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Summer Movies,
Had Me
a Blast ...

ANDY GOTLIEB | JE STAFF
P eople equate all sorts of thing with summer: the shore,
water ice, first romances, cheesy novels, fireworks,
swimming pools and baseball, to name a few.

But don’t forget about movies.

During a recent Jewish Exponent staff meeting, the conversa-
tion morphed into a discussion about movies — specifically ones
that reminded us of summer. We all came up with some pretty
good selections (or so we thought) and present them for your
consideration. No doubt there’s plenty of room for debate.

Liz Spikol, editor-in-chief
“Dirty Dancing” (1987)
No other summer movie so evocatively conjures a particular
moment in Ashkenazi American life — when the Catskills and
the Borscht Belt were king; when summer vacations were taken
as a family, before the heyday of sending kids to overnight camp;
when dating a non-Jewish blond-haired, blue-eyed boy felt like a
fabulously illicit adventure.

Based on summers at the famed Jewish resort Kellerman’s,
“Dirty Dancing” tells the story of a Jewish girl called Baby
(Jennifer Grey) who finds love with a hunky non-Jewish dance
instructor (Patrick Swayze), but not before they’re both drawn
into a web of drama regarding secret abortions and class conflict.

These days the film is mostly remembered for the culminating
dance scene in which Swayze lifts a gossamer Grey into the air,
and for being as cheesy as ’80s films could get. But it’s also a
window into a vanished summer world.

Andy Gotlieb, managing editor
“Grease” (1978)
“Grease” remains the word more than 40 years after its initial
release — I first saw it at sleepaway camp during its original
release the summer of 1978.

The film screams summer, complete with its sing-along songs,
hefty doses of nostalgia and eye candy in the form of Olivia
Newtown-John and John Travolta. The plot is frothy enough
that not a whole lot of brainpower is required to comprehend it,
making it perfect for June, July and August.

14 JUNE 25, 2020
Vestron Pictures
Paramount Pictures
For those who’ve been in a cave for decades, here’s the plot:
Boy and girl (from Australia) meet over the summer. When
school rolls around in the fall, they unexpectedly meet again (she
was supposed to go back to Australia). Trouble ensues because
she’s a “good girl” and he’s a “bad boy.” Various attempts to
reconcile occur. A happy ending wraps things up.

All that said, there are a few peculiar things about “Grease.”
How about that cast of supposed high school students, many
of whom have crow’s feet? Rizzo (Stockard Channing) was 34!
Or, for such a light-hearted movie, how some of the lyrics
in “Greased Lightning” wouldn’t be out of place in a Lil Wayne
song? And how about the anti-girl power message that women
should change themselves to win a man?
Yeah, I realize I’m overthinking it. Just enjoy the movie.

Jesse Bernstein, books editor and staff writer
“Midsommar” (2019)
If horror movies aren’t really your thing, the end of this
THIS SUMMER
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Grand ReOpening
50 %
UP TO
Sale A24
Pre-Summer Disney
sentence may be where you exit this ride. If you’re still with us,
I implore you to watch “Midsommar,” last summer’s terrifying
trip to the most horrifying locale imaginable: the picturesque
Swedish countryside.

Still reeling from a traumatic event that I won’t reveal here,
Dani (Florence Pugh) decides to join her boyfriend, Chris-
tian (Jack Reynor), as he and his friends follow a Swedish
acquaintance to his village’s once-every-90-years midsummer
celebration. Th ings do not go as planned as the American
travelers behave poorly, turn on one another and learn more
about the festival.

At the same time, Dani comes to notice increasingly concern-
ing things about Christian (he doesn’t remember her birthday,
for one). Get ready for something called an ättestupa, as well as
close-up shots of severed and mutilated things that, generally
speaking, you don’t want in such condition. Great score, too.

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Sophie Panzer, staff writer
“High School Musical 2” (2007)
As someone who spent a good part of 1997 living in a uterus,
this movie’s release in 2007 meant my childhood was profoundly
shaped by the “High School Musical” franchise.

Nostalgia aside, “High School Musical 2” is the perfect movie
to revive the part of your soul that died during week eight of
quarantine and make it vaguely excited for summer again.

Choreographed and directed by Kenny Ortega of “Dirty
Dancing” fame, the fi lm’s premise is simple: Aft er proving that
kids from diff erent cliques can be friends, the East High Wildcats
are all set to enjoy summer when the reality of earning money for
college sets in.

Everyone somehow gets jobs at the same country club, which
is owned by the wealthy parents of Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) and
Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale). Tensions fl are along class lines as the
teens prepare for rival performances at the club talent show, but
as per Disney requirements, everyone is friends again by the fi nal
number. Every song in the soundtrack is a bop. Opening number
“What Time is It?” and rich-girl anthem “Fabulous,” will be
stuck in your head for three weeks. While leading couple Troy
(Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) have the chemistry
of damp socks, the unacknowledged but undeniable sexual ten-
sion between Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Ryan in “I Don’t Dance”
makes up for it.

Th e fi lm is also an opportunity to congratulate yourself for
surviving the fashion disaster that was the early 2000s. Low-rise
jeans! Striped polos! Th e color aqua! l
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THIS SUMMER
JUNE 25, 2020
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