The Movies That Made Us (2019) s01e01 Episode Script
Dirty Dancing
1 [retro music playing.]
- [man.]
Rolling - [metronome clicking.]
- [man 2.]
We're rolling! - [man.]
Speed! Marker! And playback! [narrator.]
In 1987 there was a film set in 1963 about a girl who found love, courage, and rhythm during a summer that changed everyone's life.
And that movie [woman.]
Dirty Dancing.
That's the title, and now we'll figure out the story.
[narrator.]
But the story behind the story is just like that summer of Johnny and Baby's impossible romance.
The odds were against them You cry yourself to sleep.
[narrator.]
and no one wanted it to happen.
Over 40 rejection letters.
[narrator.]
This low, low-budget movie had incredible on-screen chemistry between two stars who carried the movie, a watermelon, and a grudge.
She begged us please to have anybody but Patrick.
Do the words "dream on," mean anything to you? Patrick could be very intense.
[Patrick.]
Concentrate! [narrator.]
But in a manly world, it was women who got this film made with help from a straight to video company.
We were all in over our heads.
[narrator.]
And they were treading on toes and breaking box-office records in every corner of the globe.
This is the story of how one of history's most beloved movies was made.
We didn't have a lot of time.
[narrator.]
And nearly not made.
He looks over at my bosses and says "Burn the negative.
" [opening music playing.]
[narrator.]
These are the movies that made us.
When Dirty Dancing hit the screens on August 21st, 1987, it unleashed the raw, lustful energy that had been laying dormant since humans knew how to dance dirtily.
And in case you haven't seen that story for a while Here you go! [narrator.]
Here's a quick catch up.
A young, politically idealistic girl, whose nickname was "Baby" Baby's going to change the world.
[narrator.]
travels to a resort for summer with her wealthy parents.
Can you keep a secret? [narrator.]
Carries a watermelon onto the metaphorical wrong side of the tracks - I carried a watermelon.
- [narrator.]
mixes with the help, discovers a girl in a kitchen who needs an illegal abortion - What's he gonna do about it? - What's he gonna do about it? [narrator.]
concocts an elaborate plan to help the girl It's not illegal, is it? No, Daddy.
[narrator.]
She lies to her dad, the abortion goes wrong, the girl needs her dad's help.
You're not the person I thought you were, Baby.
[narrator.]
She falls in love.
She makes up with her dad.
The end.
But before we get to the end, we need to rewind to the early '50s, where we find a 12-year-old girl, named Eleanor Bergstein.
But back then, she was known as Baby.
In a lot of ways, Eleanor is Baby.
This is Eleanor's baby.
Let's not take their word for it.
Let's ask the Dirty Dancing creator herself.
Don't Okay, then I have to warn you.
Don't ask me 1,000 questions about whether this is the story of my life, 'cause that'll make me nuts.
Well, Dirty Dancing is based around a character called "Baby" I was called "Baby" until I was 20 [narrator.]
who goes to the Catskills with her parents.
I did go to the Catskills with my parents.
[narrator.]
One off which is her father, who's a doctor.
My father was a doctor, and he was a very, very good man.
There are a lot of things that I took from my life, but that's different than it being the story of your life.
[narrator.]
Indeed.
However, there is one other important thing from Eleanor's past that is probably worth mentioning.
At night, we went to basements and we dirty danced, and I was a really good dirty dancer.
[narrator.]
However, dirty dancing itself wasn't really a thing, like the mambo, or cha-cha-cha, or Pechanga.
Pechanga.
Great idea.
- Dirty dancing is essentially - Street form of dancing.
It was bending and grinding, and being so close, and having these kind of conversations with our bodies.
[woman and man moan.]
And you're doing it in an underground room somewhere, - out of the eye line of the parents.
- Of the adults.
They were like, "No, stop! Over!" [narrator.]
But it was far from over for Eleanor.
In the coming years, as a struggling writer, she brought dirty dancing out of the basement and onto the big screen.
But hang on, it's not that movie just yet.
My first movie was called It's My Turn, and I wrote a dirty dancing scene in it.
When it came time to shoot the scene, - they decided - I'm ready.
they would go straight to having sex.
So, no dirty dancing.
[narrator.]
The removal of this scene led Eleanor to make a very important decision about her next script.
I'm going to write a film and you can take out everything, but you can't make the film without the dirty dancing.
And that's when I came up with the idea.
[narrator.]
But hang on, you can't dirty dance all by yourself.
Eleanor needed a producing partner.
I am Linda Gottlieb.
I am a producer.
[narrator.]
Perfect.
But Linda wasn't just any producer.
[Linda.]
Eleanor and I used to double-date.
[chuckling.]
We dated two guys when we were very young.
We didn't marry either one of them.
And so we had a sort of past history, but we didn't know each other really well.
But what Eleanor did know was that Linda was a producer looking for ideas.
[Eleanor.]
She had a deal with MGM.
We met for lunch and she said, "I want to do a film about two sisters in the Catskills in the '60s.
" I sort of thought, "This is going nowhere.
" So I switch the subject and said, "Tell me more about your background.
I don't know that much really about you.
" I was called Baby until I was 20 "My father was a doctor.
" And she said, "Well, you know" I did go to the Catskills with my parents She said, "I was always a natural dancer.
" And she said, "In fact" We went to basements and we dirty danced.
And I literally dropped my fork.
And I said, "That's the million-dollar title.
" She said, "What is?" "Dirty Dancing.
" She's said, "No, that has nothing to do with the story.
I said, "Eleanor, that's the title, and now we'll figure out the story.
So we joined forces, Linda and I came together on the film.
[narrator.]
Linda had her development deal at MGM, a studio with a long history of dance and music.
So, all they had to do show the script to MGM president, Frank Yablans, and hope he'd join them on the dance floor.
Frank read it.
He loves it.
We're doing a movie.
And the next day Frank Yablans was fired and all my projects were dead.
[Eleanor.]
It was just dead in the water.
That was it.
[narrator.]
Well, not quite it.
[Linda.]
The rights revert to me, the producer who controlled the deal, and I have one year to get them made.
And if not, the rights go back to the studio.
So the clock was ticking, and the two of us really decided we were going to get this movie made.
The first call I made was to Katzenberg at Paramount.
He said no, thanks, and then I took it to every other studio in California.
"No, thanks.
" And they said, "The story doesn't make any sense.
We don't like it.
" [Linda.]
And then I took it to minor studios, and mini majors, and independents.
We'd run out of studios.
Forty-two rejection letters.
They were really afraid of a girl's movie.
It was a woman's story told by women which was a rarity.
[narrator.]
Well, compared to some of the top movies of 1986 Mick Dundee from Australia.
[narrator.]
a girly dancing movie with an abortion Stop! [narrator.]
had the studios recoiling in horror.
The studios were run by guys, and guys wanted big, hard movies.
[narrator.]
So, even if they could get a studio to read it They didn't get it.
[narrator.]
For Linda and Eleanor, things were looking grim, but thousands of miles away, far from Hollywood, things were looking [screams.]
downright gruesome.
Based in Stamford Connecticut, Vestron Video was a powerhouse distributor of VHS Classics such as - [man.]
Chopping Mall.
- [narrator.]
and [man.]
Don't Open Till Christmas They were not quality-driven.
Let's put it that way.
[narrator.]
As people started watching videos at home, Vestron started seeing an opportunity.
Up until 1983, home video was really entirely triple X.
I've been looking for a handsome stud like you.
The major studios didn't even recognize the value in home video.
So they licensed it out to companies like Vestron.
Vestron was making a fortune.
The majors, at that point, said, "Why are we outsourcing this?" [narrator.]
And so the studios began distributing their own home videos, leaving Vestron ejected.
But, not so fast [Michael.]
Vestron weren't stupid.
I mean, they would see this coming.
They had a bunch of money, they had a pipeline, they knew how to sell home video.
So they started to make movies.
[narrator.]
However, to make successful movies, Vestron would need to hire experienced movie producers.
Enter Mitchell Cannold.
They hired me to be head of production, um, because I'd made these two [chuckling.]
um B-minus, which is gracious, movies.
- [narrator.]
And Mitchell's motto was - Even if it's bad, it's good.
[narrator.]
But bad or good, Mitchell knew he couldn't do it alone.
When I got to Vestron, I was all alone and I needed help.
[narrator.]
So, Mitchell hired Dori Berinstein as Vice President in charge of Physical Production.
[narrator.]
Ooh.
Sounds like an expert.
I knew nothing about it.
We were all in over our heads.
[narrator.]
And with that, Vestron was open for business to make their very own movies.
[Dori.]
Vestron was getting all the reject scripts from the studios, everything that had been passed on In effect, almost literally, dump trucks with 5,000 scripts or so are dumped in the loading dock in the dumpster of the company.
We read, and read, and read, and read some really awful scripts.
Twenty-five pages in [narrator.]
Back in the dumpster.
But Mitchell was reading garbage, too.
And one weekend, he came across a notorious stinker, The script for Dirty Dancing.
And I remember, I read it on a Sunday night.
[narrator.]
A Sunday night that would change Vestron's fate and Mitch's life forever.
My parents had taken me to the Catskills as a kid, along with my younger brothers.
And so, the life that's depicted in the movie was was one I knew, one I loved, one that was a formative part of my history.
[narrator.]
As much as Eleanor may have been Baby, could it be that Mitchell was a real life Johnny? - [laughs.]
No.
- He wasn't Johnny.
[laughs.]
I was far more like the waiter in the movie Hey.
How about a dance later? and doesn't get the girl.
[narrator.]
But more importantly [Baby.]
Dance with me.
[narrator.]
did he get the script? I was laughing, I was crying.
I got all the jokes.
I got all the meaning.
I got all the themes of it.
He loved it.
But most of all, I was in tears because it meant something to me.
He loved it.
I don't care that it's been [bleeps.]
all over town.
I had to get this movie made.
[narrator.]
Despite the cost of long-distance phone calls, Mitchell wasted no time and picked up the phone.
[Linda.]
"This is Mitchell Cannold from Vestron, and I'm really interested in making your movie.
" And I thought, "This is a prank phone call.
" Vestron was in the VHS business.
It was clear they didn't know what they were doing.
I knew nothing about it.
But I thought, "This is a great opportunity.
[chuckles.]
If I move quickly, we can get this film made.
" [narrator.]
But they'd need more than just Mitchell to get it made.
There was no sure thing that the company was going to greenlight this.
So the first order of business was bringing in the right director.
[narrator.]
Linda, Eleanor, Mitchell and Dori were a little on the inexperienced side.
So, for the film's director, they hired Oscar-winning director, Emile Ardolino.
And, at last, Dirty Dancing had someone who knew how to make an Oscar-winning, full-length feature film.
Emile never directed a feature film, mind you.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Well, Emile's win was for a 26-minute documentary about kids learning to dance.
Da-da da-da-da-da, ba! - [narrator.]
But at least - Emile was born in dance.
That was what he did.
[narrator.]
So, these inexperienced movie makers put their trust in a director who'd never made a feature film.
And at a meeting at Vestron HQ, they really needed Emile to deliver.
It was really all about Emile being able to speak to his vision at the meeting that would convince my colleagues that I knew what I was talking about and this movie was worth making.
[Linda.]
They asked Emile Ardolino, his first big opportunity, they said, "Emile, tell us your views on this movie.
" And Emile opened his mouth Nothing came out.
[gags.]
[heart beating.]
Emile had a complete panic attack.
He was completely speechless.
All of my bosses are looking at me thinking I'm out of my [bleep.]
- ing mind.
He literally lost his voice.
At the biggest moment in his life, he lost his voice.
How the heck is he going to take our money and go make a movie? And somehow even that didn't ruin it.
I mean [chuckling.]
I don't know, we were just lucky.
[narrator.]
Emile's silent vision somehow spoke to the inexperienced Vestron executives.
To the credit of all of the Vestron folks around the table, they took a chance, they rolled the dice and they pushed the button.
[narrator.]
With that, Vestron greenlit their very first feature film.
But a big budget blockbuster, it wasn't.
The budget was slightly less than four and a half million dollars, - which at the time was - Low budget.
- Really low budget.
- [gulps.]
[narrator.]
That green light was starting to look more like a distress signal.
[alarm sounding.]
But the clock was ticking, and one of their biggest problems was music.
Music is the soundtrack of the heart and I couldn't imagine the lines of dialogue without the music that I particularly picked.
I made a cassette tape called "E.
B.
's Dirty Dancing," and it described which scene each song was in.
[narrator.]
Songs like "Do You Love Me" by The Contours.
There was "Love Man" by Otis Redding, "Big Girls Don't Cry" by The Four Seasons.
- Also - "These Arms of Mine.
" The way that she integrated music and dance within her storytelling was so sophisticated to me.
[narrator.]
Sophisticated or not, licensing songs isn't cheap.
Music is very expensive.
So whatever I had in the budget, which was minimum, we would need for the music.
[narrator.]
But, it wasn't just those old classic songs they'd need.
They'd need original music too.
We don't have a big budget here, but we've got to get music from the period and also new songs.
So it was It was tricky.
[narrator.]
They'd need to face more than the music 'cause they had a big location issue too.
The movie was set in an expensive Catskills resort in the summertime.
We certainly couldn't afford to buy out a resort during the summertime, because it's packed with people, so we had to go south.
[narrator.]
So they did, ten hours south in fact, where they found a lodge on a mountain by a lake, called The Mountain Lake Lodge.
That corner of the United States was the last place in the country that the leaves changed.
[narrator.]
And it cost small change too, compared to the Catskills.
[David.]
It looked right, it felt right and it didn't need hardly anything done to it.
[narrator.]
But still, they could only afford 14 days of shooting there.
So We found a boys camp in North Carolina that had the staff cottages, and had a pavilion, where we could do the dance sequences.
[narrator.]
But if you thought finding the Catskills that weren't the Catskills was hard, - finding the actress to play Baby was - Really hard.
Because Vestron have to approve the cast.
One of their executives pipes up, "I'm going to just give you my really best idea, Linda.
" I said, "What's that?" "Pia Zadora.
" How can I tell until I know what you got? [Linda.]
The blonde sex bomb.
Exactly the opposite of what I had in mind.
Completely wrong for the part.
[narrator.]
For Eleanor, it was all about looks too, but she wanted A little skinny girl with long curly hair down her back, 'cause that's what I looked like.
[narrator.]
Winona Ryder and Sarah Jessica Parker were in contention, but for Linda and Eleanor, there was only one choice.
Jennifer Grey was pushed into the audition room by her father.
And as she walked in, she said, "Wish me luck, Daddy.
" And we were in love.
And she just closed the Baby's face in my mind.
I just thought, "That's it.
" And from that moment on, she was the only person I wanted.
Oh, thank God you're here, Lisa.
Listen, you've got to do something for me.
Tell Mommy and Daddy that I have a terrible headache and I'm in bed, and check on me once.
Okay? Thank you.
[woman.]
No.
Lisa, look, I don't have time.
Just do it for me.
Okay? [woman.]
No.
[narrator.]
Up until now, Jennifer Grey had only had supporting roles like in 1984's Red Dawn.
And 1986's If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.
[narrator.]
Yeah, the one where that guy takes a day off.
Jennifer was a good mover.
And I think she'd had things like dance lessons, but wasn't a dancer, per se.
But what Jennifer brought to it was a vulnerability and an awkwardness, and a clumsiness that was necessary at the outset of the film.
- [narrator.]
So, everyone was happy.
- Yes.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Everyone, that is, except for Vestron.
- They wanted - Anyone but Jennifer Grey.
[narrator.]
So, as the bickering over Baby began, perhaps they could agree on the other lead character in the movie.
I was very concerned about the character of Johnny Castle.
That's my cousin, Johnny Castle.
[narrator.]
Where there was flexibility with Baby's dance credentials, the actor who played Johnny Castle really needed to be able to move.
Oh, and, uh, look right, too.
I wanted someone who had hooded eyes So, we went through picture after picture And I said, "Ah! Those are the eyes I want.
" And we turned the resume over, and it was Patrick Swayze, who had "No Dancing.
" - [narrator.]
Oh, well, that's no good.
- No.
[narrator.]
The search continued.
We auditioned Benicio del Toro because I was mad for him.
Adrian Zmed.
[announcer.]
Dance Fever.
Adrian Zmed.
Have you have you heard of him? There were then also those who felt that Billy Zane was the right guy.
Linda Gottlieb thought he was the new Brando.
Fight harder? I don't see you fighting so hard, Baby.
He danced like someone who had learned to dance wonderfully for his bar mitzvah.
[narrator.]
As the titanic decision to cast Billy Zane as Johnny grew ever closer, there was a set of hungry, hooded eyes that Eleanor just couldn't forget.
Ah! Those are the eyes I want.
[narrator.]
But this time, Emile Ardolino spoke up.
He told Eleanor something she didn't know about the perfect-eyed Patrick.
"As a matter of fact, he's a dancer.
" And the only reason Emile knew that was that Emile came from the dance world in New York Da-da da-da-da-da, ba! and he knew Patrick from the Joffrey.
His mother is the biggest dance teacher in Texas.
Do the boys part first.
Heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels.
[narrator.]
As seen in this beer commercial, Patrick could dance.
But as an actor First film was Skatetown USA, where he got to use his roller-skating skills.
A pretty hilarious movie.
We laughed so much about it.
[narrator.]
He'd also had several other film and television appearances, all noticeably absent of dancing.
Is there something wrong with me? [narrator.]
Absolutely not.
The minute he came in, the minute we laid eyes on him - That was Johnny.
- [narrator.]
But don't forget [Eleanor.]
Vestron have to approve the cast.
[narrator.]
It came down to these two Johnnies and Babies.
[Mitchell.]
The choreographer put Patrick with Sarah Jessica, Billy with Jennifer, Billy with Sarah Jessica Patrick with Jennifer.
[narrator.]
But one combination exploded with chemistry.
[Dori.]
Their chemistry during their screen test was undeniable.
All you had to do was watch that.
No, lifting your chest so I don't hurt your ribs.
- It hurts my ribs.
- [all laugh.]
[narrator.]
And Dirty Dancing finally had the perfect Johnny and Baby but there was something holding Patrick back.
Oh, Patrick hated the title "Dirty Dancing.
" He's a Texas boy, and he goes "Sounds like a stripper movie.
" [narrator.]
But still it seemed like the role he was born to play.
[Lisa.]
He didn't want to be the "dance dude.
" He knew he needed to make his reputation as an actor.
[narrator.]
But in high school, his reputation was for football.
That's actually where he got his left knee practically destroyed.
Patrick had "No Dancing" on his resume because he was going out as an actor because had a knee injury and he didn't want to dance anymore.
His knee injury really affected everything he did.
He had to deal with pain all the time.
[narrator.]
As well as nagging knee pain, there was just nagging.
They were desperate to have him.
[narrator.]
And out of everyone, Eleanor, the original Baby, had taken a particular liking to Patrick.
Early on when she was explaining things, Eleanor wanted to demonstrate dirty dancing.
[chuckles.]
She would grab Patrick, and it was like, "Okay, Eleanor, you did your demonstration.
You can stop now.
" [laughing.]
[narrator.]
And much to Eleanor's delight I wanted Patrick very, very badly.
[narrator.]
Patrick agreed to do Dirty Dancing.
- Whoa, I did the wrong thing.
Sorry.
- [narrator.]
But there was a problem.
Jennifer did not want Patrick.
[narrator.]
It turns out the new Baby didn't feel quite the same as the original Baby.
She begged us please to have anybody but Patrick.
Do the words "dream on" mean anything to you? Just do the [bleeps.]
thing, bitch.
They didn't like each other.
Because she'd had a very bad experience with him.
Because of their history with Red Dawn.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Turns out, they had a history.
There were already some sparks flying back then.
Patrick could be very intense.
I explained to him that Jennifer didn't want him, and he said, "I don't know that I want to do this, but let me talk to Jennifer.
" So, he went in alone, and he sat with Jennifer about half an hour and they came out with their eyes red.
[narrator.]
And when they emerged, they agreed to put their old differences aside.
So then, it's alright.
I knew it would work out.
[narrator.]
For now The cast and crew Butt out, Baby.
[narrator.]
made their way to the top of a mountain in Virginia.
We rolling, folks? We got sex! [laughing.]
We were quite isolated up there.
Mountain Lake was very remote.
It was like being in college, only your professors were staying with you.
It was very strange.
Stop this, now.
Stop this.
[narrator.]
Shooting began September 5th, 1986, and the cameras rolled on a story that would inspire generations.
But some of the cast and crew thought they'd be making a different kind of movie.
Will there be dirty dancing? Will I be around the dirty dancing? No.
There was a controversy among the cast and crew.
"You're not really going to use dirty dancing are you?" [narrator.]
Well, as far as the Mountain Lake Lodge was concerned, no.
It was Dancing Film Productions.
Because we didn't want to upset them and make them think it was a porn film.
[woman moaning.]
[narrator.]
But if it wasn't that, what was it? [Eleanor.]
There is a really very serious social and political agenda underneath this movie.
This is a movie about class structure.
House Painters and Plasterers, Local Number 179, at your service.
Dance can be incorporated into storytelling in so many different ways.
The class struggle would be three dances.
The grinding and the dirty dancing reflected the underclass, the wealthy people upstairs doing the family foxtrot, in between you had Johnny Castle and Penny being the exhibition dance team with aspirations.
[Kenny.]
And that was really, really important in how we develop this movie in terms of dance as a language.
So we threw on music, and Dirty Dancing was discovered.
[narrator.]
But hang on what music exactly were they dancing to? Because, as we know Music is very expensive.
[narrator.]
So, to help get the rights to the songs Eleanor wanted "These Arms of Mine.
" "Do You Love Me?" [narrator.]
Yep, those ones.
Vestron brought in experienced music supervisor, Danny Goldberg, but he wasn't having much luck.
And there was no music.
And we were down here on location and I kept saying, "Where's the music from Danny?" He kept saying, "It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
" There was no music.
This is a music movie, it's a dance movie.
We have nothing.
[narrator.]
Well, it's hard to rehearse to nothing.
We were choreographing it already to music that wasn't going to be in the movie.
We were dancing to Genesis.
At some point they had an idea of putting a track by the Fine Young Cannibals in.
And then they were trying to get me to use the sound-alikes and I said no.
[groans.]
You know, this is this is nuts.
He finally said, "Shoot it to a click track.
" [clicking.]
Can you imagine shooting that final scene, the finale, with a goddamn metronome click? [metronome clicking.]
[narrator.]
Most of the dance numbers would be shot at the next location.
And having no music when they got there was starting to become a real possibility, but Eleanor wasn't willing to compromise.
For me, the movie doesn't exist without the music.
And it doesn't exist without the music that I particularly picked.
Danny Goldberg was promptly un-picked.
A colleague of mine at the company introduced me to Jimmy Ienner.
And he said to me, "I think this guy can do it.
" And I said, "I hope so, because we don't have anybody else.
[narrator.]
Don't be so sure about that.
Patrick came up to us, and he said, "I have an idea for a song that would be amazing for this film.
" - Patrick had written - "She's Like the Wind.
" [narrator.]
several years before.
[Linda.]
Patrick one day handed me something and he said, "You know, I do some songs.
" And I listened to "She's Like the Wind" and I loved the song.
I just loved it.
Let's use it! [narrator.]
Well, that's, uh, one song down.
Jimmy Ienner handled the rest.
He claimed he went down on Phil Spector's big toe.
He kept saying, "The girl has to have it.
" He came back with the rights to "Be My Baby.
" [narrator.]
Thanks to Jimmy, Eleanor got all the songs she wanted.
And he turned out to be my knight in shining armor.
He got those songs for me.
[narrator.]
And just in time, too.
Because after just 14 days of shooting in Virginia, the cast and crew packed up and headed to North Carolina to shoot the rest of the movie.
- [woman.]
And who's in with Patrick? - Jane Brucker.
Jerry's driving, because the restaurant called and gave some shit about me driving.
Below this double line here was everything we did in Virginia.
Everything above the line, we did in North Carolina, which was really the bulk of our shooting.
We would use the light posts both in Virginia and in North Carolina.
You never question that you're in one place or the other.
You don't know you're in two places.
[narrator.]
So, even the locations found a way to connect.
Could Patrick and Jennifer? With the dance scenes looming, it was time to find out if that chemistry they had would create sparks - [Linda.]
They didn't like each other.
- [Mitchell.]
Because of Red Dawn.
[narrator.]
or just blow up in their faces.
Pull the pin for me.
And I'm your Texas redneck asshole that ain't gonna buy into no [bleep.]
bullshit.
So let's get up here.
I was just so aware of the dynamic between Patrick and Jennifer while we were shooting because he was this experienced dancer.
He was with the Eliot Feld Ballet.
And Jennifer had never danced really before.
I can't even do the merengue.
She can't even do the merengue.
On camera, we basically see her learning to dance.
Johnny, you're a strong partner, you can lead anybody.
The dynamic between them was really teacher-student.
Don't step on the one.
You've got to start on the two.
And I think that connection between the two of them, and Patrick really being frustrated when Jennifer couldn't get something, it was very authentic.
[narrator.]
If Patrick was frustrated, how do you think Jennifer felt? Jennifer would be there, ready.
And where is Patrick? Patrick was historically, irritatingly late.
[narrator.]
Not only was Jennifer punctual, she was also quite sensible.
Patrick said a stunt double was a wussy thing to have.
Jennifer thought that was ridiculous.
[narrator.]
Notice the extra poofy hair.
Yep, she even had a stunt double for this scene.
The scene of them crossing the log is the epitome of the difference between Patrick and Jennifer.
[Doro.]
It was very dangerous.
There was a ravine underneath it.
Eight or nine feet above the rocky bottom of that creek.
And Jennifer was saying [bleep.]
"It's a log, I could fall off.
Mm, I don't think so.
" And I think Patrick really didn't like that.
- I got it now.
- [laughs.]
It was a real macho thing.
Patrick was a macho guy.
And I said, "Patrick, if you screw that up, you've got 100 people here out of work.
[narrator.]
And, well guess what happened? - [Patrick.]
Whoa! Ah! - [thuds.]
[siren wailing.]
[Linda.]
He fell, he hurt himself, we lost time on production, and everybody suffered in the end.
[narrator.]
Falling onto rocks and aggravating his chronic knee pain was the last straw for an already rocky relationship.
There were sparks between the two of them.
Those kind of sparks, if they're handled by the right director Cut! [Mitchell.]
can translate very well onto the screen.
We could let her leave that frame.
[narrator.]
But was Emile Ardolino the right director? One late night he would face his ultimate test.
One night, she had low blood sugar.
It was in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere in the middle of all that mud, and she said, "I need a cheese platter.
" Patrick's ready to kill her.
Kenny's like, "We're in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the mud and she wants a cheese platter?" Not just a piece of cheese, but a cheese platter? And Emile was so genius because he just let the camera go.
She giggles.
He's upset.
He does it again.
That was completely real.
"It's late.
We're overtime.
We want to get the freaking shot done.
She won't stop laughing.
" [man.]
Alright.
Once again.
"She needs a cheese platter?" [laughs.]
[narrator.]
By now it was clear, their gamble in this documentary maker had paid off.
[Linda.]
He could spot something at the moment and just go with it, and and and capture it.
The cast trusted him completely.
[narrator.]
And his directorial mastery was obvious, even showing Patrick and Jennifer how great they were during their audition.
[Mitchell.]
And it reminded them of the passion they brought to each other and, I think, settled them down.
[Lisa.]
Patrick and I were talking about it.
I said, "Hey, use it.
It's an interesting thing that often anger and upset could look like passion.
Intense passion.
[man.]
You're having a great time.
[narrator.]
For Jennifer and Patrick it was a new not so red dawn.
And as they approached the finish line, it seemed as if the cast and crew were having the time of their lives.
- [record scratches.]
- Weren't they? We have to shoot the finale.
The night before we were shooting They've sent us another paper bag full of cassettes.
All original songs that had been submitted.
[narrator.]
Jimmy had delivered on the old classic songs, but he was cutting the original finale song they needed close.
And we were taking these cassettes out of the bag one at a time and listening to them.
Pop, take it out.
Next one.
The last cassette, it starts off [low pitch.]
Dum dum-dum dum, dum-dum-dum dum I stopped it, and I said, "Miranda is it because it's the last friggin' cassette? Or is there something in the lyric of this song?" - And she said, "Put it on again.
" - Put it in [singing indistinctly.]
Oh, my God, maybe that's the song.
Well, that was it.
[narrator.]
And for the next three days straight, it was all they heard.
A cast of hundreds, endless dancing, working late into the night.
We were doing it until, like, 3:00 in the morning.
- [woman.]
Hi, Mom.
- [man.]
Hi, Mom.
[narrator.]
And they also filmed that line that might well be more famous than the movie itself.
Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
"Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
" What a ridiculous line.
There was no corner we were shooting in.
There was kind of a pillar.
[narrator.]
But the line's author must surely have seen that immortal phrase as she penned that unforgettable dialogue.
I think it's really something that I was not deeply committed to, I don't think it's a great phrase.
[narrator.]
Okay then, how about the guy who acted it into a great phrase? He thought it was the stupidest line in the world, and I think he was right.
Years later he said, "Boy, was I wrong about that one.
" [narrator.]
But it wasn't just a painful line Patrick had to endure.
The finale had some of the most technically difficult dancing in the movie.
When he jumps off the stage and does that tour He really busted up his knee.
[man.]
Here we go.
One more time, please.
He had to leap off that stage 12 or 13, 14 times.
[man.]
Here we go.
Woo! He was hurting.
[man.]
Once again.
Woo! And he came over to me and he whispered in my ear, "I've got one more in me.
Please make sure all the cameras get it.
" Then I said to Emile, "We have to get it right now.
Patrick's suffering.
He wants to do this, but we have to get it at this moment.
" Let's do one more.
- [crew member.]
Standby.
- [slate board clacks.]
[crew member 2.]
Speed! [crew member 3.]
And playback [Emile.]
Cut! [crew cheers.]
He had one more in him.
So, he was that kind of a person.
He suffered for his art.
[narrator.]
But Patrick wasn't done yet.
The finale wouldn't be complete without one iconic moment and one last show of strength.
[man.]
Roll! Cut! Playback.
And [Emile.]
Cut! Woo! [triumphant music.]
[narrator.]
After 45 days, those splendid words [man.]
That's a wrap.
[narrator.]
marked the end of shooting on this very low budget dancing movie.
Back at Vestron HQ, they must have been ecstatic.
[Mitchell.]
So the rough cut's done.
We have something that we think is good.
We don't know how good, but we think it's good.
We're certainly proud of it.
But you've got to remember that the people at Vestron at this point, they'd never made a movie before.
We knew we could benefit from a more experienced Hollywood person.
And someone knew someone who knew Aaron Russo.
[narrator.]
This big Hollywood hotshot had produced Trading Places and The Rose.
So if he liked their little dancing movie, they'd have nothing to worry about.
We were so nervous.
We watched Aaron Russo watch the rough cut of the movie.
We were feeling really good.
The movie's over, the lights come up, he turns around in his seat.
He looks over us, past us at my bosses and says, "Burn the negative and collect the insurance.
" And then he walked out.
Um, so I was terrified that the film would, in fact, be trashed.
They wanted validation.
They didn't get it from Aaron Russo.
[narrator.]
But Vestron had spent four and a half million on this movie.
So, they gave Dirty Dancing one more chance at a big screen release before they relegated it to the VHS shelf of history.
The company organized a screening for about 1,000 people.
And at the end of it the room went nuts.
They went wild, they were stomping their feet.
They were screaming and yelling, but what that screening really did achieve was it galvanized the whole company, and now the company was unstoppable.
[narrator.]
Vestron was now fully behind their own movie.
There was something special in this movie for everyone.
[narrator.]
So, they got to work marketing it for everyone.
This film received an R rating from the MPAA.
They were all in some way aroused by the movie [narrator.]
Well, they're only human.
[Linda.]
And Vestron was very unhappy.
They felt it should not have had an R rating.
[woman moans.]
I knew Dick Hefner, who was the head of the MPAA and I called Dick.
- [phone rings.]
- And I said, "Dick, if I take out two [bleeps.]
and a shit, do we get a PG-13?" And he said, "It can be arranged.
" They were positioning it for 14-year-olds.
[narrator.]
So much so, that their national sponsor was I think it was Clearasil.
And they were going to put a tube of acne cream on every poster.
But when they learned that there was a uh Oh.
There's an abortion in the film.
It's not illegal, is it? [narrator.]
Yes.
Yes, it was.
[Eleanor.]
So then they came to me and said, "We're going to pay you, Eleanor, to go back into the editing room, and take the abortion out, because otherwise we'll lose our national sponsor.
" [narrator.]
But Eleanor wouldn't let a zit removal company remove any part of her movie.
If we take the abortion out, there is no reason for Baby There's no reason that she learns to dance, there's no reason that she falls in love There'd be no sex with Baby and Johnny.
So, the whole story falls apart.
We have no film.
They said, "We should have thought of that before.
" [narrator.]
From the day she wrote the script, Eleanor had not compromised on the important issues of Dirty Dancing.
I believe in getting moral issues in movies that everybody will go to, because they have love and pretty clothes, and romance and a lot of sex, and then maybe you'll change somebody's mind.
[narrator.]
And that was about to become the greatest marketing tool of all.
Vestron called me and said, "I hope you're sitting down.
The New York Times wants to interview you.
" [narrator.]
Samuel Freedman's New York Times article wasn't your average fluff piece.
There were a bunch of movies that were dance based movies.
That would be Flashdance and Footloose, and they were really pretty vapid.
But Dirty Dancing was very different.
[Baby.]
That was the summer of 1963 before President Kennedy was shot.
[Samuel.]
This movie deals with issues of class, issues of racial injustice, issues of identity issues of civil rights, issues of war.
Our Baby's going to change the world.
And what are you going to do, missy? It also operated at this purely entertaining level.
Lisa is going to decorate it.
And this was the game changer, because the first weekend instead of the teenage viewer, we got adult audiences.
[narrator.]
Nearly four million dollars worth of adult audiences.
[Dori.]
Opening weekend, we were all at Vestron as this film was catching on fire.
[narrator.]
And not in a "burn the negative" kind of way.
The returns were coming in.
Dori and I pulled an all-nighter because it was just so exciting.
[narrator.]
By Dirty Dancing's second weekend, that fire was spreading.
Look, the numbers went up! Everybody was watching.
[narrator.]
Oh, but they weren't just watching.
[Michael.]
Dirty Dancing, the album, just came out and it's sold 270,000 records.
I said, "You're kidding.
People would go to the theater, see the movie, "My gosh, this is the greatest thing," and rush to the record store to buy the album.
Best original song.
"I've Had The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing.
I watched it go and climb and climb and climb They went back to see it, they went back again and again.
[narrator.]
For 19 straight weekends, Dirty Dancing dominated the box office.
And at the time, it was the highest grossing independent film ever made.
And suddenly Oprah was calling me.
You know, it's like having sex with your clothes on, Oprah, only you don't feel guilty afterwards.
[narrator.]
Today, Dirty Dancing has firmly lodged itself in popular culture and people's lives.
You may now lift the bride.
And it is still making money after 32 years.
I mean, that's wild.
[narrator.]
But who it's making money for? Well, that's where things get complicated.
We didn't make any money from Dirty Dancing.
[laughing.]
Linda and Eleanor did.
[narrator.]
The dynamic duo of Linda and Eleanor had formed at that fateful lunch with a side of destiny "That's a million-dollar title.
" [narrator.]
all those years before.
But like many lunches, there's often squabbling over the bill.
Or in this case, the percentage points of the movie's net income.
- Oh, the points.
- [man.]
The points.
Linda, as the producer, had every right to decide how to allocate her profits.
[Linda.]
I control the net profit participation.
I gave many more points to Eleanor.
I doubled the points that MGM would have given her.
I gave additional points to Emile Ardolino, to David Chapman, to Dora Bachrach, to Kenny Ortega, to Jerry Orbach, to Jennifer, and to Patrick.
It made them all very wealthy.
I don't give a flying [bleep.]
about that.
What I've always cared about is my audience.
Yeah, but it doesn't hurt that it's making her millions of dollars every single year for 30 years.
Please use that.
[laughing.]
[narrator.]
And as for Vestron, now nothing could stop this ex-direct to VHS company from achieving big-screen success for decades to come.
Vestron went bankrupt.
[Mitchell.]
Dirty Dancing, because it was the first, it was a natural belief that you could get lightning-in-a-bottle again and again.
They made very bad movies.
Parents.
BackTrack.
Hider in the House, And God Created Woman, Little Monsters.
That's disgusting.
[belches.]
Every single thing they did lost money.
[narrator.]
In fact, they lost so much money that in 1991, Vestron closed its doors for good.
Ronnie's gonna be pissed.
- [laughing.]
- No kidding.
[narrator.]
But the Vestron legacy is more than just one great movie and a bunch of bad ones.
Another little miracle occurred during the making of this most fortuitous film.
I was far more like the waiter in the movie Hey.
How about a dance later? and doesn't get the girl.
[narrator.]
Well, guess what? That's not true at all.
- Your office was there.
I was over here.
- Yep.
We were in the trenches together.
We worked beautifully together.
All the meetings that we had Oh my gosh.
[Mitchell.]
Three years later, we fell in love and got married.
And all of it because of Dirty Dancing.
So, how lucky am I? [narrator.]
For a four-and-a-half-million-dollar movie to become so successful, luck has probably got, well, something to do with it.
But for Linda, it was more the tenacious drive she shared with a group of people who just wanted to make a great movie.
[sparse piano music.]
Wow.
It's amazing.
It's 32 years later.
And this dining room looks the same.
Same lighting fixtures, the same stone.
Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
Enjoy.
Thanks.
The Houseman family sat at this table.
So that's wild.
[narrator.]
The Mountain Lake Lodge has taken great pride in preserving what's left of this iconic location.
Baby's cabin.
And this was a sign, a big, red big, red wood building that had a staff quarters.
"No guests, please.
" This is the gazebo where we shot several scenes in the movie.
I'm sorry I lied to you.
But you lied too.
[Linda.]
I remember watching that scene being shot, and feeling so moved.
It's a very touching moment.
He has tears in his eyes.
I love you.
[sobbing.]
And I'm sorry I let you down.
I'm so sorry, Daddy.
I don't know whether any of you guys have got a daughter or not, [chuckling.]
but my daughter did that to me one time.
Um you know That one scene, it just got me right in my gut.
And after the father comes to his senses, he realizes, "She's a grown lady now.
I have to treat her as one.
" [narrator.]
But as for the most iconic location at the Mountain Lake Lodge [Linda.]
There was a lake here.
It's gone.
Gone.
[narrator.]
And it's been that way since 2006.
[Linda.]
The lift in the lake happened about here, even though obviously there's no lake.
The cinder blocks used for the platform are still here.
They were really troopers.
It was freezing.
Oh, sorry.
- Good.
No, no no! - [shrieks.]
[Linda.]
Oh, boy.
"This stone is in memory of Patrick Swayze, 1952 to 2009, for his starring role in the hit movie of 1987, Dirty Dancing, and to his courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
" [Lisa.]
It's a merciless disease.
When Patrick went in to battle this, I saw an unbelievable strength that I never knew he had.
But that's what he would do.
He's a fighter.
[Miranda.]
Just like he jumped off that stage doing that tour as Johnny Castle with a bad knee, he continued on with chemo and sick and pancreatic until the 11th hour.
You know, "I ain't dead yet.
" [piano playing.]
[Lisa.]
He had the question, "What is my legacy?" And "How will I be remembered? Will I be remembered?" But I got to see how loved he was.
I got to see that during his illness and afterwards.
[Linda.]
He really made this film.
And we all owe him so much.
You know So many people have died since this movie.
But Emile's death was was really painful, really awful.
Everyone who ever worked with him loved him.
He'd given of his heart and soul for this movie.
He was the glue when there were a lot of forces that could have torn it apart.
[Eleanor.]
His partner picked up the phone and said, "Eleanor, Emile is dying of AIDS.
" I'd lost a friend I loved very much.
I just want to say I just want to say something to thank the crew.
[man.]
Yeah! [all cheering.]
Dirty Dancing, it changed our lives.
The magic, the wonderment you know, that happened on that mountain.
[Mitchell.]
If you ask yourself, "Could this movie have been made by some other company at some other time? Would it have worked?" Anything's possible, but I doubt it.
Because what happened here was a perfect storm of the right people at the right time, with the right story, and the right actors I love you.
[Mitchell.]
and the right director, and the right choreographer, and the right music, and it was a blessing for all of us for all of our lives.
We're all living on top of each other 24/7, dancing, talking, loving, crying.
That passion was so real.
This movie changed my life.
And the fact that it has stood the test of time, and endeared itself to so many people, is absolutely magic.
It's a wonderful feeling.
[Eleanor.]
I didn't want money, I didn't want fame.
I wanted my work to change people's lives.
I can stand up almost any place in the world and say, "How many people in this room have seen Dirty Dancing?" And almost all of them not only will have, but it means something personal to them.
And that's extraordinary.
Extraordinary.
Oh, sorry.
[fading tick tocks.]
It's too late For tears Honey it's too late Too late to cry Oh but it's too late Oh for begging me baby Honey it's too late Too late To cry
- [man.]
Rolling - [metronome clicking.]
- [man 2.]
We're rolling! - [man.]
Speed! Marker! And playback! [narrator.]
In 1987 there was a film set in 1963 about a girl who found love, courage, and rhythm during a summer that changed everyone's life.
And that movie [woman.]
Dirty Dancing.
That's the title, and now we'll figure out the story.
[narrator.]
But the story behind the story is just like that summer of Johnny and Baby's impossible romance.
The odds were against them You cry yourself to sleep.
[narrator.]
and no one wanted it to happen.
Over 40 rejection letters.
[narrator.]
This low, low-budget movie had incredible on-screen chemistry between two stars who carried the movie, a watermelon, and a grudge.
She begged us please to have anybody but Patrick.
Do the words "dream on," mean anything to you? Patrick could be very intense.
[Patrick.]
Concentrate! [narrator.]
But in a manly world, it was women who got this film made with help from a straight to video company.
We were all in over our heads.
[narrator.]
And they were treading on toes and breaking box-office records in every corner of the globe.
This is the story of how one of history's most beloved movies was made.
We didn't have a lot of time.
[narrator.]
And nearly not made.
He looks over at my bosses and says "Burn the negative.
" [opening music playing.]
[narrator.]
These are the movies that made us.
When Dirty Dancing hit the screens on August 21st, 1987, it unleashed the raw, lustful energy that had been laying dormant since humans knew how to dance dirtily.
And in case you haven't seen that story for a while Here you go! [narrator.]
Here's a quick catch up.
A young, politically idealistic girl, whose nickname was "Baby" Baby's going to change the world.
[narrator.]
travels to a resort for summer with her wealthy parents.
Can you keep a secret? [narrator.]
Carries a watermelon onto the metaphorical wrong side of the tracks - I carried a watermelon.
- [narrator.]
mixes with the help, discovers a girl in a kitchen who needs an illegal abortion - What's he gonna do about it? - What's he gonna do about it? [narrator.]
concocts an elaborate plan to help the girl It's not illegal, is it? No, Daddy.
[narrator.]
She lies to her dad, the abortion goes wrong, the girl needs her dad's help.
You're not the person I thought you were, Baby.
[narrator.]
She falls in love.
She makes up with her dad.
The end.
But before we get to the end, we need to rewind to the early '50s, where we find a 12-year-old girl, named Eleanor Bergstein.
But back then, she was known as Baby.
In a lot of ways, Eleanor is Baby.
This is Eleanor's baby.
Let's not take their word for it.
Let's ask the Dirty Dancing creator herself.
Don't Okay, then I have to warn you.
Don't ask me 1,000 questions about whether this is the story of my life, 'cause that'll make me nuts.
Well, Dirty Dancing is based around a character called "Baby" I was called "Baby" until I was 20 [narrator.]
who goes to the Catskills with her parents.
I did go to the Catskills with my parents.
[narrator.]
One off which is her father, who's a doctor.
My father was a doctor, and he was a very, very good man.
There are a lot of things that I took from my life, but that's different than it being the story of your life.
[narrator.]
Indeed.
However, there is one other important thing from Eleanor's past that is probably worth mentioning.
At night, we went to basements and we dirty danced, and I was a really good dirty dancer.
[narrator.]
However, dirty dancing itself wasn't really a thing, like the mambo, or cha-cha-cha, or Pechanga.
Pechanga.
Great idea.
- Dirty dancing is essentially - Street form of dancing.
It was bending and grinding, and being so close, and having these kind of conversations with our bodies.
[woman and man moan.]
And you're doing it in an underground room somewhere, - out of the eye line of the parents.
- Of the adults.
They were like, "No, stop! Over!" [narrator.]
But it was far from over for Eleanor.
In the coming years, as a struggling writer, she brought dirty dancing out of the basement and onto the big screen.
But hang on, it's not that movie just yet.
My first movie was called It's My Turn, and I wrote a dirty dancing scene in it.
When it came time to shoot the scene, - they decided - I'm ready.
they would go straight to having sex.
So, no dirty dancing.
[narrator.]
The removal of this scene led Eleanor to make a very important decision about her next script.
I'm going to write a film and you can take out everything, but you can't make the film without the dirty dancing.
And that's when I came up with the idea.
[narrator.]
But hang on, you can't dirty dance all by yourself.
Eleanor needed a producing partner.
I am Linda Gottlieb.
I am a producer.
[narrator.]
Perfect.
But Linda wasn't just any producer.
[Linda.]
Eleanor and I used to double-date.
[chuckling.]
We dated two guys when we were very young.
We didn't marry either one of them.
And so we had a sort of past history, but we didn't know each other really well.
But what Eleanor did know was that Linda was a producer looking for ideas.
[Eleanor.]
She had a deal with MGM.
We met for lunch and she said, "I want to do a film about two sisters in the Catskills in the '60s.
" I sort of thought, "This is going nowhere.
" So I switch the subject and said, "Tell me more about your background.
I don't know that much really about you.
" I was called Baby until I was 20 "My father was a doctor.
" And she said, "Well, you know" I did go to the Catskills with my parents She said, "I was always a natural dancer.
" And she said, "In fact" We went to basements and we dirty danced.
And I literally dropped my fork.
And I said, "That's the million-dollar title.
" She said, "What is?" "Dirty Dancing.
" She's said, "No, that has nothing to do with the story.
I said, "Eleanor, that's the title, and now we'll figure out the story.
So we joined forces, Linda and I came together on the film.
[narrator.]
Linda had her development deal at MGM, a studio with a long history of dance and music.
So, all they had to do show the script to MGM president, Frank Yablans, and hope he'd join them on the dance floor.
Frank read it.
He loves it.
We're doing a movie.
And the next day Frank Yablans was fired and all my projects were dead.
[Eleanor.]
It was just dead in the water.
That was it.
[narrator.]
Well, not quite it.
[Linda.]
The rights revert to me, the producer who controlled the deal, and I have one year to get them made.
And if not, the rights go back to the studio.
So the clock was ticking, and the two of us really decided we were going to get this movie made.
The first call I made was to Katzenberg at Paramount.
He said no, thanks, and then I took it to every other studio in California.
"No, thanks.
" And they said, "The story doesn't make any sense.
We don't like it.
" [Linda.]
And then I took it to minor studios, and mini majors, and independents.
We'd run out of studios.
Forty-two rejection letters.
They were really afraid of a girl's movie.
It was a woman's story told by women which was a rarity.
[narrator.]
Well, compared to some of the top movies of 1986 Mick Dundee from Australia.
[narrator.]
a girly dancing movie with an abortion Stop! [narrator.]
had the studios recoiling in horror.
The studios were run by guys, and guys wanted big, hard movies.
[narrator.]
So, even if they could get a studio to read it They didn't get it.
[narrator.]
For Linda and Eleanor, things were looking grim, but thousands of miles away, far from Hollywood, things were looking [screams.]
downright gruesome.
Based in Stamford Connecticut, Vestron Video was a powerhouse distributor of VHS Classics such as - [man.]
Chopping Mall.
- [narrator.]
and [man.]
Don't Open Till Christmas They were not quality-driven.
Let's put it that way.
[narrator.]
As people started watching videos at home, Vestron started seeing an opportunity.
Up until 1983, home video was really entirely triple X.
I've been looking for a handsome stud like you.
The major studios didn't even recognize the value in home video.
So they licensed it out to companies like Vestron.
Vestron was making a fortune.
The majors, at that point, said, "Why are we outsourcing this?" [narrator.]
And so the studios began distributing their own home videos, leaving Vestron ejected.
But, not so fast [Michael.]
Vestron weren't stupid.
I mean, they would see this coming.
They had a bunch of money, they had a pipeline, they knew how to sell home video.
So they started to make movies.
[narrator.]
However, to make successful movies, Vestron would need to hire experienced movie producers.
Enter Mitchell Cannold.
They hired me to be head of production, um, because I'd made these two [chuckling.]
um B-minus, which is gracious, movies.
- [narrator.]
And Mitchell's motto was - Even if it's bad, it's good.
[narrator.]
But bad or good, Mitchell knew he couldn't do it alone.
When I got to Vestron, I was all alone and I needed help.
[narrator.]
So, Mitchell hired Dori Berinstein as Vice President in charge of Physical Production.
[narrator.]
Ooh.
Sounds like an expert.
I knew nothing about it.
We were all in over our heads.
[narrator.]
And with that, Vestron was open for business to make their very own movies.
[Dori.]
Vestron was getting all the reject scripts from the studios, everything that had been passed on In effect, almost literally, dump trucks with 5,000 scripts or so are dumped in the loading dock in the dumpster of the company.
We read, and read, and read, and read some really awful scripts.
Twenty-five pages in [narrator.]
Back in the dumpster.
But Mitchell was reading garbage, too.
And one weekend, he came across a notorious stinker, The script for Dirty Dancing.
And I remember, I read it on a Sunday night.
[narrator.]
A Sunday night that would change Vestron's fate and Mitch's life forever.
My parents had taken me to the Catskills as a kid, along with my younger brothers.
And so, the life that's depicted in the movie was was one I knew, one I loved, one that was a formative part of my history.
[narrator.]
As much as Eleanor may have been Baby, could it be that Mitchell was a real life Johnny? - [laughs.]
No.
- He wasn't Johnny.
[laughs.]
I was far more like the waiter in the movie Hey.
How about a dance later? and doesn't get the girl.
[narrator.]
But more importantly [Baby.]
Dance with me.
[narrator.]
did he get the script? I was laughing, I was crying.
I got all the jokes.
I got all the meaning.
I got all the themes of it.
He loved it.
But most of all, I was in tears because it meant something to me.
He loved it.
I don't care that it's been [bleeps.]
all over town.
I had to get this movie made.
[narrator.]
Despite the cost of long-distance phone calls, Mitchell wasted no time and picked up the phone.
[Linda.]
"This is Mitchell Cannold from Vestron, and I'm really interested in making your movie.
" And I thought, "This is a prank phone call.
" Vestron was in the VHS business.
It was clear they didn't know what they were doing.
I knew nothing about it.
But I thought, "This is a great opportunity.
[chuckles.]
If I move quickly, we can get this film made.
" [narrator.]
But they'd need more than just Mitchell to get it made.
There was no sure thing that the company was going to greenlight this.
So the first order of business was bringing in the right director.
[narrator.]
Linda, Eleanor, Mitchell and Dori were a little on the inexperienced side.
So, for the film's director, they hired Oscar-winning director, Emile Ardolino.
And, at last, Dirty Dancing had someone who knew how to make an Oscar-winning, full-length feature film.
Emile never directed a feature film, mind you.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Well, Emile's win was for a 26-minute documentary about kids learning to dance.
Da-da da-da-da-da, ba! - [narrator.]
But at least - Emile was born in dance.
That was what he did.
[narrator.]
So, these inexperienced movie makers put their trust in a director who'd never made a feature film.
And at a meeting at Vestron HQ, they really needed Emile to deliver.
It was really all about Emile being able to speak to his vision at the meeting that would convince my colleagues that I knew what I was talking about and this movie was worth making.
[Linda.]
They asked Emile Ardolino, his first big opportunity, they said, "Emile, tell us your views on this movie.
" And Emile opened his mouth Nothing came out.
[gags.]
[heart beating.]
Emile had a complete panic attack.
He was completely speechless.
All of my bosses are looking at me thinking I'm out of my [bleep.]
- ing mind.
He literally lost his voice.
At the biggest moment in his life, he lost his voice.
How the heck is he going to take our money and go make a movie? And somehow even that didn't ruin it.
I mean [chuckling.]
I don't know, we were just lucky.
[narrator.]
Emile's silent vision somehow spoke to the inexperienced Vestron executives.
To the credit of all of the Vestron folks around the table, they took a chance, they rolled the dice and they pushed the button.
[narrator.]
With that, Vestron greenlit their very first feature film.
But a big budget blockbuster, it wasn't.
The budget was slightly less than four and a half million dollars, - which at the time was - Low budget.
- Really low budget.
- [gulps.]
[narrator.]
That green light was starting to look more like a distress signal.
[alarm sounding.]
But the clock was ticking, and one of their biggest problems was music.
Music is the soundtrack of the heart and I couldn't imagine the lines of dialogue without the music that I particularly picked.
I made a cassette tape called "E.
B.
's Dirty Dancing," and it described which scene each song was in.
[narrator.]
Songs like "Do You Love Me" by The Contours.
There was "Love Man" by Otis Redding, "Big Girls Don't Cry" by The Four Seasons.
- Also - "These Arms of Mine.
" The way that she integrated music and dance within her storytelling was so sophisticated to me.
[narrator.]
Sophisticated or not, licensing songs isn't cheap.
Music is very expensive.
So whatever I had in the budget, which was minimum, we would need for the music.
[narrator.]
But, it wasn't just those old classic songs they'd need.
They'd need original music too.
We don't have a big budget here, but we've got to get music from the period and also new songs.
So it was It was tricky.
[narrator.]
They'd need to face more than the music 'cause they had a big location issue too.
The movie was set in an expensive Catskills resort in the summertime.
We certainly couldn't afford to buy out a resort during the summertime, because it's packed with people, so we had to go south.
[narrator.]
So they did, ten hours south in fact, where they found a lodge on a mountain by a lake, called The Mountain Lake Lodge.
That corner of the United States was the last place in the country that the leaves changed.
[narrator.]
And it cost small change too, compared to the Catskills.
[David.]
It looked right, it felt right and it didn't need hardly anything done to it.
[narrator.]
But still, they could only afford 14 days of shooting there.
So We found a boys camp in North Carolina that had the staff cottages, and had a pavilion, where we could do the dance sequences.
[narrator.]
But if you thought finding the Catskills that weren't the Catskills was hard, - finding the actress to play Baby was - Really hard.
Because Vestron have to approve the cast.
One of their executives pipes up, "I'm going to just give you my really best idea, Linda.
" I said, "What's that?" "Pia Zadora.
" How can I tell until I know what you got? [Linda.]
The blonde sex bomb.
Exactly the opposite of what I had in mind.
Completely wrong for the part.
[narrator.]
For Eleanor, it was all about looks too, but she wanted A little skinny girl with long curly hair down her back, 'cause that's what I looked like.
[narrator.]
Winona Ryder and Sarah Jessica Parker were in contention, but for Linda and Eleanor, there was only one choice.
Jennifer Grey was pushed into the audition room by her father.
And as she walked in, she said, "Wish me luck, Daddy.
" And we were in love.
And she just closed the Baby's face in my mind.
I just thought, "That's it.
" And from that moment on, she was the only person I wanted.
Oh, thank God you're here, Lisa.
Listen, you've got to do something for me.
Tell Mommy and Daddy that I have a terrible headache and I'm in bed, and check on me once.
Okay? Thank you.
[woman.]
No.
Lisa, look, I don't have time.
Just do it for me.
Okay? [woman.]
No.
[narrator.]
Up until now, Jennifer Grey had only had supporting roles like in 1984's Red Dawn.
And 1986's If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.
[narrator.]
Yeah, the one where that guy takes a day off.
Jennifer was a good mover.
And I think she'd had things like dance lessons, but wasn't a dancer, per se.
But what Jennifer brought to it was a vulnerability and an awkwardness, and a clumsiness that was necessary at the outset of the film.
- [narrator.]
So, everyone was happy.
- Yes.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Everyone, that is, except for Vestron.
- They wanted - Anyone but Jennifer Grey.
[narrator.]
So, as the bickering over Baby began, perhaps they could agree on the other lead character in the movie.
I was very concerned about the character of Johnny Castle.
That's my cousin, Johnny Castle.
[narrator.]
Where there was flexibility with Baby's dance credentials, the actor who played Johnny Castle really needed to be able to move.
Oh, and, uh, look right, too.
I wanted someone who had hooded eyes So, we went through picture after picture And I said, "Ah! Those are the eyes I want.
" And we turned the resume over, and it was Patrick Swayze, who had "No Dancing.
" - [narrator.]
Oh, well, that's no good.
- No.
[narrator.]
The search continued.
We auditioned Benicio del Toro because I was mad for him.
Adrian Zmed.
[announcer.]
Dance Fever.
Adrian Zmed.
Have you have you heard of him? There were then also those who felt that Billy Zane was the right guy.
Linda Gottlieb thought he was the new Brando.
Fight harder? I don't see you fighting so hard, Baby.
He danced like someone who had learned to dance wonderfully for his bar mitzvah.
[narrator.]
As the titanic decision to cast Billy Zane as Johnny grew ever closer, there was a set of hungry, hooded eyes that Eleanor just couldn't forget.
Ah! Those are the eyes I want.
[narrator.]
But this time, Emile Ardolino spoke up.
He told Eleanor something she didn't know about the perfect-eyed Patrick.
"As a matter of fact, he's a dancer.
" And the only reason Emile knew that was that Emile came from the dance world in New York Da-da da-da-da-da, ba! and he knew Patrick from the Joffrey.
His mother is the biggest dance teacher in Texas.
Do the boys part first.
Heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels, heels.
[narrator.]
As seen in this beer commercial, Patrick could dance.
But as an actor First film was Skatetown USA, where he got to use his roller-skating skills.
A pretty hilarious movie.
We laughed so much about it.
[narrator.]
He'd also had several other film and television appearances, all noticeably absent of dancing.
Is there something wrong with me? [narrator.]
Absolutely not.
The minute he came in, the minute we laid eyes on him - That was Johnny.
- [narrator.]
But don't forget [Eleanor.]
Vestron have to approve the cast.
[narrator.]
It came down to these two Johnnies and Babies.
[Mitchell.]
The choreographer put Patrick with Sarah Jessica, Billy with Jennifer, Billy with Sarah Jessica Patrick with Jennifer.
[narrator.]
But one combination exploded with chemistry.
[Dori.]
Their chemistry during their screen test was undeniable.
All you had to do was watch that.
No, lifting your chest so I don't hurt your ribs.
- It hurts my ribs.
- [all laugh.]
[narrator.]
And Dirty Dancing finally had the perfect Johnny and Baby but there was something holding Patrick back.
Oh, Patrick hated the title "Dirty Dancing.
" He's a Texas boy, and he goes "Sounds like a stripper movie.
" [narrator.]
But still it seemed like the role he was born to play.
[Lisa.]
He didn't want to be the "dance dude.
" He knew he needed to make his reputation as an actor.
[narrator.]
But in high school, his reputation was for football.
That's actually where he got his left knee practically destroyed.
Patrick had "No Dancing" on his resume because he was going out as an actor because had a knee injury and he didn't want to dance anymore.
His knee injury really affected everything he did.
He had to deal with pain all the time.
[narrator.]
As well as nagging knee pain, there was just nagging.
They were desperate to have him.
[narrator.]
And out of everyone, Eleanor, the original Baby, had taken a particular liking to Patrick.
Early on when she was explaining things, Eleanor wanted to demonstrate dirty dancing.
[chuckles.]
She would grab Patrick, and it was like, "Okay, Eleanor, you did your demonstration.
You can stop now.
" [laughing.]
[narrator.]
And much to Eleanor's delight I wanted Patrick very, very badly.
[narrator.]
Patrick agreed to do Dirty Dancing.
- Whoa, I did the wrong thing.
Sorry.
- [narrator.]
But there was a problem.
Jennifer did not want Patrick.
[narrator.]
It turns out the new Baby didn't feel quite the same as the original Baby.
She begged us please to have anybody but Patrick.
Do the words "dream on" mean anything to you? Just do the [bleeps.]
thing, bitch.
They didn't like each other.
Because she'd had a very bad experience with him.
Because of their history with Red Dawn.
[narrator.]
Oh.
Turns out, they had a history.
There were already some sparks flying back then.
Patrick could be very intense.
I explained to him that Jennifer didn't want him, and he said, "I don't know that I want to do this, but let me talk to Jennifer.
" So, he went in alone, and he sat with Jennifer about half an hour and they came out with their eyes red.
[narrator.]
And when they emerged, they agreed to put their old differences aside.
So then, it's alright.
I knew it would work out.
[narrator.]
For now The cast and crew Butt out, Baby.
[narrator.]
made their way to the top of a mountain in Virginia.
We rolling, folks? We got sex! [laughing.]
We were quite isolated up there.
Mountain Lake was very remote.
It was like being in college, only your professors were staying with you.
It was very strange.
Stop this, now.
Stop this.
[narrator.]
Shooting began September 5th, 1986, and the cameras rolled on a story that would inspire generations.
But some of the cast and crew thought they'd be making a different kind of movie.
Will there be dirty dancing? Will I be around the dirty dancing? No.
There was a controversy among the cast and crew.
"You're not really going to use dirty dancing are you?" [narrator.]
Well, as far as the Mountain Lake Lodge was concerned, no.
It was Dancing Film Productions.
Because we didn't want to upset them and make them think it was a porn film.
[woman moaning.]
[narrator.]
But if it wasn't that, what was it? [Eleanor.]
There is a really very serious social and political agenda underneath this movie.
This is a movie about class structure.
House Painters and Plasterers, Local Number 179, at your service.
Dance can be incorporated into storytelling in so many different ways.
The class struggle would be three dances.
The grinding and the dirty dancing reflected the underclass, the wealthy people upstairs doing the family foxtrot, in between you had Johnny Castle and Penny being the exhibition dance team with aspirations.
[Kenny.]
And that was really, really important in how we develop this movie in terms of dance as a language.
So we threw on music, and Dirty Dancing was discovered.
[narrator.]
But hang on what music exactly were they dancing to? Because, as we know Music is very expensive.
[narrator.]
So, to help get the rights to the songs Eleanor wanted "These Arms of Mine.
" "Do You Love Me?" [narrator.]
Yep, those ones.
Vestron brought in experienced music supervisor, Danny Goldberg, but he wasn't having much luck.
And there was no music.
And we were down here on location and I kept saying, "Where's the music from Danny?" He kept saying, "It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
" There was no music.
This is a music movie, it's a dance movie.
We have nothing.
[narrator.]
Well, it's hard to rehearse to nothing.
We were choreographing it already to music that wasn't going to be in the movie.
We were dancing to Genesis.
At some point they had an idea of putting a track by the Fine Young Cannibals in.
And then they were trying to get me to use the sound-alikes and I said no.
[groans.]
You know, this is this is nuts.
He finally said, "Shoot it to a click track.
" [clicking.]
Can you imagine shooting that final scene, the finale, with a goddamn metronome click? [metronome clicking.]
[narrator.]
Most of the dance numbers would be shot at the next location.
And having no music when they got there was starting to become a real possibility, but Eleanor wasn't willing to compromise.
For me, the movie doesn't exist without the music.
And it doesn't exist without the music that I particularly picked.
Danny Goldberg was promptly un-picked.
A colleague of mine at the company introduced me to Jimmy Ienner.
And he said to me, "I think this guy can do it.
" And I said, "I hope so, because we don't have anybody else.
[narrator.]
Don't be so sure about that.
Patrick came up to us, and he said, "I have an idea for a song that would be amazing for this film.
" - Patrick had written - "She's Like the Wind.
" [narrator.]
several years before.
[Linda.]
Patrick one day handed me something and he said, "You know, I do some songs.
" And I listened to "She's Like the Wind" and I loved the song.
I just loved it.
Let's use it! [narrator.]
Well, that's, uh, one song down.
Jimmy Ienner handled the rest.
He claimed he went down on Phil Spector's big toe.
He kept saying, "The girl has to have it.
" He came back with the rights to "Be My Baby.
" [narrator.]
Thanks to Jimmy, Eleanor got all the songs she wanted.
And he turned out to be my knight in shining armor.
He got those songs for me.
[narrator.]
And just in time, too.
Because after just 14 days of shooting in Virginia, the cast and crew packed up and headed to North Carolina to shoot the rest of the movie.
- [woman.]
And who's in with Patrick? - Jane Brucker.
Jerry's driving, because the restaurant called and gave some shit about me driving.
Below this double line here was everything we did in Virginia.
Everything above the line, we did in North Carolina, which was really the bulk of our shooting.
We would use the light posts both in Virginia and in North Carolina.
You never question that you're in one place or the other.
You don't know you're in two places.
[narrator.]
So, even the locations found a way to connect.
Could Patrick and Jennifer? With the dance scenes looming, it was time to find out if that chemistry they had would create sparks - [Linda.]
They didn't like each other.
- [Mitchell.]
Because of Red Dawn.
[narrator.]
or just blow up in their faces.
Pull the pin for me.
And I'm your Texas redneck asshole that ain't gonna buy into no [bleep.]
bullshit.
So let's get up here.
I was just so aware of the dynamic between Patrick and Jennifer while we were shooting because he was this experienced dancer.
He was with the Eliot Feld Ballet.
And Jennifer had never danced really before.
I can't even do the merengue.
She can't even do the merengue.
On camera, we basically see her learning to dance.
Johnny, you're a strong partner, you can lead anybody.
The dynamic between them was really teacher-student.
Don't step on the one.
You've got to start on the two.
And I think that connection between the two of them, and Patrick really being frustrated when Jennifer couldn't get something, it was very authentic.
[narrator.]
If Patrick was frustrated, how do you think Jennifer felt? Jennifer would be there, ready.
And where is Patrick? Patrick was historically, irritatingly late.
[narrator.]
Not only was Jennifer punctual, she was also quite sensible.
Patrick said a stunt double was a wussy thing to have.
Jennifer thought that was ridiculous.
[narrator.]
Notice the extra poofy hair.
Yep, she even had a stunt double for this scene.
The scene of them crossing the log is the epitome of the difference between Patrick and Jennifer.
[Doro.]
It was very dangerous.
There was a ravine underneath it.
Eight or nine feet above the rocky bottom of that creek.
And Jennifer was saying [bleep.]
"It's a log, I could fall off.
Mm, I don't think so.
" And I think Patrick really didn't like that.
- I got it now.
- [laughs.]
It was a real macho thing.
Patrick was a macho guy.
And I said, "Patrick, if you screw that up, you've got 100 people here out of work.
[narrator.]
And, well guess what happened? - [Patrick.]
Whoa! Ah! - [thuds.]
[siren wailing.]
[Linda.]
He fell, he hurt himself, we lost time on production, and everybody suffered in the end.
[narrator.]
Falling onto rocks and aggravating his chronic knee pain was the last straw for an already rocky relationship.
There were sparks between the two of them.
Those kind of sparks, if they're handled by the right director Cut! [Mitchell.]
can translate very well onto the screen.
We could let her leave that frame.
[narrator.]
But was Emile Ardolino the right director? One late night he would face his ultimate test.
One night, she had low blood sugar.
It was in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere in the middle of all that mud, and she said, "I need a cheese platter.
" Patrick's ready to kill her.
Kenny's like, "We're in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the mud and she wants a cheese platter?" Not just a piece of cheese, but a cheese platter? And Emile was so genius because he just let the camera go.
She giggles.
He's upset.
He does it again.
That was completely real.
"It's late.
We're overtime.
We want to get the freaking shot done.
She won't stop laughing.
" [man.]
Alright.
Once again.
"She needs a cheese platter?" [laughs.]
[narrator.]
By now it was clear, their gamble in this documentary maker had paid off.
[Linda.]
He could spot something at the moment and just go with it, and and and capture it.
The cast trusted him completely.
[narrator.]
And his directorial mastery was obvious, even showing Patrick and Jennifer how great they were during their audition.
[Mitchell.]
And it reminded them of the passion they brought to each other and, I think, settled them down.
[Lisa.]
Patrick and I were talking about it.
I said, "Hey, use it.
It's an interesting thing that often anger and upset could look like passion.
Intense passion.
[man.]
You're having a great time.
[narrator.]
For Jennifer and Patrick it was a new not so red dawn.
And as they approached the finish line, it seemed as if the cast and crew were having the time of their lives.
- [record scratches.]
- Weren't they? We have to shoot the finale.
The night before we were shooting They've sent us another paper bag full of cassettes.
All original songs that had been submitted.
[narrator.]
Jimmy had delivered on the old classic songs, but he was cutting the original finale song they needed close.
And we were taking these cassettes out of the bag one at a time and listening to them.
Pop, take it out.
Next one.
The last cassette, it starts off [low pitch.]
Dum dum-dum dum, dum-dum-dum dum I stopped it, and I said, "Miranda is it because it's the last friggin' cassette? Or is there something in the lyric of this song?" - And she said, "Put it on again.
" - Put it in [singing indistinctly.]
Oh, my God, maybe that's the song.
Well, that was it.
[narrator.]
And for the next three days straight, it was all they heard.
A cast of hundreds, endless dancing, working late into the night.
We were doing it until, like, 3:00 in the morning.
- [woman.]
Hi, Mom.
- [man.]
Hi, Mom.
[narrator.]
And they also filmed that line that might well be more famous than the movie itself.
Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
"Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
" What a ridiculous line.
There was no corner we were shooting in.
There was kind of a pillar.
[narrator.]
But the line's author must surely have seen that immortal phrase as she penned that unforgettable dialogue.
I think it's really something that I was not deeply committed to, I don't think it's a great phrase.
[narrator.]
Okay then, how about the guy who acted it into a great phrase? He thought it was the stupidest line in the world, and I think he was right.
Years later he said, "Boy, was I wrong about that one.
" [narrator.]
But it wasn't just a painful line Patrick had to endure.
The finale had some of the most technically difficult dancing in the movie.
When he jumps off the stage and does that tour He really busted up his knee.
[man.]
Here we go.
One more time, please.
He had to leap off that stage 12 or 13, 14 times.
[man.]
Here we go.
Woo! He was hurting.
[man.]
Once again.
Woo! And he came over to me and he whispered in my ear, "I've got one more in me.
Please make sure all the cameras get it.
" Then I said to Emile, "We have to get it right now.
Patrick's suffering.
He wants to do this, but we have to get it at this moment.
" Let's do one more.
- [crew member.]
Standby.
- [slate board clacks.]
[crew member 2.]
Speed! [crew member 3.]
And playback [Emile.]
Cut! [crew cheers.]
He had one more in him.
So, he was that kind of a person.
He suffered for his art.
[narrator.]
But Patrick wasn't done yet.
The finale wouldn't be complete without one iconic moment and one last show of strength.
[man.]
Roll! Cut! Playback.
And [Emile.]
Cut! Woo! [triumphant music.]
[narrator.]
After 45 days, those splendid words [man.]
That's a wrap.
[narrator.]
marked the end of shooting on this very low budget dancing movie.
Back at Vestron HQ, they must have been ecstatic.
[Mitchell.]
So the rough cut's done.
We have something that we think is good.
We don't know how good, but we think it's good.
We're certainly proud of it.
But you've got to remember that the people at Vestron at this point, they'd never made a movie before.
We knew we could benefit from a more experienced Hollywood person.
And someone knew someone who knew Aaron Russo.
[narrator.]
This big Hollywood hotshot had produced Trading Places and The Rose.
So if he liked their little dancing movie, they'd have nothing to worry about.
We were so nervous.
We watched Aaron Russo watch the rough cut of the movie.
We were feeling really good.
The movie's over, the lights come up, he turns around in his seat.
He looks over us, past us at my bosses and says, "Burn the negative and collect the insurance.
" And then he walked out.
Um, so I was terrified that the film would, in fact, be trashed.
They wanted validation.
They didn't get it from Aaron Russo.
[narrator.]
But Vestron had spent four and a half million on this movie.
So, they gave Dirty Dancing one more chance at a big screen release before they relegated it to the VHS shelf of history.
The company organized a screening for about 1,000 people.
And at the end of it the room went nuts.
They went wild, they were stomping their feet.
They were screaming and yelling, but what that screening really did achieve was it galvanized the whole company, and now the company was unstoppable.
[narrator.]
Vestron was now fully behind their own movie.
There was something special in this movie for everyone.
[narrator.]
So, they got to work marketing it for everyone.
This film received an R rating from the MPAA.
They were all in some way aroused by the movie [narrator.]
Well, they're only human.
[Linda.]
And Vestron was very unhappy.
They felt it should not have had an R rating.
[woman moans.]
I knew Dick Hefner, who was the head of the MPAA and I called Dick.
- [phone rings.]
- And I said, "Dick, if I take out two [bleeps.]
and a shit, do we get a PG-13?" And he said, "It can be arranged.
" They were positioning it for 14-year-olds.
[narrator.]
So much so, that their national sponsor was I think it was Clearasil.
And they were going to put a tube of acne cream on every poster.
But when they learned that there was a uh Oh.
There's an abortion in the film.
It's not illegal, is it? [narrator.]
Yes.
Yes, it was.
[Eleanor.]
So then they came to me and said, "We're going to pay you, Eleanor, to go back into the editing room, and take the abortion out, because otherwise we'll lose our national sponsor.
" [narrator.]
But Eleanor wouldn't let a zit removal company remove any part of her movie.
If we take the abortion out, there is no reason for Baby There's no reason that she learns to dance, there's no reason that she falls in love There'd be no sex with Baby and Johnny.
So, the whole story falls apart.
We have no film.
They said, "We should have thought of that before.
" [narrator.]
From the day she wrote the script, Eleanor had not compromised on the important issues of Dirty Dancing.
I believe in getting moral issues in movies that everybody will go to, because they have love and pretty clothes, and romance and a lot of sex, and then maybe you'll change somebody's mind.
[narrator.]
And that was about to become the greatest marketing tool of all.
Vestron called me and said, "I hope you're sitting down.
The New York Times wants to interview you.
" [narrator.]
Samuel Freedman's New York Times article wasn't your average fluff piece.
There were a bunch of movies that were dance based movies.
That would be Flashdance and Footloose, and they were really pretty vapid.
But Dirty Dancing was very different.
[Baby.]
That was the summer of 1963 before President Kennedy was shot.
[Samuel.]
This movie deals with issues of class, issues of racial injustice, issues of identity issues of civil rights, issues of war.
Our Baby's going to change the world.
And what are you going to do, missy? It also operated at this purely entertaining level.
Lisa is going to decorate it.
And this was the game changer, because the first weekend instead of the teenage viewer, we got adult audiences.
[narrator.]
Nearly four million dollars worth of adult audiences.
[Dori.]
Opening weekend, we were all at Vestron as this film was catching on fire.
[narrator.]
And not in a "burn the negative" kind of way.
The returns were coming in.
Dori and I pulled an all-nighter because it was just so exciting.
[narrator.]
By Dirty Dancing's second weekend, that fire was spreading.
Look, the numbers went up! Everybody was watching.
[narrator.]
Oh, but they weren't just watching.
[Michael.]
Dirty Dancing, the album, just came out and it's sold 270,000 records.
I said, "You're kidding.
People would go to the theater, see the movie, "My gosh, this is the greatest thing," and rush to the record store to buy the album.
Best original song.
"I've Had The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing.
I watched it go and climb and climb and climb They went back to see it, they went back again and again.
[narrator.]
For 19 straight weekends, Dirty Dancing dominated the box office.
And at the time, it was the highest grossing independent film ever made.
And suddenly Oprah was calling me.
You know, it's like having sex with your clothes on, Oprah, only you don't feel guilty afterwards.
[narrator.]
Today, Dirty Dancing has firmly lodged itself in popular culture and people's lives.
You may now lift the bride.
And it is still making money after 32 years.
I mean, that's wild.
[narrator.]
But who it's making money for? Well, that's where things get complicated.
We didn't make any money from Dirty Dancing.
[laughing.]
Linda and Eleanor did.
[narrator.]
The dynamic duo of Linda and Eleanor had formed at that fateful lunch with a side of destiny "That's a million-dollar title.
" [narrator.]
all those years before.
But like many lunches, there's often squabbling over the bill.
Or in this case, the percentage points of the movie's net income.
- Oh, the points.
- [man.]
The points.
Linda, as the producer, had every right to decide how to allocate her profits.
[Linda.]
I control the net profit participation.
I gave many more points to Eleanor.
I doubled the points that MGM would have given her.
I gave additional points to Emile Ardolino, to David Chapman, to Dora Bachrach, to Kenny Ortega, to Jerry Orbach, to Jennifer, and to Patrick.
It made them all very wealthy.
I don't give a flying [bleep.]
about that.
What I've always cared about is my audience.
Yeah, but it doesn't hurt that it's making her millions of dollars every single year for 30 years.
Please use that.
[laughing.]
[narrator.]
And as for Vestron, now nothing could stop this ex-direct to VHS company from achieving big-screen success for decades to come.
Vestron went bankrupt.
[Mitchell.]
Dirty Dancing, because it was the first, it was a natural belief that you could get lightning-in-a-bottle again and again.
They made very bad movies.
Parents.
BackTrack.
Hider in the House, And God Created Woman, Little Monsters.
That's disgusting.
[belches.]
Every single thing they did lost money.
[narrator.]
In fact, they lost so much money that in 1991, Vestron closed its doors for good.
Ronnie's gonna be pissed.
- [laughing.]
- No kidding.
[narrator.]
But the Vestron legacy is more than just one great movie and a bunch of bad ones.
Another little miracle occurred during the making of this most fortuitous film.
I was far more like the waiter in the movie Hey.
How about a dance later? and doesn't get the girl.
[narrator.]
Well, guess what? That's not true at all.
- Your office was there.
I was over here.
- Yep.
We were in the trenches together.
We worked beautifully together.
All the meetings that we had Oh my gosh.
[Mitchell.]
Three years later, we fell in love and got married.
And all of it because of Dirty Dancing.
So, how lucky am I? [narrator.]
For a four-and-a-half-million-dollar movie to become so successful, luck has probably got, well, something to do with it.
But for Linda, it was more the tenacious drive she shared with a group of people who just wanted to make a great movie.
[sparse piano music.]
Wow.
It's amazing.
It's 32 years later.
And this dining room looks the same.
Same lighting fixtures, the same stone.
Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.
Enjoy.
Thanks.
The Houseman family sat at this table.
So that's wild.
[narrator.]
The Mountain Lake Lodge has taken great pride in preserving what's left of this iconic location.
Baby's cabin.
And this was a sign, a big, red big, red wood building that had a staff quarters.
"No guests, please.
" This is the gazebo where we shot several scenes in the movie.
I'm sorry I lied to you.
But you lied too.
[Linda.]
I remember watching that scene being shot, and feeling so moved.
It's a very touching moment.
He has tears in his eyes.
I love you.
[sobbing.]
And I'm sorry I let you down.
I'm so sorry, Daddy.
I don't know whether any of you guys have got a daughter or not, [chuckling.]
but my daughter did that to me one time.
Um you know That one scene, it just got me right in my gut.
And after the father comes to his senses, he realizes, "She's a grown lady now.
I have to treat her as one.
" [narrator.]
But as for the most iconic location at the Mountain Lake Lodge [Linda.]
There was a lake here.
It's gone.
Gone.
[narrator.]
And it's been that way since 2006.
[Linda.]
The lift in the lake happened about here, even though obviously there's no lake.
The cinder blocks used for the platform are still here.
They were really troopers.
It was freezing.
Oh, sorry.
- Good.
No, no no! - [shrieks.]
[Linda.]
Oh, boy.
"This stone is in memory of Patrick Swayze, 1952 to 2009, for his starring role in the hit movie of 1987, Dirty Dancing, and to his courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
" [Lisa.]
It's a merciless disease.
When Patrick went in to battle this, I saw an unbelievable strength that I never knew he had.
But that's what he would do.
He's a fighter.
[Miranda.]
Just like he jumped off that stage doing that tour as Johnny Castle with a bad knee, he continued on with chemo and sick and pancreatic until the 11th hour.
You know, "I ain't dead yet.
" [piano playing.]
[Lisa.]
He had the question, "What is my legacy?" And "How will I be remembered? Will I be remembered?" But I got to see how loved he was.
I got to see that during his illness and afterwards.
[Linda.]
He really made this film.
And we all owe him so much.
You know So many people have died since this movie.
But Emile's death was was really painful, really awful.
Everyone who ever worked with him loved him.
He'd given of his heart and soul for this movie.
He was the glue when there were a lot of forces that could have torn it apart.
[Eleanor.]
His partner picked up the phone and said, "Eleanor, Emile is dying of AIDS.
" I'd lost a friend I loved very much.
I just want to say I just want to say something to thank the crew.
[man.]
Yeah! [all cheering.]
Dirty Dancing, it changed our lives.
The magic, the wonderment you know, that happened on that mountain.
[Mitchell.]
If you ask yourself, "Could this movie have been made by some other company at some other time? Would it have worked?" Anything's possible, but I doubt it.
Because what happened here was a perfect storm of the right people at the right time, with the right story, and the right actors I love you.
[Mitchell.]
and the right director, and the right choreographer, and the right music, and it was a blessing for all of us for all of our lives.
We're all living on top of each other 24/7, dancing, talking, loving, crying.
That passion was so real.
This movie changed my life.
And the fact that it has stood the test of time, and endeared itself to so many people, is absolutely magic.
It's a wonderful feeling.
[Eleanor.]
I didn't want money, I didn't want fame.
I wanted my work to change people's lives.
I can stand up almost any place in the world and say, "How many people in this room have seen Dirty Dancing?" And almost all of them not only will have, but it means something personal to them.
And that's extraordinary.
Extraordinary.
Oh, sorry.
[fading tick tocks.]
It's too late For tears Honey it's too late Too late to cry Oh but it's too late Oh for begging me baby Honey it's too late Too late To cry