaker 2>all dressed up and stuff. So you picture, pitch your picture,
<v Speaker 2>picture my trip. And he's like, all right, all right,
<v Speaker 2>you have anything else that you can do. He's like, well,
<v Speaker 2>how about this coun And he thought next thing? You know,
<v Speaker 2>that pose is everywhere and he's like, I can't believe
<v Speaker 2>that's the one that they chose. Yeah, in credible right, yep.
<v Speaker 2>Let's talk about the bridge scene. For a second.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, let's bring the music and the lights down a
<v Speaker 1>little bit, shall we.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Oh my gosh, I mean this movie is kind
<v Speaker 2>of a bummer, right, kind of kind of a bummer,
<v Speaker 2>kind of a bummer, yes, yes, and the Holocaust also
<v Speaker 2>kind of. So for whatever reason, these morons decided to
<v Speaker 2>pull the car over on the bridge and they're dancing
<v Speaker 2>around on the dirtors and they're taking their lives in
<v Speaker 2>their own hand. But while they were shooting, Donna Pesco
<v Speaker 2>is watching them, and there's that scene where it's kind
<v Speaker 2>of a fake fall, right. They're all jump and like
<v Speaker 2>ah yeah, and she's like ah, she freaks out. They
<v Speaker 2>played a trick on her. She thought they had actually
<v Speaker 2>fallen off.
<v Speaker 1>Her reaction is genuine legit wow, because it's terrified when
<v Speaker 1>she's like that was real, that wasn't scripted.
<v Speaker 2>Nice, that's not cool.
<v Speaker 1>No, it's not cool, but freaking not cool. Yeah. I
<v Speaker 1>thought you're going to talk about the next bridge scene
<v Speaker 1>where he does actually fall right after she gets gang
<v Speaker 1>raped in the back.
<v Speaker 2>Of the car. What in the world is going on
<v Speaker 2>at the end of Saturday Night Fever. It's like they
<v Speaker 2>kiss you and then they kick you. In the nuts.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I don't even know that. I'd call it a
<v Speaker 1>good kiss, right, Right, It's like it's like they showed
<v Speaker 1>you a pretty picture and then they kick you in
<v Speaker 1>the nuts. That's true, and then they kicked you in
<v Speaker 1>the nuts again. They kind of build up I mean, what.
<v Speaker 2>We're kind of getting in judgment here.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I don't care. We're talking about the movie. We're
<v Speaker 1>talking about how it come out. So you've got this
<v Speaker 1>seemingly horrible human being, right, Yes, he's racist, he's sexist,
<v Speaker 1>he is a crap employee. I mean, he's he cares
<v Speaker 1>about nothing but himself, right, yes. And the only thing
<v Speaker 1>he's good at is dancing. Yes, and he only uses
<v Speaker 1>that as a way to show off and to get chicks.
<v Speaker 1>I mean that's it. Yes, And so you think, oh, hey,
<v Speaker 1>he's gonna win the dance competition at the end and
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna be redeeming. Except yeah, he wins it, but
<v Speaker 1>then he gives the prize away and says it's not
<v Speaker 1>real and then goes tries to rape a girl in
<v Speaker 1>the back that's supposed to be the love interest.
<v Speaker 2>What the heck. I'm totally with you, man, because I'm
<v Speaker 2>watching I'm like, Hey, they won, and they steal every
<v Speaker 2>ounce of joy out of that victory because he's acting
<v Speaker 2>like a total jerk after they won.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if the message is supposed to be, hey, guys,
<v Speaker 1>if you're about the mead generation and the me decade
<v Speaker 1>of the seventies, this is what a douchebag you look like.
<v Speaker 1>Then they succeeded. I cannot figure out how this is
<v Speaker 1>Gene Siskel's favorite movie of all time.
<v Speaker 2>Kenn either can either imagine the movie The Karate Kid.
<v Speaker 2>Daniel LaRusso kicks Johnny Lawrence in a face to win
<v Speaker 2>the Hill Valley Karate Championships, and then he turns to movies,
<v Speaker 2>and then he turns into a brat at the end
<v Speaker 2>and breaks his trophy and says, this is stupid. I quit,
<v Speaker 2>and then.
<v Speaker 1>Has a friend go killing and then treats the one
<v Speaker 1>redeeming character in the whole movie like crap until she
<v Speaker 1>gives herself up after taking numerous drugs and then gets raped.
<v Speaker 2>It's just this movie is profane, it is racist, it
<v Speaker 2>is sexist.
<v Speaker 1>It's homophobic, it is it's just bad all over the place. Obviously,
<v Speaker 1>you can see how we feel about the movie. We
<v Speaker 1>we kind of tipped our hand a little early on this.
<v Speaker 1>But it's iconic, and I can't figure out how it's
<v Speaker 1>iconic other than this is why I said this on
<v Speaker 1>the last episode. The music and it captured a moment
<v Speaker 1>in time.
<v Speaker 2>It really did. Yeah, and I'm with you. The music
<v Speaker 2>is so massive to the success of this movie. Ye,
<v Speaker 2>except Gene Siskel, this is his all time favorite movie.
<v Speaker 1>He bought the suit. He bought the White Points.
<v Speaker 2>One hundred and forty five thousand dollars for the suit.
<v Speaker 1>I don't get it. It is iconic and you had
<v Speaker 1>to maybe you had to be in New York City
<v Speaker 1>in the seventies to really but I mean it's it
<v Speaker 1>was worldwide. I don't Yeah, Okay, keep going.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, listen to this, the part where Annette comes up
<v Speaker 2>to Tony and says, guess what good news? Handful of condoms?
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And you think this poor girl is so desperate, so lonely,
<v Speaker 2>and then Tony just crushes her. You are not even
<v Speaker 2>worthy to consider. I mean, I just feel terrible for
<v Speaker 2>this girl the entire and then she's gang raped in
<v Speaker 2>the back of the car where they're driving around. It's gosh, okay,
<v Speaker 2>and then you have the ridiculous bridge scene where.
<v Speaker 1>The other guy who you at least feel sorry for,
<v Speaker 1>he's kind of the runt of the group. Yeah, and
<v Speaker 1>he's a coward and he gets fed up with nobody
<v Speaker 1>listening or caring about him. And the freaking the fight
<v Speaker 1>scene they go to this they wrecked the car, they
<v Speaker 1>go through this mask. I'm like, well, at least they
<v Speaker 1>stand up for their buddy. And then they go and
<v Speaker 1>see the buddy. He's like, well, yeah, it might have
<v Speaker 1>been that. They're like, what do you mean might have
<v Speaker 1>been He's like, well, that's what I said. I thought
<v Speaker 1>it was because you said that you thought it was that,
<v Speaker 1>And it's like, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>But I met like I thought, I wasn't sure what
<v Speaker 2>they Still all the joy from that scene.
<v Speaker 1>Is every time there was some kind of redeeming thing
<v Speaker 1>going on, they yanked the rug right out from under you.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, okay, I'm glad that you feel that way. Have
<v Speaker 2>you ever seen the movie Staying Alive?
<v Speaker 1>I have. I don't recall it. It's been thirty years ago.
<v Speaker 2>Entertainment Weekly named it the worst sequel of all time.
<v Speaker 2>Now we're getting ready to do Superman four this summer. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and Josh four. Yeah, and I talked about Crystal School.
<v Speaker 2>We might have something to say about that, right, The
<v Speaker 2>gang fight, the gang rape, the bridge death.
<v Speaker 1>And then what's the end of the movie. What is
<v Speaker 1>the end? Like he watches his friend kill himself and
<v Speaker 1>his long night of self reflection makes him realize he
<v Speaker 1>needs to go back to the girl that he tried
<v Speaker 1>to rape and see if he can move into the
<v Speaker 1>city with her. That's his big aha moment.
<v Speaker 2>Are you kidding me? She barely lets him in the room,
<v Speaker 2>and I don't blame her. I'd been like, screw you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and she hugs him at the end. It's so bizarre.
<v Speaker 2>All right, before we move on, let's go back.
<v Speaker 1>To Dirty Dancing. She's on the wind too much?
<v Speaker 2>Yes, okay, I want to talk about the filming locations
<v Speaker 2>of Dirty Dancer really quick, OA, because it's supposed to
<v Speaker 2>be the Catskills in New York. Yeah, they actually filmed
<v Speaker 2>it mostly in North Carolina and Virginia. Yep, it's kind
<v Speaker 2>of right on the edge of both states. Yeah, they
<v Speaker 2>found a hotel in both of the places that was
<v Speaker 2>the right fit. But obviously they're not the same style.
<v Speaker 2>They're in two different states, So do you know what
<v Speaker 2>their magic ingredient was for making you feel like you're
<v Speaker 2>in the same place. Now, what the posts and the lights.
<v Speaker 2>If you'll notice when you watch the movie, people who
<v Speaker 2>are listening to this podcast, check it out the next
<v Speaker 2>time you watch the film. They're white posts with little
<v Speaker 2>lamps on top of them all over the place.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, all they did was put them up in Virginia
<v Speaker 1>when they packed up and left, they took him and
<v Speaker 1>even though it's a completely different place, you felt like
<v Speaker 1>it was the same place because it had the same
<v Speaker 1>posts and lamps.
<v Speaker 2>That's fascinating.
<v Speaker 1>Kicks them over. He kicks it over at one point,
<v Speaker 1>kicks over the post and the lamp so that he
<v Speaker 1>can break through the window of the car. Yeah, I do.
<v Speaker 1>That was the key to making them appear to be
<v Speaker 1>the same location.
<v Speaker 2>That's interesting. They did a good job with that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Now that scene you're right there you're referring to, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>is stupid because it's like, Okay, it's raining. Patrick Swayze
<v Speaker 2>is like, let's get out of here. He goes to
<v Speaker 2>his car and he's like, crap, I locked my keys
<v Speaker 2>in the car. And when I first watched it, I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>I think he's stealing this car. I don't think this
<v Speaker 2>car belongs to him. But he gets pissed and he
<v Speaker 2>takes his post and he smashes the window. Maybe check
<v Speaker 2>your pockets. You got a replacement key instead of bashing
<v Speaker 2>out the window a little?
<v Speaker 1>Well, I mean, if you see the keys in there,
<v Speaker 1>they're definitely in there. But yeah, I mean, get a
<v Speaker 1>coat hanger. I mean, is this we're talking about a
<v Speaker 1>fifties car. It wasn't like it had theft prevention on it.
<v Speaker 1>Get a coat hanger. Pull the lock up. Go ahead.
<v Speaker 2>I've locked my keys in my car many times.
<v Speaker 1>How many times have you smashed the window?
<v Speaker 2>About zero?
<v Speaker 3>All right?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So here's the thing about the location I want
<v Speaker 2>to talk about. Okay, So Lake Lure, North Carolina. The
<v Speaker 2>Mountain Lake Hotel was very near Pembroke, Virginia. Okay, So
<v Speaker 2>the lake, the beautiful lake setting of dirty dancing. This
<v Speaker 2>is a place I want to go. I want to
<v Speaker 2>go and fish and golf and hang out. No, really
<v Speaker 2>want to dance, but I want to go. This place
<v Speaker 2>looks gorgeous and beautiful.
<v Speaker 1>Okay.
<v Speaker 2>So ever since two thousand and three, okay, that lake
<v Speaker 2>has been dry.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's right. I saw that it was had
<v Speaker 1>completely dried up.
<v Speaker 2>It's like heartbreaking, right, Yeah, it's something natural about this lake.
<v Speaker 2>It goes away and then it comes back. What it
<v Speaker 2>goes away and it comes back. I'm not a geologist,
<v Speaker 2>but here's the thing I saw.
<v Speaker 1>Sorry, keep going. I'm not a geologist.
<v Speaker 2>I'm not a geologist, but I do have an opinion.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, I can't wait.
<v Speaker 2>I'm very happy to report the lake is coming back.
<v Speaker 2>Oh wow, I saw a video of a girl who
<v Speaker 2>had visited during the pandemic last summer. Yeah, and it's not.
<v Speaker 1>What it was.
<v Speaker 2>But the lake is coming back. Wow, it's restoring.
<v Speaker 1>That's awesome.
<v Speaker 2>So nineteen years later, Yeah, it's coming back.
<v Speaker 1>So crazy. I wonder how that works. I don't Maybe
<v Speaker 1>we should ask a geologist.
<v Speaker 2>Speaking of that lake, there's a famous scene in the
<v Speaker 2>movie where they're working on the lift.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, So they started filming Dirty Dancing September fifth, nineteen
<v Speaker 2>eighty six. They wrapped production in October twenty eighth. Well,
<v Speaker 2>this is one of the last scenes shot in the movie.
<v Speaker 2>In fact, it was cold, the weather was cold, and
<v Speaker 2>the water was cold. And in fact, if you look
<v Speaker 2>Jennifer Gray's lips are actually blue.
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't looking at her lips, but I could still
<v Speaker 1>tell it was cold.
<v Speaker 2>Winter. That scene was of course shot in that lake
<v Speaker 2>that has eventually gone away, and there were indications that yes,
<v Speaker 2>she was cold.
<v Speaker 1>Yeap. So on that topic, during the love making scenes, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>she did have nudity in those scenes.
<v Speaker 2>This blows me away. Keep going.
<v Speaker 1>So she comes back later on and says, do we
<v Speaker 1>really need the nude scenes in there? Is there any
<v Speaker 1>way that we can get rid of those? And who
<v Speaker 1>she Jennifer Gray, okay, And the producer is like, well, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I mean, let's talk to a Meal
<v Speaker 1>about it and then let's see what he thinks. And
<v Speaker 1>a Meal like, I think it might be better without them,
<v Speaker 1>because without the nude scenes, she maintained that purity, that youth.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, obviously this is a girl who is becoming
<v Speaker 1>a woman. Yes, but I think that to have that,
<v Speaker 1>to have the nude scenes in the love making part
<v Speaker 1>of the movie would have taken away from it. And
<v Speaker 1>I think it was the perfect choice to take it out.
<v Speaker 2>I one hundred percent agree with you. Yeah, Baby is
<v Speaker 2>supposed to be seventeen, the character's age of seventeen. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>when you remove the nudity, it does allow that sort
<v Speaker 2>of innocence to maintain. You do kind of see her
<v Speaker 2>bare back, you can tell that they've had sex, that
<v Speaker 2>you can tell she has not remained pure, but it
<v Speaker 2>does allow for that kind.
<v Speaker 1>Of it's more of a beautiful love making thing, that's right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's right. And I love the fact, unlike Saturday
<v Speaker 2>Night Fever, where all those guys care about it getting
<v Speaker 2>laid the entire time, Johnny is not really interested in that.
<v Speaker 2>It just kind of their relationship develops and goes to
<v Speaker 2>the next level and it just happens rather than chasing
<v Speaker 2>her the whole movie. So I think it's interesting that
<v Speaker 2>Johnny's character and Penny's character had a relationship they have
<v Speaker 2>sort of since outgrown. Yeah, one of the things we
<v Speaker 2>need to talk about the fact that Penny gets pregnant
<v Speaker 2>by Robbie.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>You know that almost forty percent of the people who
<v Speaker 2>viewed this when they came out of the movie theater
<v Speaker 2>did not realize that there was a subplot involving abortion.
<v Speaker 1>It's impressive and important because they were targeting, you know,
<v Speaker 1>fourteen year old girls like that was that was the
<v Speaker 1>target demographic for this movie, right yep. So it got
<v Speaker 1>an R rating and they're like, crap, that ruins everything.
<v Speaker 1>And so Linda Gottlieb called up her friend was the
<v Speaker 1>MPAA director. He's like, what needs to go Listen if
<v Speaker 1>I take out two and three minutes we Puvedichi and
<v Speaker 1>he's like, yeah, you can do that, and so they
<v Speaker 1>took it out, and they guess taken out the nudity.
<v Speaker 1>So that's not a problem either, although in the eighties
<v Speaker 1>nudity was less of a problem. The f bomps right,
<v Speaker 1>but the abortion part was still a problem because the
<v Speaker 1>company that was sponsoring the movie, the distribution of the
<v Speaker 1>movie was Clear, a cell.
<v Speaker 2>A product for teenagers, a.
<v Speaker 1>Pimple product for teenagers. They were going to put a
<v Speaker 1>clear cell bottle picture on every poster.
<v Speaker 2>Really, yes, And.
<v Speaker 1>So then clearsil watches the movie and they're like, wait
<v Speaker 1>a minute, wait the abortion? What?
<v Speaker 3>What? What?
<v Speaker 1>And so they contact the producers, one of which is
<v Speaker 1>the woman who wrote the movie, and they say, can
<v Speaker 1>you take out the abortion part? And she says, if
<v Speaker 1>the abortion is gone, there's no reason for her to
<v Speaker 1>dance with Johnny, there's no reason for her to have
<v Speaker 1>this close contact with them all the time. There's no
<v Speaker 1>reason you lose the entire thing if you take that out, Like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I guess so. So they lost clear sell As as
<v Speaker 1>a sponsor. Wow, Cynthia Rhodes says. At some point as
<v Speaker 1>they're filming, as they're in production, goes to Eleanor Bergstein
<v Speaker 1>and says, I feel like my character needs to explain
<v Speaker 1>why what happened happened? Okay, and Eleanor says, I think
<v Speaker 1>you're right, and goes and writes the scene. That was
<v Speaker 1>Cynthia Rhodes's idea that she should explain, Hey, here's what happened,
<v Speaker 1>and here's why it happened. Thought I was in love? Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Robbie's such a turd.
<v Speaker 1>He is a total hate Robbie.
<v Speaker 2>Well, Robbie could hang out with the guys from Saturday
<v Speaker 2>Night Fever.
<v Speaker 1>He really can't.
<v Speaker 2>So the abortion is vital to the plot of the
<v Speaker 2>movie because if there's no abortion, there's no reason for
<v Speaker 2>Penny to miss the dance, and therefore Jennifer Gray doesn't
<v Speaker 2>have to step in. I get all that. What I
<v Speaker 2>don't get is, could you not read schedule for a
<v Speaker 2>different day if it's that important? I mean they talk
<v Speaker 2>about how they have to do this dance so they
<v Speaker 2>can have the money and all that is. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>it's a back alley doctor, I get it. But it's
<v Speaker 2>illegal at that point. Well, that's true.
<v Speaker 1>So to find the guy that's going to do it,
<v Speaker 1>that's going to be in the neighborhood is probably pretty tricky,
<v Speaker 1>that's true. Okay, So this movie starts off with no
<v Speaker 1>not baby, but it's the opening credits and it's black
<v Speaker 1>and white footage of people dirty dancing.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>It gives it away right out of the gate. Hey,
<v Speaker 1>here's what dirty dancing is gonna be. And it seems
<v Speaker 1>like maybe that would be something that you wanted to
<v Speaker 1>save until later. But because they had this target audience
<v Speaker 1>of pre teenagers or teenagers that they were hoping to get,
<v Speaker 1>they put that scene first to kind of give them, hey,
<v Speaker 1>heads up, Hey, there's what's going to be coming later
<v Speaker 1>on the dirty dancing part, right, And then we're going
<v Speaker 1>to move from that into the real opening scene of
<v Speaker 1>the movie where she narrates a little bit as she's
<v Speaker 1>reading this book. Interesting, Okay, the name of the book
<v Speaker 1>is The Plight of the Peasant. Okay, when I listened
<v Speaker 1>to the commentary, Eleanor Bergstein made a point of pointing
<v Speaker 1>that out and said nothing else about it. There's no
<v Speaker 1>such book. It is a book that appears to have
<v Speaker 1>been made just for the movie, but for some reason
<v Speaker 1>she wanted to point it out and then not explain it.
<v Speaker 1>I don't get it. There is no book called Plight
<v Speaker 1>of the Peasant. Now, this movie is very much about
<v Speaker 1>classes and the separation between them, and so maybe that
<v Speaker 1>plays into it a little bit.
<v Speaker 3>But it's just.
<v Speaker 1>Weird to me that not only are they going to
<v Speaker 1>put a prop titled book in there, but she's going
<v Speaker 1>to point it out on the commentary and then not
<v Speaker 1>explain it. I don't get it.
<v Speaker 2>That is weird. Yeah, let's talk about the dirty dancing scene.
<v Speaker 2>We can't really talk about dirty dancing without talking about
<v Speaker 2>the dirty dancing scene.
<v Speaker 1>Well, one thing I do want to note before we
<v Speaker 1>get to that, the music changes. Right when you hit
<v Speaker 1>that scene. You've got a different kind of music, a
<v Speaker 1>different style of music than you had leading up to
<v Speaker 1>that scene.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this was deliberate.
<v Speaker 1>She wanted clean music up until that point, and then
<v Speaker 1>when she hits the dirty music, that is where Baby
<v Speaker 1>finds her rhythm.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, she's gone on a walk. She's wandered into the
<v Speaker 2>area where the staff stays. Yep, clearly they're having a party.
<v Speaker 2>She carried a watermelon. Guys of Karens trying to carry
<v Speaker 2>three gigantic watermelons, so she helps him out. She has
<v Speaker 2>crossed over rights, a little threshold. She crosses the threshold. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>that staircase, by the way, is in North Carolina. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>on private property now in case she wanted to go
<v Speaker 2>see it. Oh wow, okay, especially permission to go there.
<v Speaker 2>But when she enters, it's like Dorothy going to Oz.
<v Speaker 2>It is you open the door, her eyes are opened.
<v Speaker 2>What is going on here? Dirty dancing and they're having
<v Speaker 2>a blast and all that crappy little waltzon and stuff
<v Speaker 2>that I've been doing with my parents and stuff. I
<v Speaker 2>don't want to do that. I want to do this.
<v Speaker 1>So the scene, that dirty dancing scene where she pops
<v Speaker 1>in and it's like the Wizard of Oz doors opening. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>they only had three days to shoot that scene. And
<v Speaker 1>after shooting for two days, they watched the footage. Eleanor
<v Speaker 1>Bergstein watches the footage and she's like, this is the
<v Speaker 1>most important scene in the movie. And they didn't get it, okay,
<v Speaker 1>they didn't get it right, okay, and so they've only
<v Speaker 1>got one day left. They don't have enough money to
<v Speaker 1>keep on going. Like there's she thinks it's ruined, like
<v Speaker 1>the movie is ruined. She stays up the entire night crying.
<v Speaker 1>She gets up the next morning, has her assistant helper
<v Speaker 1>like put ice on her eye so they don't seem
<v Speaker 1>all red. She goes in and a Meal immediately is like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>what's wrong, What's what's going on? What's happened? And she's like,
<v Speaker 1>I just we didn't get it. We didn't. It's not right.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't wow me, it doesn't pop like it needs
<v Speaker 1>to pop. And Emil says, give me the day and
<v Speaker 1>I will make it. And it was that last day.
<v Speaker 1>It was that third day, okay. Took those dancers and said, yep, okay,
<v Speaker 1>we're gonna do this. We're gonna shoot it differently, and
<v Speaker 1>that's what we get. And that's the scene that makes
<v Speaker 1>that crucial part of.
<v Speaker 2>The movie app Absolutely. It has to change baby's life, right, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>she's got to see it. She's in oz now, she's
<v Speaker 2>changed forever forever. Yes, all right, do you let's take
<v Speaker 2>a quick break and just hear from our friends at
<v Speaker 2>Vintage Video Pod.
<v Speaker 4>On the Vintage Video Podcast, we'll be reviewing every single
<v Speaker 4>wide release of the nineteen eighties in chronological order, over
<v Speaker 4>two hundred and fifty episodes to enjoy and thousands more
<v Speaker 4>to come. Sean enters the store now to order another
<v Speaker 4>can of ether. I picture him outside like Homer with
<v Speaker 4>the gas a halt when.
<v Speaker 2>For you win for me?
<v Speaker 4>I also like to think about that the kids renew
<v Speaker 4>their vow not to talk about the murder. They're taking
<v Speaker 4>a blood open with someone else's blood.
<v Speaker 1>The stuff is seven times more powerful than uranium.
<v Speaker 4>Hey, they open up the vault that it's contained and
<v Speaker 4>not wearing any kind of protective gear, and it's wooden Crates,
<v Speaker 4>Wooden Crates. It's like the guys in Chernobyl picking up
<v Speaker 4>the graphite rocks, Yeah, and going because there's rocks hugging
<v Speaker 4>the elephant foot. It's just like, oh, this thing's smooth,
<v Speaker 4>it's so warm. He turns to dial the number from
<v Speaker 4>the classified AD without even thinking about the numbers. We
<v Speaker 4>know this because we can hear his thoughts, and he's
<v Speaker 4>talking about how A J was right that ninjas are
<v Speaker 4>misdirecting him. I really wish they'd turn to the fun
<v Speaker 4>of men, Like six six five Vintage Video we're rewatching
<v Speaker 4>the eighties, so you don't have to love it.
<v Speaker 1>Definitely go subscribe to that podcast.
<v Speaker 2>They're great fun. They do kind of what we do
<v Speaker 2>over there. Check them out Vintage Video Pod.
<v Speaker 1>There were three different types of music, and therefore three
<v Speaker 1>different types of dance that they used. You had the
<v Speaker 1>dirty dancing dancing that what that represented the low class,
<v Speaker 1>the peasants, if you will. And then you had the
<v Speaker 1>kind of foxtrot of all the old people up in
<v Speaker 1>the gazebo that was being led by Penny, and that
<v Speaker 1>was the rich class music. And then you had the
<v Speaker 1>tango scene between Johnny and Penny in front of everybody else,
<v Speaker 1>and that was kind of the we're trying to make it,
<v Speaker 1>you know, we're trying to get out of one class
<v Speaker 1>and into another class, and we're driven and passionate, and
<v Speaker 1>that's those are your three classes of dance.
<v Speaker 2>That seems interesting to me because Johnny and Penny are
<v Speaker 2>killing it and mister Kellerman gives them the dirty look,
<v Speaker 2>they have to knock it off.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they have to slow it down and start dancing
<v Speaker 1>with the other folks. And here I want to point
<v Speaker 1>this out. We didn't mention last time when we were
<v Speaker 1>talking about casting. Max Kellerman, the owner of the hotel,
<v Speaker 1>is played by Jack Weston. Yes, and Eleanor is you know,
<v Speaker 1>before they've started production. Eleanor is walking by him and
<v Speaker 1>he's running over his lines, and he's doing it in
<v Speaker 1>this kind of weird sing songy voice and trying to
<v Speaker 1>find the character, you know, and she stops and she says, Jack,
<v Speaker 1>Max is the king of the hotel. The hotel is
<v Speaker 1>his kingdom, and he is the king. And so Jack
<v Speaker 1>is like, okay, I had a bow tie on. He leaves,
<v Speaker 1>he comes back, no bow tie, He's got a straight tie.
<v Speaker 1>Now this is the bow tie made me look too comic.
<v Speaker 1>I want the straight tie. And if you watch it,
<v Speaker 1>think it. If you like look at this guy and
<v Speaker 1>you say that guy thinks he's the king, you're right.
<v Speaker 1>That's exactly what's going on.
<v Speaker 2>That's that's great man.
<v Speaker 1>His son, Neil Kellerman is the character. Lonnie Price is
<v Speaker 1>the guy who plays this character. So here's my story.
<v Speaker 2>Here.
<v Speaker 1>After they had come out with the movie, it's playing
<v Speaker 1>in various theaters. They're getting a feel for how it's doing,
<v Speaker 1>and Eleanor talks to Lannie on the phone and she's like, so,
<v Speaker 1>you know what other theaters have you seen it in
<v Speaker 1>since we saw it together. And he's like, oh, I
<v Speaker 1>haven't gone to see it anywhere else, and she's like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>you should. There are different reactions for different audiences. You
<v Speaker 1>should definitely go see it. And so about a week later,
<v Speaker 1>she calls him up. She's like, so, did you go
<v Speaker 1>and see it in another theater? And he's like, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I did, and she's like, well, what's wrong. He says, well,
<v Speaker 1>there were these girls that were sitting in front of me,
<v Speaker 1>and whenever I had my line, there's just some things
<v Speaker 1>you don't want to see the girl in front of me.
<v Speaker 1>Yielled Yeah, like your face, poor guy, poor loney price.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I want to talk about the line nobody puts
<v Speaker 2>baby in a corner.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, nobody puts baby in the corner.
<v Speaker 2>That line. Patrick Swayzey dug his heels in and said,
<v Speaker 2>I am not freaking saying that it's ridiculous. It is ridiculous.
<v Speaker 1>And it's not as though Eleanor Bergstein was tied to
<v Speaker 1>the line either. She was like it's just the line,
<v Speaker 1>you know, no big deal.
<v Speaker 2>It's interesting to me because it is so iconic.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's maybe more famous than the movie itself. People
<v Speaker 1>will know nobody puts Baby in the corner and not
<v Speaker 1>know that it comes from Dirty Dancing.
<v Speaker 2>And Patrick Swayze is like, I'm not freaking saying this.
<v Speaker 2>It's stupid.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't make any sense either. She's not really in
<v Speaker 1>a corner. She's next to a pillar. She's sitting at
<v Speaker 1>the table with her family. Nobody puts baby at a
<v Speaker 1>table with her parents. I yeah, I My only thought
<v Speaker 1>is that because it seems slightly out of character, and
<v Speaker 1>also because it's like him kind of rescueing her back.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, when they part ways, you know, and he
<v Speaker 1>drives off on the gravel road and kicks up those rocks,
<v Speaker 1>you think the movie might be over right, right, and
<v Speaker 1>this is just one of those movies where she had
<v Speaker 1>a summer experience and grew as a woman, and that's it, right.
<v Speaker 1>That comeback scene is like, oh wow.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, we got to talk about that scene. The finale
<v Speaker 2>of Dirty Dancing, when Patrick Swayze it comes back storms
<v Speaker 2>the stage and says, I always get the last dance
<v Speaker 2>of the summer. He's already been fired. Get out of here,
<v Speaker 2>see ya, Yeah, he says, nope, I'm coming back. It's
<v Speaker 2>almost like the end of Officer and a Gentleman. He
<v Speaker 2>kicks in the door. I'm here to get my woman
<v Speaker 2>and do our dance right right, and I'm sorry. I
<v Speaker 2>don't care how masculine you are. You are soul dead
<v Speaker 2>if the lift doesn't make you a little bit misty
<v Speaker 2>where you're like, all right, it's freaking off. Yeah, absolutely,
<v Speaker 2>so they come back. He shows up, He cues the
<v Speaker 2>guy with the record, All the other dancers start dancing
<v Speaker 2>in line. He does this massive jump off the stage.
<v Speaker 2>Of course, the song is incredible. I've had the time
<v Speaker 2>of my life. And the lift scene that's so famous.
<v Speaker 2>Jennifer Gray said they did it one time and she
<v Speaker 2>hasn't done it since.
<v Speaker 1>It is a way to bring it home like I
<v Speaker 1>wanted to happen in Zaturday Night Fever that I did not.
<v Speaker 3>I got kicked in the nuts.
<v Speaker 2>I'm telling you, my ninth grade girlfriend would have married
<v Speaker 2>me on the spot if I could have pulled off
<v Speaker 2>the lift right. And the song's great and everybody's dancing.
<v Speaker 2>Kelly Bishop, who plays her mother, says, I think she
<v Speaker 2>gets that from me. That's a nod to her because
<v Speaker 2>she was in the original cast of.
<v Speaker 1>The course line.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, she's a dancer, she's a dancer. Yeah, we've already said.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, women just love this movie because it's from
<v Speaker 2>a woman's point of view and Johnny takes the time
<v Speaker 2>to teach her how to dance and brings her into
<v Speaker 2>his world and rescues her from the safety of her parents.
<v Speaker 2>And this movie just appeals across the board to women. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>it appeals to me. I love it.
<v Speaker 1>So of course you see the same dirty dancers all
<v Speaker 1>the time, right, yes, And these are all actors who
<v Speaker 1>didn't know each other before. They came to the set
<v Speaker 1>and started pumping and grinding on each other like they
<v Speaker 1>knew each other a long time. So they to make
<v Speaker 1>the girls more comfortable, they told all of the guy dancers.
<v Speaker 1>They're like, listen, here's the rule. You can't make any
<v Speaker 1>kind of phone calls or contacts with any of these
<v Speaker 1>girls until six months after the movie. Like that's the rule. Okay, Well,
<v Speaker 1>there's no freaking way they can enforce them. I mean
<v Speaker 1>what I mean, they're already there. They were already going
<v Speaker 1>to hire what are you going to do get the
<v Speaker 1>money back? No, it's not going to happen, right, she says.
<v Speaker 1>So then they start dancing. They're shooting all these scenes,
<v Speaker 1>and at some point the guys come back up to
<v Speaker 1>her and they're like, okay, so do you mean six
<v Speaker 1>months from when the film wraps or six months from
<v Speaker 1>when the movie is released.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, there's no sweet.
<v Speaker 1>They're trying to do exactly what I said, but they
<v Speaker 1>definitely wanted to call those girls.
<v Speaker 2>It's kind of like when the camp counselor tells you
<v Speaker 2>not to go over to the girls area at summer camp.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I'm not sure that everybody followed the rules, but at
<v Speaker 2>least they tried.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Okay, So two interesting little cameos that happened in
<v Speaker 1>Dirty Dancing. Okay, okay. Eleanor Bergstein, the writer. Yes, you
<v Speaker 1>can see her for just a split second, just as
<v Speaker 1>Baby comes running up to get Johnny. He's dancing with
<v Speaker 1>this woman. The woman that he's dancing with is Eleanor Bergstein.
<v Speaker 1>When they filmed it, the dancing part was much longer
<v Speaker 1>and she had much more time on film. But when
<v Speaker 1>they started editing, she gets a call from a meal
<v Speaker 1>and He's like, listen, I'm really sorry, and I won't
<v Speaker 1>do it if you don't want me to, but we
<v Speaker 1>really need to just get rid of this part of
<v Speaker 1>the scene.
<v Speaker 3>You need to get it.
<v Speaker 1>She's like, do what you need to do, do what
<v Speaker 1>you need to do. Uh huh. But then whenever they
<v Speaker 1>would go to the movie afterwards, every time that scene
<v Speaker 1>came up and she was with him, he would go,
<v Speaker 1>who is that wonderful woman?
<v Speaker 2>Why can't we see more fun?
<v Speaker 3>That's good?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know she wanted to hire doctor Ruth Westheimer
<v Speaker 2>to play a part in this movie.
<v Speaker 1>That funny, doctor doctor Ruth.
<v Speaker 2>Yes. The character that she wanted her to play was
<v Speaker 2>Missus Schumacher, the thief. Okay, and doctor Ruth was like,
<v Speaker 2>what she's a thief? No, I cannot Yeah, that's funny,
<v Speaker 2>that's funny. Let's slip back to Saturday Night Fever and
<v Speaker 2>talk reception. So we talked about how the seventies were
<v Speaker 2>depressing really until Disco showed up. Right, Disco reminds people
<v Speaker 2>that Saturday night is for having fun.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Well, Paramount knew that they had good music, but they
<v Speaker 2>didn't believe in this project at all. Okay, And to
<v Speaker 2>say that they didn't believe in it is an understate.
<v Speaker 1>Okay.
<v Speaker 2>We talked about how this movie has profanity, it has racism,
<v Speaker 2>it has rape, it has drugs, and there was also
<v Speaker 2>that anti disco sentiment out there, right, disco sucks. Well
<v Speaker 2>when they go to the premiere, they have it at
<v Speaker 2>the man Chinese Theater. So at the premiere you had
<v Speaker 2>Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams Lavernon, Charley Laverne, Shirley Shamiel Schmankle.
<v Speaker 2>You had John Ritter and Suzanne Summers.
<v Speaker 1>Yep.
<v Speaker 2>You had Hugh Hefner, Okay, you had Peter Frampton. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and of course Ernest borgnine, Well sure, why not. I
<v Speaker 2>mean he was about to be Vito Corleone except that
<v Speaker 2>he wasn't, except that he didn't get that part right. Anyway,
<v Speaker 2>it was just fun. Diana Shore was there interviewing John Travolta.
<v Speaker 2>It is very seventies event. It was a lot of
<v Speaker 2>fun to see these old celebrities. The movie made more
<v Speaker 2>than two hundred and eighty five million dollars and revitalized disco.
<v Speaker 2>It was a pop culture nuclear bomb. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I was waiting for it.
<v Speaker 2>It was I mean, it's not an exaggeration, and it
<v Speaker 2>brought disco right back front and center for the next
<v Speaker 2>few years. Yeah, absolutely, until disc Go Sucks Night at
<v Speaker 2>the Shadow of White Sox Game seventy nine. Death of
<v Speaker 2>Disco and then the soundtrack that comes with it was hugely,
<v Speaker 2>immensely popular. Yep, I was telling you, and I don't
<v Speaker 2>want to give too much away because we'll talk about
<v Speaker 2>the soundtrack next week, but it's some of the earliest
<v Speaker 2>songs I remember from my childhood.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they didn't put disco duck on there. Apparently at
<v Speaker 1>one scene he danced a disco duck, but they then
<v Speaker 1>put it on.
<v Speaker 2>There was a disco Star Wars song, the John Williams
<v Speaker 2>Star Wars theme Disco.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, disco was big, Yes, it was okay, So reception
<v Speaker 1>on Dirty Dancing, Yes. First they want to show the
<v Speaker 1>film to the vestaurant people, right, yep. But honestly, none
<v Speaker 1>of them have any significant movie producing experience. So they
<v Speaker 1>call up this guy that they know named Aaron Russo.
<v Speaker 1>Aaron Russo was a producer on Trading Places. He was
<v Speaker 1>producer on The Rose with Bette Midler, and so they
<v Speaker 1>bring him in to give his opinion on the movie,
<v Speaker 1>and so they're all sitting there watching, and they're really
<v Speaker 1>kind of watching him watch the movie, right, yeah, sure,
<v Speaker 1>and they're thinking, okay, that's going on, yeah watching, yeah yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And so they get done. He turns to the board
<v Speaker 1>and says, burn the negatives and get the insurance money.
<v Speaker 2>Such a heartbreaking story.
<v Speaker 1>And they're like, what he said, burn the negatives and
<v Speaker 1>get the insurance money, as in, don't let anyone else
<v Speaker 1>watch this movie. Get your whatever money you can get
<v Speaker 1>back out of it, right now, burn the negatives.
<v Speaker 2>And it's crazy. It doesn't make any sense to me.
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't make any sense, right.
<v Speaker 2>He's solely you can't wash that lift scene and think
<v Speaker 2>burn the negative.
<v Speaker 1>So they convinced the board to release it to one
<v Speaker 1>theater before they make the decision on whether to release
<v Speaker 1>it or not. Right, it's about a thousand people there
<v Speaker 1>to watch the movie. End of the movie. Quiet for
<v Speaker 1>a second, and then the crowd goes absolutely nuts and
<v Speaker 1>they're like, ohh all right, well maybe this isn't as
<v Speaker 1>bad as we thought it.
<v Speaker 2>Was, right, Yeah, this sounds a lot like the reception
<v Speaker 2>that Purple Rain got when they would drop it and
<v Speaker 2>they would bring back the numbers and people were like, Nope,
<v Speaker 2>don't believe it. Try again.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, they weren't sure just based on this one audience
<v Speaker 1>reaction that was going to do well. They thought it
<v Speaker 1>was going to be like a weekend deal. You know,
<v Speaker 1>it'll be out for the weekend and it won't do
<v Speaker 1>that great and people will move on or whatever, right, right,
<v Speaker 1>And so they come to watch it fourth night after
<v Speaker 1>it's been released, right sure, and they're sitting in the
<v Speaker 1>theater and Eleanor Burgstein is sitting with her husband. Now
<v Speaker 1>you know that the scene is that it seems to
<v Speaker 1>be the end scene where they're seeing the Kellerman anthem
<v Speaker 1>where that Johnny comes in and interrupts with there they're
<v Speaker 1>all say, and it goes on for a little bit,
<v Speaker 1>quite a few words. Sure, well, her husband's the one
<v Speaker 1>that wrote that anthem. They're like, hey, we need a
<v Speaker 1>finishing anthem. He's a well regarded poet, and so they
<v Speaker 1>call on him. He's like, okay, I'll write the words.
<v Speaker 1>He writes the words to the anthem. And so they're
<v Speaker 1>in the theater now four days after it's been released,
<v Speaker 1>and that part of the movie comes on and there's
<v Speaker 1>this group of girls out in front who are singing
<v Speaker 1>a long word for word with the anthem. And so
<v Speaker 1>they leave the theater and Paul Michael Goldman is his name,
<v Speaker 1>and he's he's like, did you hear them singing my song?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>And she's like, yeah, yeah, your song's really good. He goes,
<v Speaker 1>do you know what this means? She goes, yes, I know.
<v Speaker 1>It means you wrote a really good song. He goes, no.
<v Speaker 1>The movie's been out for four days. They've come to
<v Speaker 1>see it over and over in order to memorize the
<v Speaker 1>words to that song. Yeah, you don't know what's about
<v Speaker 1>to happen, but I do. This is going to be amazing.
<v Speaker 1>And sure enough he was right.
<v Speaker 2>He was exactly right.
<v Speaker 1>It was a pop culture nuclear bomb.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, it really was. Both of these movies were pop
<v Speaker 2>culture nuclear bombs. Now, the woman that I heard interviewed
<v Speaker 2>she had seen it like fifteen times in the first
<v Speaker 2>two weeks or whatever, and they're like, why do you
<v Speaker 2>keep coming back? We tell us why? What are we
<v Speaker 2>not understanding?
<v Speaker 1>She said?
<v Speaker 2>Listen, when I was young, I got pregnant, I married
<v Speaker 2>a guy that I didn't love, he left, I'm stuck,
<v Speaker 2>and here I am. I never ever had the time
<v Speaker 2>of my life, and this movie does it for me?
<v Speaker 2>It makes me want to like well up and cry
<v Speaker 2>here in that story.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, So I can't wait to talk about those songs.
<v Speaker 1>I know.
<v Speaker 2>Right, One more quick story. Okay, So the director emil Arderlino, Yes,
<v Speaker 2>he tells us to sorry, I listened to the commentary.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Okay.
<v Speaker 2>He tells a story. His mother was two weeks away
<v Speaker 2>from marrying a dentist. Okay, okay, and right before her wedding,
<v Speaker 2>she had already received all of her gifts. Church is reserved,
<v Speaker 2>dress has bought, everything's planned, They're ready to go. She's
<v Speaker 2>ready to walk down the aisle okay. And then her
<v Speaker 2>girlfriends take her out for dancing, sort of a bachelorette
<v Speaker 2>type of thing. She meets a guy on the dance floor,
<v Speaker 2>she falls in love, She calls off the wedding and
<v Speaker 2>never marries the dentist.
<v Speaker 1>What yep?
<v Speaker 2>Okay, And he was the product of that love affair.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, pretty cool?
<v Speaker 1>Right, wow, that's awesome.
<v Speaker 2>No word on how that marriage ended.
<v Speaker 1>But his dad was Johnny Castle. That's exactly right, all right. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>So this is funny because this is making me think.
<v Speaker 1>So Rachel on Friends was supposed to marry Barry. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>and then she walks away like you should come to
<v Speaker 1>the very first episode, she's in the wedding dress, right,
<v Speaker 1>and then later on she has a friend show up
<v Speaker 1>who's going to marry Barry, and her friend is Jennifer Gray. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>and Barry is a dentist. Hey, oh my.
<v Speaker 2>Gosh, how about that.
<v Speaker 1>That's kind of crazy. Okay, that's fantastic. Well, yeah, so
<v Speaker 1>emil Ardolina was a key component in this thing. He
<v Speaker 1>obviously dance was an important part of his upbringing. You know,
<v Speaker 1>it was the reason for his conception, I guess. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>But they said that he had the ability to make you,
<v Speaker 1>as the audience member, feel like you were dancing. You
<v Speaker 1>saw all things through baby's eyes, and you felt like
<v Speaker 1>you were a part of what was going on on
<v Speaker 1>the dance for Key to the movie.
<v Speaker 2>Loved it. Okay, we ready for final judgment.
<v Speaker 1>Let's do it.
<v Speaker 2>You want me to go first? Sure, Okay, this is
<v Speaker 2>easy for me. I'll surprise, all right, I'll be quick,
<v Speaker 2>all right for me. Both of these movies are hugely
<v Speaker 2>iconic pop culture. Nuclear Bombs, It's Undeniable, Saturday Night Fever
<v Speaker 2>was huge in the seventies. Dirty Dancing was huge in
<v Speaker 2>the eighties. The soundtracks are massive and I can't wait
<v Speaker 2>to die into those. Okay, Now it comes down to
<v Speaker 2>me personally. I like to have fun and feel good
<v Speaker 2>when I'm at the movies. Okay, the last scene. Let's
<v Speaker 2>just take the last scene of both movies. Okay, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you have a dance contest that is spoiled by bad
<v Speaker 2>attitudes and discontentment, gang rape, and a suicide. Roll credits, right,
<v Speaker 2>three kicks in the balls and roll credits. At the
<v Speaker 2>end of Dirty Dancing, you have the hero coming back
<v Speaker 2>for the princess, rescuing her, having the dance. They play
<v Speaker 2>the pop song of nineteen eighty seven and he does
<v Speaker 2>this fantastic lift and it's all love and hugs and kisses,
<v Speaker 2>and it's everybody dancing, having a great time. It's like
<v Speaker 2>the end of Footloose, where you're at the problem and
<v Speaker 2>you're dancing, you're party and you're having a great time
<v Speaker 2>slamming the football down. The better movie is Dirty Dancing,
<v Speaker 2>unquestionably d r L.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, Well, everybody has a right to their own opinion.
<v Speaker 1>It's just that your opinion is completely right. It is
<v Speaker 1>spot on right. I do not understand why Saturday Night
<v Speaker 1>Fever was the mega steamroller amazing success that it was.
<v Speaker 1>I don't understand why it's Gene Sisco's favorite movie. But
<v Speaker 1>here's the thing. I was born in the seventies. I
<v Speaker 1>didn't experience them to any significant degree. Nothing memorable for me.
<v Speaker 1>I kind of remember Disco from being a kid. But
<v Speaker 1>that scene is not a part of my life. And
<v Speaker 1>I don't know how anybody, even if it was a
<v Speaker 1>part of their life, could get married to what went
<v Speaker 1>on in that movie. I just don't get it. I
<v Speaker 1>don't get It's not a character development thing. It's literally
<v Speaker 1>nothing like there's no triumph, there's no change, there's no arc.
<v Speaker 1>It's just like, let's go further and further down and
<v Speaker 1>want nothing. I don't get with you one hundred percent.
<v Speaker 1>Dirty Dancing may be supposed to be a chick flick,
<v Speaker 1>but I love it. I'd watch it over and over again.
<v Speaker 1>I want the hero to win sometimes, and sometimes it's
<v Speaker 1>okay if they don't win. But if you got a
<v Speaker 1>movie where dancing is supposed to be about feeling good,
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't you have the people who watch the movie feel good.
<v Speaker 3>At the end.
<v Speaker 1>Isn't that the idea.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it seems like it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and that is why we are both on the
<v Speaker 1>same page on this one. Tune in next week. We
<v Speaker 1>will cover Dirty Dancing the album, and then we will
<v Speaker 1>cover Saturday Night Fever the album, and we will compare
<v Speaker 1>those two and that one we may reach a different conclusion.
<v Speaker 2>I am telling you right now, it's a different story
<v Speaker 2>with the soundtracks.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, be sure and tune in, hit that follow button,
<v Speaker 1>hit that subscribe button, be sure to do the five
<v Speaker 1>star rating in the review where you mentioned night Fever
<v Speaker 1>or carrying Watermelons, and we will see you all next week.
<v Speaker 2>I'm ready. Let's do the lift right now. One, two
<v Speaker 3>N knock