20 awesome ’80s movies you should totally see before you die

14. Dirty Dancing (1987)

Frances (Jennifer Grey), aka “Baby,” is an idealist raised in an upper-class family. While on vacation, she falls for Johnny (Patrick Swayze), a dance instructor from the wrong side of the tracks. She steps in when his dance partner has to get an abortion, and the rest is Dirty Dancing history.

The plot sounds like a bad soap opera, but between the great soundtrack, the physical appeal of the very approachable Grey and smoking hot Swayze, the undeniable chemistry between the leads and the toe-tapping dance numbers, Dirty Dancing is inherently watchable.

Released in the summer of 1987, Dirty Dancing wiggled its way into America’s collective subconscious. Whether it was the proliferation of bright white Keds adorning young women’s feet, their newfound love of denim Bermuda shorts, or the revelation that good girls with attentive fathers can like sex too.

Or it was the inescapable “I Had the Time of My Life,” “Hungry Eyes,” “She’s Like the Wind” that played on a never-ending loop on every radio station.

Mostly, we all imagined ourselves to be fantastic dancers. We couldn’t wait to hit a club or show off our moves at a party, convinced we looked as sweaty and seductive busting moves as those crazy kids at Kellerman’s mountain resort.

The biggest takeaway from Dirty Dancing? “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”