 My older sissy, Melanie, wanted me to sneak in with her, after some forgotten movie, to the sleeper hit Dirty Dancing everyone liked. We snuck in and actually had good seats 3/4 back in the middle (sweet!). Mostly, I remember really liking Dirty D's fresh scenery. It had that live feel I didn't expect. Dirty Dancing is about a coming of age story about an optimistic 17 year old girl (sweetly acted by Jennifer Grey) who goes on a vacation to a resort and falls in love with a dancing entertainer. (I sure forgot how she took such mean insults from other characters.) Some soap opera stuff takes place, and some bliss, then we are left with a Grease kind of wacky ending. Heck, it's a fun movie. I didn't like it as much this time watching it; girl tames the bad boy is a stereotyped yawner. Pfft. But, heck, big deal. You just kind of go with it. It's a movie. Big wup.... Ok..well...I really liked watching her learn to dance, which is kind of considered a cliche in character development. So what? I liked it. Picture remaster A few years ago, I rented Dirty D. on laserdisc (pressing by Image Entertainment) It was SOO bad, the picture grainy, that I turned it off after 10 min. It was one of the worst laserdisc pressings I'd ever seen. I figured the VHS would've been better...BUT! I'm trying to support quality mediums/ formats for film.... blah, blah, blah...so I kinda thought I'd hold out for a better version of DD, or forget it. 
Bingo! This DVD is a HUGE improvement. Certain close ups were like crystal. As Swayze took some bright shots, you could see a bit of his face make up.
Grey seemed to be constantly in some kind of shadow, with a flowing, short mop of hair, and her face looked soft. Her face, I think, is a pleasure because she looks unique & sweet, but definitely didn't look 17 (maybe 20. Who cares?). But sometimes even her apple-cheeked face was very clear. Grain was apparent in some dim shots. Flat out. I wonder if that was some of the filmmaker's intention. The sensuous "dirty dancing" scenes were dim and, well, gritty. But there were other scenes that showed a bit of pixelation. Also, many outdoor shots had hot contrast or looked washed out. 
Sidewalks, lakes, white fences often bloomed their whites. Not good.
Yet the Maxfield Parrish shot (right) wasn't as bad.
In fact, the more color this film tried to film the better it looked. Reds didn't bleed but were sharp (sorry no pics w/ much red). I really wonder if Live Entertainment stored this film poorly. It's a bit of a shame because the cinematography seemed to be so careful and sensitively laid out.
Aside from my insubordinate gripes, this was still far and away the best this film has looked since theatrical release, I'd say. The "lifting" outdoor shots in the lake were very beautiful and remastering served them well. And according to the production notes, the water here was around 30 degrees. NHO for both. (That's [-->] an unmatted shot by the way). Dolby Digital 5.1 remaster sound The sound was fine. The surrounds were quite active, too. That made viewing fun. I noticed that outdoor shots had a slightly exaggerated sense of air sounding in the background that literally sounded like hissy, poor speaker connections. Most other scenes were fine, though. The soundtrack was fun & typically opened up my room. Not really the most distict/ clean sounds, but dialogue was fine and seemed to pan well etc. Nothing too distracting. But better and more active than dolby pro-logic.  I particularly found the chemistry between Grey and Swayze very unique and intriguing. They both seemed like such different people, but they worked well with out words; enthusiasm that glowed magic. Both are just unique. Buy this movie? Not for me, I guess. Maybe you would if you really like it to begin with. My boss, J---, hates it, especially the main hit duet song, because it reminds him of his ex-wife who kept giving him hell to be more like Swayze! He says that she loved that movie and that song when they were divorcing! Isn't that funny! So I'll start singing, "J---'s...had...the time of his life..." I'm sure that will be the reason why I get fired! Picture remastered Sound remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Extras: 2 trailers, production credits cast bios (<--I think? I forgot, dang!) subtitles: English, French, Spanish What's it rated? PG-13? Back to DVD Reviews or The coolest actor on the planet: Stephen Geoffreys!!! 
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