30 Day Film Challenge: Day 3

A Film You Watch To Feel Good

Few movies have such a hold over me like Dirty Dancing. I have seen it more than any other movie. I can quote every scene (“I carried a watermelon”) in my sleep. I detest the pachanga because Johnny Castle did. I love the characters, like Lisa, Baby’s pretty much ignored and ridiculous sister. The soundtrack is in constant rotation on my ipod. This is a movie that never fails to put me in a great mood.

When I was younger, I would eagerly watch the Labor Day marathon of Dirty Dancing. Seeing it 12 times in 24 hours was an unlikely achievement so I would time exactly when I had to turn on the movie just to watch the final dance sequence. I would do this over and over again.

Over the years – because I went to Mount Holyoke, because of the appearances of Jerry Orbach and Patrick Swayze, because so many of friends equally adore it – this movie has become all the more sentimental.

You would think the appeal of this movie would wane as I aged. But I only seem to become more fond of Dirty Dancing. As I type this I have started the movie and can hear the beginning of the Ronettes song that opens the film. I am already smiling from ear to ear.

Here is how you can participate in the 30 Day Film Challenge.