Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Cynthia Rhodes starred in "Dirty Dancing", the most successful feature film of 1987. Director Emile Ardolino had won an Oscar four years earlier for the documentary "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'" and now wanted to make a dance film more reminiscent of a movie musical - "Dance as Seduction" was the briefing for screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein, who incorporated her own youth experiences into the plot. The film is set in the summer of 1963 in the Catskill Mountains north of New York. The choreographer for the dance scenes was Kenny Ortega, who had already trained Gene Kelly.

The most important part of the film, however, is the music: Jimmy Ienner (Three Dog Night, John Lennon), as executive producer of the music album, decided on a mixture of old hits and newly composed songs. Included were the oldies "Wipeout" (Surfaris), "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes, Otis Redding's "Love Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles and the Bruce Channel smash "Hey! Baby," among others. New songs include "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen, "She's Like The Wind" by Patrick Swayze and "You Don't Own Me" by The Blow Monkeys. By far the most successful song, however, is "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" interpreted by Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley, which achieved the music hat trick: the song received an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe each.