Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Dirty Dancing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 7, 2017

Baby’s out of her corner again, folks, with Lionsgate returning to the well for yet another Blu-ray release of Dirty Dancing. This unlikely hit about, well, dancing in the Catskills managed to not just break box office records during its theatrical exhibitions, but went on to become one of the all time sales champions in the then nascent home video market. That may be one reason Lionsgate hasn’t been shy about re-releasing the film in various editions through the years. The first Blu-ray release was not greeted kindly in terms of its technical presentation by my colleague Martin Liebman. Another colleague, Dustin Somner, was more impressed by the remastered version that came along a few years later, a version that was then repackaged as part of the Dirty Dancing Collection which I reviewed. Now Lionsgate is offering fans not one but two versions under the rubric “30th Anniversary”, the one currently under review and the more deluxe set billed as a Collector’s Edition which includes (and I swear I'm not making this up) a Kellerman's cottage room key chain for Baby's room, along with a bunch of other swag (including a 108 page shooting script).

Since Lionsgate's copious press accompanying this release doesn't mention anything about a remaster, I'll refer you to my colleague Dustin Somner's Dirty Dancing Blu-ray review for plot information and an assessment of the technical merits of this release. This review will focus on the supplementary material included on this new release.

Dirty Dancing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For an assessment of the video, please refer to Dustin's review, linked above.

Dirty Dancing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For an assessment of the audio, please refer to Dustin's review, linked above.

Dirty Dancing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Just to make things extra confusing, this edition has some new supplements (indicated with an asterisk), while porting over some but not all of the supplements on the previous release. See Dustin's review for a complete list of supplements available on that edition.

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Co-Producer Eleanor Bergstein


• Audio Commentary with Kenny Ortega, Miranda Garrison, Jef Jur, Hilary Rosenfeld and David Chapman


• Happy Birthday, Dirty Dancing* (1080p; 29:19) is a decent retrospective with various talking heads discussing the impact of the film.


• Patrick Swayze: In His Own Words* (1080p; 12:52) is a sweet set of interviews with Swayze.


• Eleanor Bergstein - Thoughts on a Lifetime of Dirty Dancing* (1080p; 6:40) features the film's writer reminiscing about the film.


• Patrick Swayze: Uncut* (1080p; 13:34) features "never before seen outtakes" from the last interview Swayze gave, from 2006, though at least snippets of these are in fact seen in the other Swayze interview listed above.


• Featurettes

  Dirty Dancing The Phenomenon (480i; 13:45)

  The Rhythm of Dancing (480i; 4:08)

• Music Videos

  Hungry Eyes (480i; 3:54)

  She's Like the Wind (480i; 3:59)

  I've Had the Time of My Life (480i; 4:51)

• Cast and Crew Interviews

  Jennifer Grey (480i; 11:14)

  Eleanor Bergstein (480i; 18:38)

  Miranda Garrison (480i; 13:19)

  Kenny Ortega (480i; 15:23)

• Deleted Scenes (480i; 11:53)


• Extended Scenes (480i; 7:50)


• Alternate Scenes (480i; 2:40)


• Screentests and Outtakes (480i; various)

Dirty Dancing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Whether fans will want to put Baby back in her corner again or spring for this latest release (in either of its editions) will probably come down to an assessment of how much the new supplements appeal to them and how much the loss of some of the old supplements bothers them. The film itself is of course an evergreen, which means if this particular release doesn't satisfy completely, chances are there will be another one somewhere down the line.