GREASE & DIRTY DANCING @ The SMC Theater

SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents

Part of our THE HEART WANTS Series, Tuesday, February 7, 2023

LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021

*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.

7:30pm GREASE (1978, dir. Randal Kleiser, Paramount, USA, 110mns, Format Unconfirmed)

9:40pm DIRTY DANCING (1987, dir. Emile Ardolino, Swank, USA, 100mns, Format Unconfirmed)

Look. We’re not fools here at Secret Movie Club. Nor, dear God, do we ever want to be snobs. Movies can do all sorts of things for all sorts of people. Good cinema comes in all flavors. And a good movie is a good movie. Whether that’s Bela Tarr’s Satantago or Grease and Dirty Dancing. Yeah, we just said that. And we mean it.

Tonight, we offer up a Valentine’s month double feature we feel is going to get you singing, get you dancing, get you believing in fun movies again.

First up is the 1978 all-time musical classic Grease starring Olivia Newton-John (Rest In Peace) and John Travolta. Based on the Broadway musical, Grease tells the story of Australian do-gooder Sandy and bad boy with a heart of gold Danny who come back to high school after a summer romance.

In true fashion, things hit the rocks first and the whole movie is a musical journey of whether Sandy and Danny will get back together again or forever be kept apart by high school hormones, emotions, and fate.

This movie is filled with songs you’ve been hearing at slumber parties and drunken karaokes since your early twenties. It’s also a clever retro-riff on 1950’s musicals with a knowing wink to the realities that lie beneath the surface of many teenage love stories.

We follow that up with another beloved romantic classic that actually takes on reality more head on at the same time it gives you the dance numbers, the love scenes, and the dialogue you crave in a teenage classic.

That’s right Dirty Dancing, the movie my father wouldn’t let my sister see when she was a teenager (even though he let her watch Predator, Commando, The Running Man, Die Hard. . .). In fact, this is the kind of movie that probably makes a lot of fathers uncomfortable since it’s about two lovers directly defying a well-intentioned but prejudiced pop (our Dad was more understanding, he was just uncomfortable with the title Dirty Dancing).

Based on real life experiences of screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein, Dirty Dancing tells the summer romance story of 17 year old Frances “Baby” Houseman (a wonderfully powerful Jennifer Grey) who takes the traditional upper middle class Jewish vacation to the Catskills only to fall in love with the resort’s bad boy dance instructor (and Goy) Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze, forever cementing his stardom).

There’s a theme tonight-good girls and bad boys. But the bad boys aren’t really that bad. . .in fact, they’re gentlemen ultimately who have to fight to be recognized as such.

When Johnny’s dance partner gets pregnant and has to deal with the real life implications, Baby steps in to be Johnny’s dance partner. . .and incurs the wrath of her father and other vacationers who see her as “slumming” with the help.

It all builds to a dance finale (of course it would) in which Baby and Johnny have to take their stand for what is right against judgmental and (often hypocritical) prejudice.

Plus there’s lots of dirty dancing, love making, and music (that often is from the 1980’s instead of the 1960’s but let us let that go).

So come join us for a double bill we hope is romantic fire!

Best always,

Craig Hammill

Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

REFUNDS:

We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.

However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: [email protected] and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)

HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:

We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.

There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.

HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?

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HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:

You can always email us at [email protected] with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.

Host or Publisher Secret Movie Club