I had never seen this before. Almost a third of a century after its release I spent £1 to find out what all the fuss was about. Nineteen eighty-seven is the year of 1980s films. This film is so 1980s that it simply cannot convince you it is set in 1963. Not only does the music lurch between the decades, but also the fashions. Patrick Swayze acts with his sweaty muscles (he’s topless for much of the film), while Jennifer Grey is charming as the wide-eyed daddy’s girl who learns how to dance – and live her life.
Thematically, there’s plenty going on: a thread about class prejudice, the young vs. old generational divide and the sense of a new, more liberated world about to arrive. One flaw is the way that – as per the style of the times – it breaks down into a pop video at certain points, including the narrative climax when you get the big hit ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes.
Curiously, the mother of the family is almost entirely absent from the narrative. She barely gets to speak. Only the father’s opinion matters regarding their daughter’s behaviour. I hope this was the filmmakers making a point about sexism rather than forgetting to develop an integral character. That said, there’s plenty to enjoy – the period detail of a simpler time, the soundtrack (when it stays in the correct era) and the warm evocation of a long-gone American innocence at a Catskills resort.
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