Dirty Dancing - why don't they just snitch on Robbie?

[OneFrenchEgg]

Watching as a middle aged woman, the angst is kind of lost on me. Why don't they tell Baby's dad it's Robbie rather than letting him think it's Jonny and his other kid is off trying to snare Robbie?
At least two direct opportunities. I'm kind of with her dad at this point.

Great chick flick. I can watch this over and over again.

Actually, I didn't think of that, double standards. Thinking about it definitely was because a dancer wasn't good enough for his daughter. Patrick was an amazing dancer. I get why baby was after him 😉

He does im sure - not at the end though, he goes off sacked and in disgrace, then comes back for the baby in the corner bit.

Love Dirty Dancing. Entirely due to PS.

Ah maybe I was mamboing to the kitchen at that point to get some wine.
Missed the sad car bit.
Definitely dr dad doesn't have a great grasp on where his kids are. Although when I was 15 I went on holiday and my sister and I and a younger teen went off with some local (much older teens) and one took the other teen off on his motorbike .My parents (and hers) were furious.

He goes off in the car singing She’s Like the Wind (through my tree) and then comes back says “nobody puts baby in a corner” and does the last dance of the season with someone who taught him about the kind of man he wants to be.

sigh.

Isn't Robbie from a well to do family while Patrick Swayze basically shags all the rich wives? I've just realised I don't even remember what Swayze's character is even called in the film 😱

Remember how easily everyone believes Johnny could be a thief. Class is a huge issue here . Robbie is one of them, he is just waiting tables for the summer to help pay for his education. It’s a respectable type of part-time temporary visit to the working class that shows he has ‘life experience’ and he can use for stories at cocktail parties later in life.

Thank you for bringing this up, inspired by this thread I've just watched the film for the first time in about 30 years.
What a fantastic film it really is. I finally understand the hype at the time. Totally get why Baby was obsessed with Johnny as well.

Yep, he was effectively a gigalo.

I didn't realise until watching Marvellous Mrs Maisel that these holiday sites were for wealthy Jewish families that holidayed for the same few weeks in the summer so the families generally all knew each other. It doesn't make a difference but I wondered if there was also some snobbery that Johnny was working class and non Jewish and Robbie Gould was a Jewish Dr in training?

Also a bit of cultural context: these sorts of summer jobs waiting tables at resorts were popular among upper middle class students during this time period. Also, if I recall Robbie was the owner's nephew. This movie really is one of my favorites for several reasons. Its perspective is very woman-centric; it has a definite feminist vibe; and it is a very good depiction of social class in the US.

I too am an admirer of Patrick Swayze, but also of Jerry Orbach who played Dr Dad.

No isn't the other guy the owners nephew? The one that says his uncle put him in charge of ending the show and shaking it up again?

('Jonny Castle' to a pp)

Yes it's definitely much more nuanced than I remembered - when 'baby' (Frances) asks him how many women he's had and he gets really passionate about how different his life is to hers.

Although he does look a lot older than her whereas Robbie looks the same age as the sisters.

I think one of the signs you’re getting older is that you now sympathise with Dr Houseman and you can totally see why you wouldn’t want your 18 year old daughter writhing round with Patrick Swayze.

It’s similar to when you realise Ferris Bueller is actually a massive dickhead and feel sorry for Ed Rooney

My mistake. Yes the nephew is Neil.

Possibly, but in the movie, the class distinctions were the ones that were emphasized rather than religious ones. There were also resorts that did not cater to Jewish clientele where the same class differences were likely present. In fact the movie was filmed in one of those resorts in Virginia.

Random fact I can't unlearn: Jerry Orbach who played the dad also voiced Lumiere in the animated Beauty and the Beast movie.

He also originated the role of Billy Flynn in the Broadway musical Chicago. He had a long career in musical theater before turning to television and movies.

I always thought that Johnny was just very literal. When Baby's dad asks who's responsible for Penny he said he was because he felt responsible for her.
Watching as a middle aged woman, I think Baby and Johnny wouldn't have lasted.
I think 10 years later Baby would have been a radical feminist and Johnny and Penny would have realised they were meant to be together and have beautiful babies and a dance school.
Neither of them regretted the fling. He taught her that nobody puts her in a corner, and she taught him to stick up for himself.

I love this film. Highly recommend this article by Hadley Freeman. She talks about its ‘Jewishness’ and feminist themes:
https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/09/dirty-dancing-ghostbusters-80s-films-hadley-freeman

That's a great article @OdileO. I definitely concur regarding Dirty Dancing and Steel Magnolias, which are among my favorite movies that I have seen multiple times. I will have to revisit Ghostbusters.

@Paninaro94 Absolutely. I found myself thinking what next for Johnny and baby. She was going to go to university and change the world. Would Johnny wait for her? What did he do next?

I also worked out that in real life baby would now be 78 and Johnny 84!!

Yes, the class differences are a big part of the story. Robbie is one of them, while Jonny is part of the working class staff. As a previous poster said, he could get them sacked/ blacklisted from other resorts. Meanwhile Robbie is suitable for Lisa as he’s a nice middle class boy who is studying to be a doctor.

It’s an interesting film to rewatch as an adult. I agree with the previous comment that you start to agree with Dr Houseman that Jonny really isn’t suitable for Baby! But at the same time I was struck by how compassionate Dr H is when he treats Penny after her abortion, when I expect a lot of doctors wouldn’t have been.

It also has the feel of the end of an era. The voiceover at the start is Baby looking back on that summer, implying that it was a one-off, and there’s a scene at the end where the resort owner is talking to Dr H about how things are changing and ‘the kids’ won’t want to come to these types of resorts. I wonder if a lot of them have closed now.

The writer based it on her own experiences of going to summer camps.

I wonder how much was true?
I think she probably fancied a dance boy but maybe never slept with him or she was the Lisa.

The older woman shagging about was probably true as was the abortion story.

I think that's why it's such a hit, it has authenticity most films don't.

Because he always does the last dance of the season. And he's come back to do it his way.

My favourite film. Because of PS. When I watched it as a young teen we all wanted to be baby.