IN RECOGNITION OF THE DIRECTORS PART 4
In this entry I change things up a bit by discussing three
movies rather than only two. All three productions came out in the 1980s and focused
on gender, sexuality, and economic inequality. I discuss them in chronological
order: Fame (1980) and Flashdance (1983) are both set in
contemporary times, while Dirty Dancing (1987) takes place in 1963, two
decades earlier.
Alan Parker
Fame director Alan Parker differed in significant
ways from Alek Keshishian and Paul Michael Glaser Part 3). Rather than coming
from an economically privileged household, he grew up in a working-class family
and attended public school, although Dame Alice Owens is one of the best in
England. He also differed from Garry and Penny Marshall (Part 2) because he started
out as a copywriter in advertising rather than as an entertainer. He became
familiar with directing by making advertisements for television, which was the
only media available in Great Britain in the 1960s. In fact, he did not begin
writing screenplays and directing films until the mid-1970s, but his work was
so good that he garnered accolades from the beginning and soon became part of
the movie industry elite.
Parker’s films delved into diverse topics, including World
War II, No Hard Feelings (1972), the American Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi
Burning (1988), and pitfalls that Americans can encounter in hostile
countries, Midnight Express (1978). The latter was nominated for best
screen play, best director, best supporting actor, and best musical score, an
area in which Parker excelled. From early on the director became known for his
musical scores, especially Bugsy Malone (1976), Pink Floyd: The Wall
(1982), Evita (1996) and of course, Fame (1980). As a matter of
fact, Fame won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the title song “Fame” ((written
by Michael Gore (Leslie Gore’s brother) and Dean Pitchford)) as well as nominations
for the Young Artist Award for newcomers Paul Crane and Barry Miller who
respectively portrayed Monty and Ralph.
Biography - Alan
Parker - Director, Writer, Producer - Official Website
Fame, 1980
The Audition
The story takes place at the New York High School for
Performing Arts and is divided into six discrete periods starting with the
Audition and ending at Graduation. The plot primarily focuses on eights students:
Coco Hernandez (Irene Cara), Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri), Lisa Monroe (Laura
Dean), Hilary Van Doren (Antonia Franceschi), Montgomery MacNeil (Paul Crane), Ralph
“Raul” Garcia (Barry Miller), Leroy Johnson (Gene Anthony Ray), and Doris
Finsecker (Maureen Teefy) who represent a plethora of interests. Doris and Monty
want to be actors; Lisa and Hilary hope to become ballerinas; LeRoy, who
originally came to help his girlfriend Shirley (Carol Massenburg) get accepted,
excels in modern dance; Bruno is a keyboardist and composer; Ralph is a
comedian; and Coco does a little bit of everything.
Freshman Year
Because he is not allowed to film at the real institute, Parker
uses other old buildings in New York and depicts a school located in a rough
part of town where students must walk past drug dealers and prostitutes just to
get to class every day. However, that does not discourage them because the kids
are determined to become professional performers even though they lack the
funding or family backing to attend a private academy such as Julliard. Some, like
Ralph, live in the slums, others like Leroy inhabit the streets. Lisa, Hilary,
and Montgomery are financially well-off but eschew private school in favor of
going somewhere that meets their artistic interests; Doris takes the subway; and
Bruno suffers the humiliation of showing up in his father’s taxi every morning.
Only Coco’s situation remains a complete enigma because the film never reveals anything
about her personal life.
One of the first things dance instructor Miss Berg (Joanna
Merlin), music instructor Mr. Shorofsky (Albert Hague), and English teacher Mrs.
Sherwood (Anne Meara) warn the students is that they will endure a grueling
schedule, developing their talents in the morning and carrying a full academic
load in the afternoon. Most of the kids take this in stride, but those like
Ralph, who needs free time to sell drugs to support his family, or LeRoy who
can neither read nor write, find the requirements a burden. Overall, however, the
plot virtually ignores academia, focusing on the students’ artistic pursuits,
instead. Thus, prospective actors strive to observe themselves doing everyday
things; lazy Lisa puts up with being constantly reprimanded for her lack of
effort; Bruno struggles to learn the violin; and they all stick it out because
they want to be like senior Michael (Boyd Gaines) r who is so self-confident
that he relinquishes a full college scholarship in exchange for trying his luck
in Hollywood.
Sophomore Year
By their second year, the students have either joined the
group that is most likely to succeed or to fail. A new ballet student named
Hilary (Antonia Franceschi) enrolls in the dance class, which leads Miss Berg to
expel Lisa, and draws LeRoy’s attention away from Coco, whom he has been dating.
The classes are hard for everyone, but notably so for the actors, who hare required
to share firsthand experiences with the other students. Doris finds the assignment
challenging because nothing interesting has ever happened to her, whereas Monty’s
only problem is choosing which devastating event to describe. He finally
settles on the day his psychiatrist told him that his homosexuality was a “life
choice” rather than just a phase. Finally, because he never talks about
anything personal, Ralph decides to recount the day he learned that comedian
Freddy Prinz had committed suicide.
The year does offer some good moments, however. Doris,
Monty, and Ralph form a strong friendship, giving the three lonely students
someone to confide in and Bruno and Coco begin collaborating on their own music.
Much to Mr. Martelli’s (Eddie Barth) consternation, however, his son does not
consider their compositions good enough to go public. Thus, he is horrified when
one afternoon his father pulls up in front of the school, blasting his son’s music
through loudspeakers. As horns honk and people scream for him to get out of the
way, dozens of kids pour out of the school and start dancing and singing to
“Fame” in the busy city street.
Junior Year
By Junior year, the students are comfortable enough with school
that they can expend more energy to their personal lives. Feeling particularly
sad for Ralph, Doris shows how much she cares by spending the night with him at
Monty’s apartment, which Monty considerately leaves so they can have some privacy.
In return, Ralph shows his appreciation to Doris by finally taking her to the Rocky
Horror Picture Show where she goes up on stage and performs “The Time Warp”
with other members of the audience.
She, Monty, and Ralph also get a rude awakening when they go
into a café for lunch and former prodigy Michael waits on them. He says that he
came back to New York because things did not go well in L.A. but that he has an
upcoming audition. The kids pretend to be impressed but they know that he missed
his chance and is not going anywhere. Particularly surprising is Doris’
reaction when she uncharacteristically comments that, “All anyone ever promised
you is seven classes a day and a hot lunch. The rest is up to you.”
During their junior year the kids revel in their budding
success: Ralph becomes a big hit at a local comedy club; Coco writes “Out Here
on My Own” which Bruno (finally) thinks is good enough to record; LeRoy’s
dancing reveals how much promise he has for a successful future, and Hilary
outshines every other student in the ballet class.
Senior Year
As their senior year begins and the students feel confident
and optimistic about their futures, life shows them just how easily success can
elude one’s grasp. Ralph, who spends most of his free time drinking and drugging
with other comedians at the club, predictably blows a performance. Rather than
it being Doris who props him up, however, it is Monty, who loves Ralph more
than she ever will, that comes backstage to rebuild his confidence. Hilary gets
pregnant with LeRoy’s baby and has an abortion because a child would scuttle her
dreams of becoming a prima ballerina and LeRoy, who has an opportunity to join
a professional dance team, confronts Mrs. Sherwood (Anne Meara) at the hospital
where her husband is dying to demand that she give him a passing grade in
English. The ever-ambitious Coco falls for the lies of a man who claims to be a
talent scout, but really just wants to take dirty pictures of her, and Doris’
helicopter mom (Tresa Hughes) reveals that her biggest fear isn’t that Doris
won’t become a star but that she “will get knocked up” or worse, have an
abortion.
At graduation, the class performs a captivating adaptation
of Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric,” a piece so powerful that it
resonates in my mind like a train whistle on a foggy night. The commanding performances
by Lisa (why wasn’t she pursuing music instead of dance?), Coco (whose voice is
perfection), and Monty (who sings better than he acts) open the performance. Bruno
accompanies them on the piano, and LeRoy shines from center stage. As Doris joyfully
smiles at them from the chorus it is readily evident that the only classmates
not present are Ralph and Hilary. This is not surprising, but you cannot help wishing
them well. Then, like any other high school graduation, it is over. And Scene.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45472/i-sing-the-body-electric
All 47
Songs from the Fame Soundtrack | Reelsoundtrack Blog
Summary
As a director who loved telling stories about a plethora of
topics, Alan Parker became adept at reaching all sorts of audiences. Thus, the
characters in Fame are like most kids who hope to wind up someplace
better than where they started. They could aspire to being Nobel Laureates,
Pulitzer Prize winners, or CEOs of multi-million-dollar companies, but in this
case, their dreams are to be famous performers. Thus, rather than only having
to achieve academically, they must also excel at music, dance, acting, or all
three.
Bruno, a gifted keyboardist, forces himself to learn to play
the violin and Doris, who can turn the lyrics of a song (“The Way We Were”)
into a dramatic scene, gets up on the stage at the Rocky Horror Picture Show
to demonstrate that she has the chops to perform in front of an audience. There
are students like Hilary, who have already put in years of hard work, and seem
destined for greatness, and others like lazy Lisa who fail because she only got
into the school as a fluke. And as is also true in real life, some kids have
advantages that others do not. Bruno and Doris have families who offer a lot of
(too much) support, while Monty receives little encouragement, and Coco and
LeRoy learn to make it on their own. In the end, though, as Doris observed, success
or failure comes from inside. At graduation Lisa, Monty, Coco, Bruno, and LeRoy
are central figures in the ceremony; Doris is content with simply being a
member of the chorus; and Ralph and Hilary do not appear at all. Nevertheless,
their graduations are like those of most high school students and leave you asking,
“Where will they go from here?”
Luckily, Flashdance and Dirty Dancing pick up
where Fame ends.
Adrian Lyne
Adrian Lyne had a lot in common with director Alan Parker. Both
men were born in England in the 1940s and were from working-class families. Admittedly,
Lyne went to Highgate, an expensive private boarding school, rather than receiving
a public education, but only because his father taught there. Like Parker, Lyne
also started out in advertising, which gave him the chance to hone his writing skills.
He then moved on to directing television commercials before working on a couple
of short pieces. Finally in 1980 he tried his hand at movies with the noted
film Foxes (1980), a coming-of-age story about four teenage girls living
in Los Angeles. Interestingly, the motion picture’s producer was David Putnam
who also produced Alan Parker’s Academy Award winner Midnight Express.
However, Lyne differed from Parker in notable ways, as well.
While most of Parker’s films were stories, a third of Lyne’s sixteen productions
were documentaries, and while Parker delved into various genres, Lyne tended to prefer dramas that concentrated on human
interaction, especially sexuality. Examples include: 9 ½ Weeks (1986), Fatal
Attraction (1987), Indecent Proposal (1993), and Lolita (1997).
Flashdance further introduces a glimpse into another of his central themes,
female empowerment by using techniques he perfected in television: carefully
crafted lighting, mood enhancing color, excellent musical scores, and purposefully
manipulated motion.
All 16 Adrian
Lyne Movies (in Order) | SERP Media
Alan
Parker - Director - Films as Director:, Other Films:, Publications
Adrian
Lyne's Directing Career | 10 Legacies of Flashdance | TIME.com
Flashdance, 1983
On a cloudy morning in Pittsburgh a young woman named Alex (Jennifer
Beals) pedals her bike through narrow rain-soaked streets. After stopping to
pet a kitten, she crosses a bridge crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic before
pulling into the parking lot of a steel mill. There she dons a helmet and spends
the morning embedded in a cascade of sparks welding girders together. That
night the factory’s owner Nick (Michael Nouri) and his foreman go to a
nightclub to watch a cadre of scantily clad women take the stage and gyrate to
rock music. Suddenly, a beautiful girl appears, and after removing layer upon
layer of clothing, she drenches herself in a sparkling waterfall and douses the
onlookers with an impromptu shower. Entranced, Nick asks the foreman to find
out who the girl is to which the man immediately quotes him her social security
number because it just so happens that the girl is Alex, Nick’s employee.
What the foreman does not know however is that even though
this is a bar, the camaraderie between the employees is reminiscent of a family.
The cook Richie (Kyle T. Heffner), who considers himself a comedian, is dating Alex’s
best friend Jeanie (Sunny Johnson) and Jeanie’s parents (Phil Bruns and Micole
Mercurio) treat Alex like a member of their clan. In fact, Alex is popular among
her coworkers not only because she is unbelievably talented but because she is a
positive person. For example, when coworker Tina (Cynthia Rhodes-Penny in Dirty
Dancing) frets that a guy she likes “didn’t call” Alex calmly reassures her,
“He’ll call…Why wouldn’t he?” (Later,
when you see him, you understand her certainty.)
Being supportive of her friends is just one reason that Alex’s
dance card is full, however, which explains why, when Nick hits on her at work
the next day, she turns him down. She makes the excuse that she does not date
the boss, but the real reason is that she does not have time for relationships,
period. To fulfil her dream of attending the prestigious Pittsburgh Dance
Repertory Company, she works two jobs to save money so she can pay the bills while
taking classes. Thus, she resides in a defunct factory on the poor side of town
and gets around on a bike rather than driving a car. Unfortunately, she lacks
two essential things that she will need to achieve her goal, formal training,
and self-confidence.
Even though Alex reads everything she can about ballet and
gets advice from her surrogate grandmother former prima ballerina Hanna Long (Lilia
Skala), she still worries that the Dance Company will never accept her. Believing
that she has natural ability, however, Hanna reassures Alex that someday she
will perform in front of adoring audiences and receive countless bouquets of
roses. Her hopes bolstered, Alex decides to apply to the school. However, when
she gets there, she cannot help comparing her dungarees and work boots to the traditional
ballet attire of the other applicants. Then, noticing how confidently the young
women posture and whisper about her while casting sidelong glances, Alex leaves,
unable to face inevitable rejection.
Her competitors are not the only reason Alex has doubts,
however. As she explains to her priest during confession, she is afraid she
will never be good enough, an insecurity that grows when Jeanie falls during an
ice-skating competition and refuses to get back up, destroying her chances of ever
going professional. Alex’s environment, especially when Johnny C (Lee Ving), the
owner of the local strip club, stands on the sidewalk hawking his strippers as “all
nude all the time” like he is a chocolatier selling candy bars. She finds
everything about him disgusting, particularly the way he comes into Mawby’s place
and grabs at her body while making dirty comments. One night he even accosts her
in the parking lot after work, giving Nick, who has been secretly stalking her,
a chance to play hero. Assuming that she will be grateful, he once again asks
her out, and when she turns him down, instead of leaving, he follows her home.
With her pit bull Grunt watching him closely, Nick talks Alex into having
dinner with him the next evening.
Their first date consists of picking up a pizza and taking
it back to her place. Since Nick’s interest in her seems to be sincere, Alex reveals
that she dreams of being a professional dancer but has not received any formal training.
He does his best to boost her confidence by confiding that he and Johnny C both
grew up together, but he worked hard to become a success and is now a respected
businessman who can afford whatever he wants. When she asks him how he did it,
he responds, “I took a deep breath, and jumped.” Encouraged by Nick’s positivity,
Alex goes back to the dance academy, fills out an application, and even though
most of it is blank, she hands it in. To her surprise, the members of the panel
invite her to try out.
Alex is really excited at the prospect until Nick lets it
slip that he arranged a special celebration dinner before she told him what happened.
Suspecting that he called in some favors for her, Alex concludes that he lacks
faith in her abilities and breaks up with him. She goes home, takes her phone
off the hook, and pouts. In the meantime, Richie has gone to L.A. to try his
hand at being a comedian, leaving Jeanie without friends. Taking advantage of
her vulnerability, Johnny C wins her over by pouring dollar bills into her
hands like peppermints and taking her out on the town.
After a few days, Alex decides that it is time to get on
with her life. First, she goes to Mawby’s to see Jeanie only to find out that her
friend is working for Johnny. Alarmed, she busts into his bar, drags Jeanie
out, and takes her home. Next, she goes to talk to Hanna, but the attendant tells
her the woman died and when they tried to let her know, the line was busy. Devastated,
Alex goes home only to have Nick come by to convince her to take this a chance.
As he echoes Hanna’s words, “You give up your dream, you die,” Alex thinks about
the way Jeanie forfeited her desire to become a skater and considers how hard Nick
worked to get what he wanted. Swallowing her pride, she decides to audition
after all.
At the try outs, Alex is understandably nervous, especially
since the judges act like the audition is a farce, so when the music starts (“What
A Feeling” sung by Irene Cara who portrayed Coco in Fame) she stumbles
and falls. This represents a pivotal moment for Alex because she can either
quit like Jeanie did or give it another try. She chooses the latter and begins
again. As the song’s tempo builds, she incorporates breakdancing moves into her
performance, showing that she is not only a proficient dancer, but an innovative
choreographer, as well. By the time she finishes, the mesmerized panel is
convinced that she will be a good addition to the academy. Excited to finally
be on the path to fulfilling her dreams, Alex joyfully skips out the door and down
the steps where she spies Grunt wearing a big bow around his neck and Nick holding
a bouquet of red roses.
Summary
Adrienne Lyne makes his movies memorable by incorporating elements
like weather, motion, and color to convey his vision. Flashdance is an
excellent example of this. Take Alex, for instance. When biking to the mill, she
travels on streets that are shimmering with leftover rain from a slate sky, and
when she welds girders, she becomes the center of a fiery fountain. Likewise, at
Mawby’s bar, her performance evolves, taking her from being little more than a
silhouette to becoming a cloudburst. At the audition, however, these trappings
are gone, replaced by a simple black leotard that draws the judges’ attention
to Alex’s performance.
In fact, Lyne uses clothes and color to define the characters’
personalities, in general. Disinterested in public notice, Jeanie and her
parents wear casual apparel in somber tones. This includes Jeanie’s costume at the
skating competition which, although sexy, is just a simple black leotard and
tights. On the other hand, Alex’s wardrobe is cutting edge consisting of off
the shoulder sweaters, deconstructed jeans, and red as her signature color which
is represented by her costume and stiletto heels in her first appearance at the
club, by the jacket that she wears to her audition, and by Nick’s bouquet of
roses.
One of the most interesting aspects of the story, however, is
the contrast between Alex and Jeanie. Jeanie still lives with her parents in a nice
house where her mother is a traditional homemaker and her father is the head of
the household. Alex, on the other hand, lives with her dog in a sparsely furnished
room that has an unreliable radiator. Aside from Jeanie and her folks, Alex’s only
family is her surrogate grandmother, Hanna Long. Yet, Lyne, who often depicts families
in a negative light makes Alex’s situation appear better than Jeanie’s. While Jeanie,
who suffers constant criticism at home, seeks absolution from her parents by justifying
being hungry or apologizing for blowing the skating competition, Alex, who receives
nothing but praise and encouragement from Hanna, takes care of herself. Thus, Jeanie
is an easy target for guys like Ritchie and Johnny C who treat her badly,
whereas Alex has no compunction about breaking up with Nick when he disappoints
her one time. Lyne blames Jeanie’s parents for her gullibility and credits Alex’s
lack of a family for her strength and independence.
Adrian Lyne
biography. Cult director
Adrian Lyne
biography and filmography | Adrian Lyne movies
Emile Ardolino
Emile Ardolino shares several characteristics with the directors
I have already discussed. His parents were Italian immigrants who settled in
Maspeth, Queens. Even though details on his background are incomplete, information
on Maspeth is not. Companies in that region are known for paying higher wages than
businesses in other parts of the city and thus his family owned their home and
had a comfortable lifestyle. When Emile was a kid, there were both public and parochial
schools nearby which is probably where he studied English, speech, and theater and
took part in the “student productions” that his obituary mentions. However, he
might also have participated in one of local theaters where he enjoyed watching
the original version of Gypsy twenty-five times before joining the cast of
the Fantasticks. However, the only thing about his education that is
certain is that at some point he took film courses at both City College and
Columbia University.
Like many of the other directors, Ardolino started out as an
entertainer and only became interested in editing, directing, and producing much
later. Most of his films were musical documentaries which appeared on television.
Seventeen of these were nominated for Emmys, and two won. He also earned an
Academy Award for the documentary He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing which highlighted
the career of dance instructor Jacques d’Amboise who taught thousands of students
over his decades-long career. Unfortunately, Ardolino, who was openly gay, contracted
HIV and died of AIDS in 1993 when he was fifty years old. During his career he only
made five feature films, but most of those were well received, and two became fan
favorites. One was Sister Act (1992) which earned a profit of over one
hundred million dollars; the other was a little sleeper by the name of Dirty
Dancing (1987). The movie is still popular, so I am not going to recount
the plot in-depth. Instead, I am just hitting the highlights then adding some opinions
about things you might have missed.
Obituary:
Emile Ardolino | The Independent | The Independent
Jacques
d'Amboise Dead: 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' 'Carousel' Dancer Was 86
Dirty Dancing, 1987
We all know the story. Baby (Francis) Houseman (Jennifer
Gray) spends the summer after high school graduation with her parents Jake (Jerry
Orbach) and Marjorie (Kelly Bishop) and older sister Lisa (Jane Brucker) at a
cushy resort in the Catskill Mountains, which is owned by her father’s old
friend Max Kellerman (Jack Weston). This decision seems odd because the only people
who are contemporaries of Baby and Lisa include the poor kids who sell dance
lessons to get by and the rich kids that wait tables to earn pocket money for
college. The guests themselves, on the other hand, are wealthy adults and their
young children. In fact, the only appropriate person for Baby seems to be Max’s
grandson Neil (Lonny Price), but she does not like him because he disparages the
“dance people” whom he considers white trash.
Dr. Houseman has always told Baby to care about the plight
of the powerless people in the world. As a result, she has developed a strong social
conscience and hopes to join the Peace Corps after completing her studies in economics
of underdeveloped counties at Mount Holyoak College where she is starting in
the fall. In fact, he is so proud of her that he brags to anyone who is willing
to listen that his younger daughter “is going to save the world” including
their waiter Robbie Gould (Max Cantor). To earn a good tip, the young man feigns
interest, but he could not care less about the doctor’s plain daughter. Instead,
he asks her glamorous sister what she is going to do with her life. When Baby pipes
up, “she’s going to decorate it,” Robbie cleverly replies, “She already does.” His ploy works and soon he and Lisa begin to spend
a lot of time together, leaving Baby to fend for herself.
Fortunately, one evening she runs into Billy (Neal Jones), dance
instructor Johnny Castle’s (Patrick Swayze) cousin, and helps him carry
watermelons to a cabin where young people are sensuously dancing to erotic
music. Johnny and his partner, former Rockett Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) arrive
and take center stage, blowing everyone else’s performance away. Noticing Baby standing
on the sidelines, Johnny castigates Billy for bringing her, then draws her into
their secret club by teaching her how to dance like they do.
Desperately anxious to join the cool group, Baby returns the
next night, but instead of finding a party, she witnesses a private discussion
between Johnny and Penny. It does not take long for her to understand that Penny
is pregnant and that the father is Robbie. Since Penny barely makes enough to support
herself, she cannot afford to lose her job much less take care of a baby. The only
viable resolution is getting an abortion. The problem is it costs $275, which she
does not have, and Robbie refuses to give it to her. Remembering her father’s
opinion that people should help the disenfranchised, Baby offers to give Penny the
money. At first Penny says it would not help because she and Johnny have a gig
at a local hotel on the only night the “abortionist” is available, and they cannot
afford to forego the income. However, when Baby agrees to learn the routine and
take Penny’s place, the young woman relents.
Johnny and Baby begin to practice and Penny pitches in when
she can, causing cataclysmic results. They have always been poor and distrust
people with money, a skepticism that their experiences at the resort have reinforced.
This is not only due to the way Robbie treated Penny, but also because a lot of
the wealthy female guests have given Johnny money in exchange for sex as if he
is a prostitute. Baby’s hard work and dedication, however, gives them a new perspective,
and they go from feeling resentment toward her to being grateful to her. However,
all that changes on the night Johnny and Baby perform at the hotel while Penny is
having the abortion. The dance number goes well, and they cannot wait to report
that everything went off without a hitch. Yet, when they get to the cabin Penny
is lying in bed in agony because the abortionist botched her procedure. Certain
that her father will empathize, Baby brings him to Penny’s room. As expected, he
consoles the suffering young woman and administers medication that will save
her life. However, when they walk back home, Baby is devastated because he criticizes
her for getting involved with the dancers and tells her not to have anything to
do with “those people” again.
Unable to let Johnny go, however, Baby sneaks back to his
room and spends the night. In the morning, Vivian Pressman (Miranda Garrison), one
of the women who has been sleeping with Johnny, becomes jealous when she sees Baby
at his hut, and out of spite accuses him of stealing her husband’s wallet. Up
until now Baby has not been brave enough to defy her father, but to save Johnny
she discloses that he could not have done it because he spent the night with
her. When Dr. Houseman hears this, he becomes enraged because he is no different
than the other guests. Hurt and disillusioned, Baby accuses him of being a
hypocrite who claims to empathize with the downtrodden while secretly considering
them beneath him. She rushes back to Johnny only to find him packing because even
though her testimony cleared him of the crime, Mr. Kellerman fired him, anyway.
Heartbroken, she tells him goodbye and watches him drive out of her life.
On the resort’s final night, there is a big party with a
live band and performances by some of the guests and staff. Still grieving
Johnny’s departure Baby watches from her parents’ table. Just as the event
draws to a close, Johnny bursts in, says one of the most iconic lines in movie
history “nobody puts Baby in a corner,” and frees her. They take the stage and perform
the last dance of the season using Johnny’s choice of music and choreography and
finishing with a difficult “lift.” This shows
Dr. Houseman that his daughter has discovered what she wants to do with her
life and that he must accept it. Overcome with remorse, he praises Baby for her
performance and apologizes to Johnny for suspecting him of getting Penny
pregnant and taking advantage of Baby, “When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.” The
movie ends with everyone dancing and having “the time of their liv(es).”
Summary
Although the title suggests that the story is about the way
the kids dance, it is the adults that perpetuate the dirty things in this film.
The opening scene depicts Dr. Houseman sitting in the driver’s seat taking his
daughters, who he has trapped in the back, somewhere they do not belong. It implies
that this venture is for him and his wife, and the kids are just along for the
ride. Baby discovers this early on when she hears Max Kellerman telling the college
kids to dance with the rich girls, even if they are “dogs” while commanding the
“dance people” to keep their “hands off.” Thus, while Robbie does not face any
consequences for getting Penny pregnant, Johnny loses his job for having a relationship
with Baby. Fortunately, we never have to learn what Max would have done if the pregnant
girl had been Lisa, but since this tale highlights the double standard that cuts
across both class and gender, it would have been interesting to find out.
As for me, my concern is the class prejudice that permeates
the plot. Even though Max, Neil, and the well-to-do guests mistreat the subordinates,
I consider Dr. Houseman the worst person there because he is such a hypocrite.
For instance, when Lisa frets that she did not bring enough shoes, he tells her,
“A tragedy is three men trapped in a mine” and he has always advised Baby to
help people in trouble. Thus, when Baby asks him to take care of Penny after
the botched abortion, he rushes to her cabin displaying a kind demeanor, but as
soon as he has Baby alone, he tells her, “You’re not the person I thought you
were, Baby” and refers to her ne’er-do-well friends as “those people.” Realizing
that her father is not the person she thought he was either, she confronts him,
“You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break, but you meant everyone
who was like you.”
Conclusion
These three films could be about many things. Could be they
are about female sexuality: Penny gets “knocked up,”, Hilary gets pregnant,
Alex attracts Nick by dancing in a scanty costume; or maybe they are about
female vulnerability: Penny has sex with Robby because she believes his lies, Coco
lets the fake talent scout photograph her nude because she believes he’ll make
her famous, and Jeanie starts dating Johnny C because she believes he likes her;
or perhaps they’re about male irresponsibility toward women: Robbie refuses to give
Penny money, LeRoy doesn’t notice that Hilary leaves school, Johnny C tries to get
back at Alex by ruining Jeanie’s life; or possibly they’re about a woman’s
struggle to control her reproduction: Penny assumes Robbie will take care of
her if she gets pregnant; Hilary has the abortion to become a prima ballerina; Alex
can seduce Nick because she has easy access to birth control. However, I think
these movies are primarily about the dynamics of relationships between American
men and women.
Take Dirty Dancing, for example. The most popular
line from the film is ‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner,’ but that does not mean it
is the best line. In my opinion, the best line takes place at the beginning of
the movie when Baby summarizes what this story is about. “That
was the summer of 1963 — when everybody called me Baby, and it didn’t occur
to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the
Beatles came, when I couldn’t wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I’d
never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman’s.”
What she does not say, however, is that it was also before wives could buy birth
control pills without their husbands’ permission, and before single women could
access them at all. Nor does she tell you that it was a time when men earned and
controlled most of the money or that it was a time when women could not buy
their own homes, have their own bank accounts, or serve on juries.
Thus, even though Baby has advantages that Penny does not, her
freedom is still limited because of her sex. This is not only due to laws but is
also the result of her socialization. Baby loves Johnny with her whole heart,
but when Max fires him, instead of jumping in the car and going with him, she wretchedly
watches him drive away then returns to the person responsible for her pain.
Even when Johnny comes back, he has to PULL BABY out of the corner where she’s TRAPPED
between her parents and LEAD her onto the stage because she WILL NOT do these
things for herself. How, I ask myself, can someone too afraid to act in her own
behalf be of any use in the Peace Corps, an organization created to help others?
Even though the plots are set twenty years later, Fame
and Flashdance also focus on the differences between male and female
behavior, the girls try to avoid trouble, and the boys do as they please. In Fame,
Doris sneaks around to be with Ralph, Hilary justifies having an abortion, and
Coco obeys the sleazy photographer’s demands. On the other hand, Bruno decides
when he and Coco’s music will go public, LeRoy barges in on Mrs. Sherwood at
the hospital, and Ralph turns his back on his friends to pursue a career. Flashdance
is interesting because rather than fearing pregnancy Alex fears failure and uses
any excuse to avoid an audition. Nick on the other hand, acts like the men in
the other two movies. Once he has had sex with Alex, he starts telling her what
to do and how to do it. He even pulls strings to get her an audition because,
just as she suspects, he does not believe that she can get it on her own nor
does he give her the chance to try.
All three of these films gained critical acclaim for their music.
The original version of Fame won the Academy award for the title track
and the musical score, and the Academy nominated Coco’s song “Out Here on My
Own.” Although the critics’ rating on IMDB is only 66%, the audience score on Rotten
Tomatoes is impressive at 81%. Right now, you can stream the movie on Amazon
Prime, Apple TV, and Fandango for around $4. Pluto has a free version, but it
is the 2009 remake which is not as good. Sling and Plex advertise that the film
will be available on August 25, but I suspect that it is also the remake. If you
would like to own the DVD you can buy it for around $10 from places like Amazon
or Walmart and eBay has some that are preowned for $5 or less. There was also a
made for TV sequel, which was not too bad, so if you like the movie, you might
want to check it out.
Like Fame, the
original Flashdance received accolades for its music; the Academy gave
the title track “What a Feeling” an Oscar and nominated the song “Manic.”
However, the movie is not as well liked as Fame. This is especially true
of critics who give it an overall score of 62% on IMDB and an embarrassingly
low 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can stream the movie on the usual services for $3.99,
or watch it for free on Tubi, at least for now. Amazon and Walmart are selling the
DVD for under $8, or you can get both Fame and Flashdance in the one
case from Amazon for $20.
Lastly, although Dirty Dancing has a lot of things to
say about life in the early 1960s, people primarily remember the movie for its dancing
and music, especially the Academy Award winning title track “(I’ve Had) The
Time of My Life” which was also nominated for a Grammy. Overall, audiences like
this film much better than the other two. The overall IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes
critic score is a respectable 70%, and the audience gives it a whopping 91% so even
if you saw it in the past, you might love watching it again. The movie is not
streaming anywhere for free, meaning if you wanna see it you gotta pay. It rents
for around $4, so you might as well go ahead and buy the DVD because Amazon and
Walmart are selling it for around $8 or you can get the Blu-ray anniversary edition
for less than $10.
That is it for my Directors Series and for the summer. I am
working a lot more hours now which means I have less time to think, much less
write, but I will be back in the fall with something new. Until then, watch
some good musicals and do some dancing. See ya later, bye.
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