The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C., Timmi Toler Column: ???Dirty Dancing’ Lets Me Have the Time of My Life

By Timmi Toler, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.

Mar. 14–I figured it up. “Dirty Dancing” came out in 1990. I’ve probably seen the movie at least five times a year since it was made, which means that when I watched the other night, again, all the way through, it was probably for the 90th time. I don’t set out to do this.”Dirty Dancing” is one of those mov-ies that, when it’s on, I will stop what-ever I am doing and sit like a drone on the couch.

I will mumble the movie’s lines like “I carried a watermelon” and “Go back to your playpen, Baby.” Even though I know what’s going to happen, I will always hold my breath while Penny is crying on the floor un-til Baby gets Neil to shut the refrig-erator door and leave the kitchen. I will always cheer when Baby pours water down Robbie’s pants. I will al-ways wonder why that one dancer chick doesn’t fix her bra strap. (Seri-ously, doesn’t she know it’s just hang-ing there?)I will watch the movie and secretly wait for Patrick Swayze to knock on my door and take me to a lake some-where so we can practice doing a lift. And at the very end, I will always want to be on the stage with Swayze in a pink, twirly dress having the time of my life.The power “Dirty Dancing” has over the female psyche is a bit unnerving.

TV channels are fully aware of this power and use it to their advantage. They play the movie incessantly be-cause they know there are people out there like me who cannot resist the pull of Johnny and Baby. I cannot turn away from the mambo and hot, sexy moves on the dance floor. I cannot ig-nore the good versus evil and rich ver-sus poor undertones.I so love Swayze without a shirt.

To use the words of Walter Egan, “Dirty Dancing” is a magnet and I am steel.One of my favorite characters in the movie is Jennifer Grey’s hair. It’s bouncy, precious and innocent. In soft waves, it surrounds her little face and perfect nose (which she had altered in the early ’90s, by the way. Why, Jenni-fer? Why?).

It’s like magic. If I ever get to meet Jennifer Grey, the first thing I am going to do is touch her hair and thank it for bringing joy to my life.My favorite scene is when Johnny locks his keys in the car. His solution to this problem is to rip a wooden guide-post out of the ground and use it to smash a hole in the car’s back window so he can reach in and unlock the door.

I love that scene because it’s such a “guy” thing to do. It’s so male. And since I love guys and all their manly maleness, this scene really speaks to me. It says, “To solve problem, smash it with large object.” The music in this movie is also a character unto itself.

The soundtrack is so well known that whenever “Cry to Me” plays in a public place, some-one will look up and say “Hey! Dirty Dancing!” Granted that person is usu-ally me, but still, people know what I’m talking about.What I love most is that much of it was filmed in the North Carolina moun-tains around Lake Lure. I’ve been to Lake Lure. It’s beautiful there. I tried to find the place where the movie was filmed, only to be told by the locals that part of it had been torn down and the other part was now private property.I was heartbroken.”But I need to do the pachanga,” I told them. “I need to wear a pink dress with a twirly skirt.

I need to carry a watermelon. I’M SUPPOSED TO BE PUT IN A CORNER SO JOHNNY CAN SAY HOW NO ONE PUTS ME THERE!”The locals merely rolled their eyes and said they get visitors like me all the time; women in search of the dance that is dirty — and perhaps a Swayze sighting. They recommended that I go visit the lake and do the best I could. But without Swayze there to lift me up with his big, strong, window-smash-ing arms, the lake didn’t have much appeal.Oh, but the movie does, now and for-ever.

I’m afraid I will always yield to its power. I will stop the task at hand and defer to its splendor whenever the TV lords put it on the air.I can’t help it. It’s such a girl thing to do.

Timmi Toler is a staff writer at The Daily News who joins other Dirty Dancing fans in sending love and support to Patrick Swayze who is battling pancre-atic cancer, and who reminds everyone that now is the time to register for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life being held April 25-26 at Northside High School.

For more information, visit www.onslowrelay.com. Read and make comments about this column at jdnews.com or timmitoler.com.

—–

To see more of The Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.