Dirty Dancing – 20th Anniversary Edition (Lionsgate/DTS DVDs)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C Film: C
Though it
brought back some aspects of the Classical Hollywood Musical back for some, I
was never a big fan of Emile Ardolino’s surprise hit Dirty Dancing and though it is still a fan favorite two decades
later, the new 20th
Anniversary Edition DVD set does little for me. Yes, Swayze gave some of the best effort of
his career and yes, it is a shame Jennifer Grey got plastic surgery after the film
destroying her commercial possibilities for no good reason, but there are many
thi8ngs about the film that never meshed.
I guess
that is why so many fans read all kinds of things into the film, especially
female fans with hopes and dreams of romance.
Far from a dream is a bizarre mix of great classic Rock songs and Pop
hits recorded for the film that are more annoying and dating than ever
before. The dancing is not bad or course
(I can hear you fans booing!) and the film has a good pace and good cast to its
credit, but all this flick ultimately did was follow the MTV/Paramount formula
for soundtrack-driven non-musical music films that are so 1980s. That also means it is not a full Musical, but
that is a separate essay at some other time.
Artisan
has issued a new set to commemorate the film complete with new extras, but the
same decent picture transfer and DTS-ES sound upgrade are from the previous Ultimate Edition previously reviewed by
another critic here on this site. At
least the film has its heart in the somewhat ambitious right place, but it was
always silly to me and despite being a hit, never held together for me and
attempts to recapture what was here (some of which frankly happened by
accident) never panned out. Well, it’s
good for nostalgia.
The
picture and sound are the same as the previous Ultimate Edition, though he was more impressed with the sound at
the time than I was. When this hits
Blu-ray, audio differences will be interesting.
They could go back and redub the audio, but can get away with its decent
condition now. Both editions look to be
the same master for its anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 picture.
This
edition not only repeats the audio commentary by writer/co-producer Eleanor
Bergstein, the trivia track, Jennifer Grey DVD introduction, Jennifer Grey's
screen test, on camera interviews with Grey, Eleanor Bergstein, Kenny Ortega
& Miranda Garrison, Emile Ardolino tribute and three Music videos: Hungry
Eyes, She's Like the Wind, (I've Had) The Time of My Life, but the second Kenny
Ortega (choreographer), Miranda Garrison (assistant choreographer and actress
Vivian Pressman in the film), Jeff Jur (director of photography), Hilary
Rosenfeld (costume designer) & David Chapman (production designer) and Dirty
Dancing Live In Concert are missing!
In its
place going into a second DVD, you also get “Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze” interview featurette, Tribute to
Jerry Orbach, “The Classic Story on Stage”
featurette (unless that is the same as Dirty Dancing Live In Concert, so ask
a fan) Deleted scenes, Alternate Scenes, Extended Scenes, Outtakes/Gag reel,
more original Screen Tests, Multi-Angle Dance Sequences and Interactive Photo
Gallery. Die hard fans will likely keep
both versions, but I wonder if the Blu-ray will be missing some items?
For a
more positive review of the film, try our other critic’s coverage of the Ultimate Edition at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/853/Dirty+Dancing+(Ult.+Ed.)
- Nicholas Sheffo
