Lionsgate Films | 1987 | 100 min | Rated PG-13 | Region A (locked) | May 08, 2007
The summer of 1963 innocent 17-year-old Baby (Grey) vacations with her parents at a
Catskill's resort. One evening she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she
meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, who...
Note: This new package from Lionsgate contains the original Dirty Dancing along with the quasi-sequel
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Lionsgate has confirmed to Blu-ray.com that this is the same transfer of Dirty
Dancing (along with the same battery of supplements) that was reviewed by my colleague Dustin Somner here. Therefore, this review will
focus solely on Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Latin Music of various stripes has swept over the North American public in regular waves since at least the 1930s and
1940s. If the first artists to break through in the United States were quasi-novelty acts like Carmen Miranda, they at
least introduced audiences to some of the titans of South American music, including Ary Barroso and Dorival Caymmi.
The frenetic churning of the samba gave way in the 1950s to the propulsive allure of the tropical rhythms of the mambo
and cha-cha, dances made popular at least in part by the then thriving tourist trade to Cuba. That sinuous, seductive
music is one of the chief selling points (some might argue the only selling point) of Dirty Dancing: Havana
Nights, a 2004 sequel of sorts to the megasmash of 1987, Dirty Dancing, replete with a Patrick Swayze
cameo. Ostensibly based on the real life experiences of the film's co-producer and choreographer JoAnn Jansen, and
rather improbably based on an original story by Peter Sagal's of NPR's comedy quasi-game show Wait! Wait! Don't
Tell Me, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is like one of those old charts that came with records in the 1950s or
1960s that were supposed to teach avid enthusiasts the latest dance moves, with "Twister"-esque numbered
footprints on large vinyl sheets that could be placed on the floor and followed to supposedly learn probably not
very dirty dancing. In other words, this is rote filmmaking at its worst, a paint (and/or dance) by numbers
assemblage of hoary clichés, stereotypical characters and often risible dialogue. But, oh what music! This film virtually
throbs with polyrhythms and punchy bass and brass riffs, and it does feature a fairly exotic locale, so at least there's a
lot to look at and listen to when you're not busy rolling your eyes at the actual plot and characters.
Romola Garai (Glorious 39,
Atonement) portrays teenager
Katey Miller, whose parents (played by Sela Ward and John Slattery) are former dance champions (isn't that always the
way?). Katey's father has been transferred to Havana, though unfortunately it's circa 1958, and Fidel Castro and his
forces are on the march and the streets are roiling with an atmosphere of incipient revolution, despite the continuation
of
a Capitalist economy and a large and thriving American expat community. Katey comes into contact with that expat
community right of the bat, meeting the smarmy son of her dad's boss and an uppity girl who demeans a Cuban waiter
with a disparaging term. That sets Katey off to make things right with the lad, a hard working young man named Javier
(Diego Luna). Need it even be said that there's love in the air, albeit love laced with cultural differences, a few temper
tantrums and lots of disapproving looks from various sets of relatives? Oh, and they like to dance together, too.
There's simply not much to recommend this film beyond its often viscerally exciting song score and a couple of decently
choreographed sequences. Even Swayze's involvement seems ill advised, as he has little to do and never really shows
off any of the dance moves that helped make him such a sensation in the original Dirty Dancing. It's a sad
gambit that reeks of desperation. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Garai is awfully inconsistent in this role. She has the
American accent down pat, but her delivery just seems robotic at times, as if she's concentrating too hard on
memorizing her dance moves to really invest her dialogue with much interior life.
Puerto Rico fills in quite admirably for Cuba in the film, and it can't be denied that this is often a very boisterous, colorful
entertainment. But Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights only fitfully comes alive when that incredibly propulsive music
kicks in. Otherwise, this is nothing more than a bunch of nicely costumed people going through the motions.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in
1.78:1. Those who may have been worried about another Dirty Dancing problematic release needn't get too
worked up, as this is a decently sharp and very colorful outing, though at the same time it never completely pops with fine
detail the way one would hope. The best part of this transfer is the very lushly saturated colors, which do indeed pop quite
nicely and provide a lot of variety and richness. But fine detail is sadly lacking here, although there really doesn't appear to
have been much if any DNR to scrub it away. This is still a curiously flat and textureless offering, with inconsistent contrast
and some pretty murky shadow detail (some of the interior club scenes are especially make it especially hard to discern
background objects). The brightly lit exterior sequences fare best, as is probably to be expected, and while this isn't a
fantastic looking high definition presentation, it's acceptably clear if not overwhelmingly precise.
Complaints were evidently loud and long over perceived deficiencies in the original Dirty Dancing audio, even though
it was offered in a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mix. That same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix is on hand for
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but whether due to superior mixing or simply the fact that music is so much more
percussive in this film than in the first, this track sounds absolutely fantastic, at least when the music is playing. The
surround activity isn't limited solely to the music, though. The opening scene in the hotel offers some nice immersion with
crowd noises surrounding Katey, and several of the dance sequences offer some nicely placed discrete foley effects to
establish the reality of the soundworld in various clubs. While dialogue is certainly cleanly and clearly presented, it's going
to be the music that will make most people perk up their ears and really listen to, and the good news is, the music sounds
great on this track, with brilliant fidelity and excellent dynamic range.
Producer and Choreographer Commentary. Choreographer JoAnn Jansen's adolescent adventures in
Havana provided the inspiration for this film, and her deep love for this story shines through this commentary. Sarah
Green, Producer, acts a bit more like a host for Jansen, though both of them provide some worthwhile background
information on the filming (in Puerto Rico) as well as some of the notable contributions of the music.
Multi-Angle Dance Sequences (SD; 2:56) features four different camera angles of two dance routines plus a
preview. The preview shows all four angles simultaneously. The angle optioned dance sequences toggle through each
of the four camera angles, once each, if you simply let the feature play without using your angle button to switch (in
other words, you get the same routine four times in a row with different angles each time).
Deleted Scenes (SD; 12:28) features 10 fairly inconsequential scenes, with pretty shoddy looking video
quality. For die hards only.
Baila! A Dance Piece (SD; 11:00) is a fairly interesting little featurette on what dance means to people,
showing rehearsal footage of the stars learning their steps and with interviews with Romola Garai and others.
Inside Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (SD; 23:48) features JoAnn Jansen, choreographer and co-
producer of the film recounting her own life story, which provided inspiration for the film. Other interviews include a lot of
the principal cast and crew in this above average making of featurette.
Yerba Buena Music Video – "Guajira (I Love U 2 Much)" (SD; 3:18)
Choreographer and co-producer JoAnn Jansen's young life in Havana may well have made an interesting film, at least based
upon Jansen's comments in the featurettes and commentary included on this Blu-ray. Unfortunately, Dirty Dancing:
Havana Nights is simply not that film. This is cut and paste filmmaking of the most predictable sort. Anyone who's seen
any film of this type before (whether or not it was the original Dirty Dancing) is going to be able to predict 99% of
what happens within the first five minutes or so of Havana Nights getting started. Hobbled by an inferior
screenplay and some peculiarly ineffective performances by some seasoned pros, the only thing that saves this film even
partially is the absolutely wonderful song score.
Next May, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will bring the Dirty Dancing Collection to Blu-ray. This set features both Dirty Dancing as well as its sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. The Dirty Dancing Collection streets on May 8th.
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