Dirty Dancing at Twenty: A Retrospective

It's been twenty years since audiences watched in awe as Johnny Caste (Patrick Swayze) hoisted Baby Houseman (Jennifer Grey) above his head at the stuffy Catskills summer resort, nailing the elusive "lift" as a troupe of steamy dancers shook it to "I've Had the Time of My Life." In the summer of 1987, the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which included "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen, "She's Like the Wind" by Swayze, and the time-of-my-life anthem by Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley, became an 80s music staple; the phrase "no one puts Baby in a corner" entered into the pop-culture lexicon; and teenagers learned to dance like no one was watching.

The film -- which has been called Star Wars for girls -- has earned more than $170 million in ticket and DVD sales combined. Its 1960s retrospective soundtrack shot past Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love and Michael Jackson's Bad for the number one seat on the Billboard Music charts. The Warnes and Medley duet won an Oscar for best original song. The tale of forbidden love undoubtedly inspired countless numbers of teens to at least want to take dance lessons.

This spring, Lions Gate films is releasing an anniversary edition of the DVD, complete with interviews, out-takes, and music videos. Fans can yet again relive Baby shedding off her intellectual, Mount Holyoke-bound reserve for skimpier-by-the-scene outfits and hotter-by-the-second dance sessions with Johnny, all to the backdrop of 1960s family and sexual politics. With all of the fanfare, which includes theater screenings in select cities, we wonder, where are our heroes now?

Since Dirty Dancing, Grey, daughter of actor Joel Grey, has undergone rhinoplasty and starred in some less-than-notable films like Wind (1992) and Bounce (2000). She has made appearances on Friends as Rachel's ex-best friend Mindy and Tales from the Crypt. Grey gave birth to a daughter, Stella, in 2001 with actor Clark Gregg. Her other memorable film roles occurred pre-Dirty Dancing as Ferris Bueller's conniving sister in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and, again, opposite Swayze in the 1984 fictional World War III drama, Red Dawn.