Let’s Talk About The Ending of Dirty Dancing

So I’m working on a larger idea of how the 80’s film repurposed Black-created music from the 60’s, to the benefit of (who else) White people.

And Dirty Dancing fits that musical story to a tee: nearly every song that Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) listen to, dance to, or is playing in the background of their scenes, is Black-created R&B from the 50’s and 60’s.

All the scenes in the film that the stuffy, resort-goers sing stand out as very White, very WASPy, etc.

Contrast, right? Music playing a pivotal role in place-setting the identity of the differing parties, adding to the dramatic tension.

But then…the ending.

Look, the lift is iconic. “No one puts Baby in a corner” is iconic (turns out, that’s her name). And the song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” arguably transcended the movie it was made for.

But how on god’s green earth have I never heard anyone talk about the ending of Dirty Dancing?
It’s mind-blowing.

I cannot stress enough how the film uses music from the 60’s and earlier as a backdrop. ALL THE MUSIC IN THE FILM IS FROM THE 60’s OR EARLIER. THE FILM IS SET IN 1963. It’s a very music-oriented film, with the dancing being so dirty and all.

And honestly, it’s a well written script. There’s some actual pathos, some relatively genuine class exploration…

And then, out of the fucking nowhere, the ending has Patrick Swayze bring Baby on-stage for a musical number. He hits play on some machine we don’t see and ..”(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” comes blaring out.

I could not believe it.
I hadn’t seen the film until this year and wow, so many questions.

1. Why?
2. In the universe of the film, it’s impossible for anyone to have heard of this song before, so Johnny Castle is playing a brand new song as his final number. Strictly from a performance standpoint, that’s some…risky business.
3. Where did Johnny Castle get this song? And he has a vinyl record of it? We’ve seen where he lives. He doesn’t have a record player or records. But he has this one vinyl that no one has ever heard? And it contains musical instruments from the future???
4. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” does not in any way sound like the 60’s. There are 80’s songs, and even 2022 songs, that replicate 60’s R&B and Doo Wop. Meghan Trainer made her whole career on it. “Time of My Life” in no single, solitary way, sounds like any song from the 1960s. THE SONG IS FULL OF SYNTHS. It is full of instruments that won’t exist for 20 years. 
5. The crowd would be losing their fucking minds by this point. What are these instruments we’re hearing? THIS IS BEFORE THE BEATLES. For real, The Beatles “started” in America with their performance on the Ed Sullivan show…in February 1964. The crowd at this function barely knows what Rock ‘n Roll is and suddenly their listening to 5th generation synth rock pop?
6. It completely takes the viewer out of the movie. It’s hilarious. It’s insane in a way I knew but didn’t know the 80’s could be, ya know?

I guess that’s all but honestly, my life is forever changed after seeing the ending of this film.

It has reshaped my thoughts on the 80’s and what a major mainstream film can be.

It has changed my relationship with time and my understanding of America.

It has confounded all my previous conceptions or art and cinema.

I will never be the same.

by Jordan Mark Sandvig