"Last week I took a girl away from Jamie the lifeguard" -- Part 7

This article follows up Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.

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Imagine that you are watching the movie Dirty Dancing for the first time. On Baby Houseman's first night at the resort hotel, she has befriended Neil Kellerman and is dancing with him in the ballroom. Then Baby is delighted by the sight of Johnny Castle dancing. You in the movie audience anticipate that the movie might tell how Baby will leave her initial friendship with Neil and move into a romantic relationship with Johnny.

A little later in the movie, Baby runs into Billy Kellerman, who is carrying some watermelons to a party in the employees' bunkhouse. Billy remarks that Baby is not allowed into the bunkhouse and remarks also that he has seen Baby dancing with Neil recently.

Billy Kostecki
No guests allowed. House rules.

Why don't you go back to the playhouse

I saw you dancing with little boss man.

Despite the house rules, Baby goes into the bunkhouse, where she sees Johnny dancing. Baby herself dances briefly with Johnny.

A little later in the movie, Baby is in the hotel's gazebo, where some older people are dancing easy ballroom dances. Baby is watching Johnny dance there. Neil comes into the gazebo, talks briefly with Johnny about Penny Johnson's absence and then says to Baby: "Come on, Doll, let's take a walk". Baby compliantly walks away from the gazebo with Neil.

So far into the movie, Neil has not done anything wrong. He is in a continuing relationship with Baby, whom he calls "Doll". He has been dancing with her in "the playhouse". When he wants to take a walk, she accompanies him obediently, as a good girlfriend should do.

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The movie audience, watching the story for the first time, is hoping that Baby will get into a romantic relationship with Johnny. However, Neil still has not done anything wrong that would make him deserve to be dumped by Baby.

Now Neil will annoy Baby and the movie audience by seeming to boast about his ability to attract other girls easily by means of his wealth.

Neil complimenting Baby's beauty and
boasting that he can get other girls.

Here is the scene's entire dialogue:

Neil Kellerman
I love to watch your hair blowing in the breeze.

Baby Houseman
Maybe my parents are looking for me.

Neil Kellerman
Baby, don't worry. If they think you're with me, they'll be the happiest parents at Kellerman's. I have to say it: I'm known as the catch of the county.

Baby Houseman
I'm sure you are.

Neil Kellerman
Last week I took a girl away from Jamie, the lifeguard. And he said to her, right in front of me: "What does he have that I don't have?" And she said, "Two hotels."

(Lisa Houseman and Robbie Gould rush out of the woods and talk at each other.)

Lisa Houseman
Robbie, I don't hear an apology.

Robbie Gould
Go back to Mommy and Daddy and keep listening. Maybe you'll hear one in your dreams.

Neil Kellerman
I'm sorry you had to see that, Baby. Sometimes in this world, you see things you don't wanna see.

You hungry? Come on.

Baby goes with Neil to the hotel's kitchen. She says nothing more about her parents looking for her.

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During that dialogue, Neil is thinking that Baby feels attracted to him but that her inexperience inhibits her from acting romantically. To encourage her, he hints to her that he likewise feels attracted to her -- he loves to watch her hair -- and that therefore their attraction is mutual. If she will act on her attraction to him, then he will reciprocate He will not dismiss her romantic action, and so she will not be embarrassed and humiliated.

When Baby remarks Maybe my parents are looking for me, Neil misinterprets her concern. Neil thinks that Baby is thinking the following thought:

Maybe my parents do not want me to be with Neil, and so they might come looking for me in order to take me away from him.

Thinking thus, Neil reassures Baby:

Baby, don't worry. If they think you're with me, they'll be the happiest parents at Kellerman's. I have to say it: I'm known as the catch of the county.

Neil is reassuring Baby in order to encourage her to act on her inhibited attraction toward him.

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Then Neil continues:

Last week I took a girl away from Jamie, the lifeguard.

And he said to her, right in front of me: "What does he have that I don't have?"

And she said, "Two hotels."

This is Neil's round-about way to explain why he is known as "the catch of the county". Neil's intended to communicate the following thought:

Do not worry, Baby, that your parents do not want you to be with me. They will not come looking for you in order to take you away from me. On the contrary, your parents know that you are with me and are happy that you are with me. They are happy because I am "the catch of the county", because I own two hotels in this county.

When Neil boasts about his wealth, he is reassuring Baby that her parents are happy about his wealth. In other words, his train of thought was this:

1) Baby's parents are happy that Baby is with Neil.

2) Therefore her parents are not looking for her, to take her away from him.

3) Her parents are happy because he is the catch of the county.

4) He is the catch of the county largely because he owns two hotels there.

This train of thought is based on the fact that Baby's parents had seen Baby walk away from the gazebo with Neil and therefore knew that she was with him. Therefore in Neil's mind, the only reason why Baby said Maybe my parents are looking for me was that she was concerned that her parents might come take her away from him.

Of course, that was not the only possible reason, but that was the only reason that Neil imagined.

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Into Neil's train of thought, however, he injects a remark about his taking a girl away from a lifeguard during the previous week. Instead of injecting that remark, Neil might have said simply:

Baby, don't worry. If they think you're with me, they'll be the happiest parents at Kellerman's. My family is wealthy. I myself own two hotels.

Ironically, Neil interjected the remark about the girl, because the girl -- not Neil himself -- is the person who used the expression "the catch of the county". Neil does not want to boast I am the catch of the county. Rather, he wants to say that I am known as the catch of the county, because that is what I am called by other people. For example, that is what I was called last week by the lifeguard's former girlfriend.

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The movie audience does not know how this dialogue between Neil and Bay might have continued. Right then, the dialogue was interrupted by the appearance of Lisa Houseman and Robbie Gould, who are arguing with each other.

After that interruption, though, Neil and Baby remain friendly with each other. She does not seem to be offended by his boast about his ability to attract other girls easily by means of his wealth.

When Neil suggests that Baby accompany him to get something to eat, she accompanies him.

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I will continue this series in Part 8.