‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ ‘Up in Smoke’ among Movies Entering the National Film Registry

 This image released by the Library of Congress shows James Cagney, right, in a scene from the 1938 film "Angels with Dirty Faces." (Warner Bros/Discovery/Library of Congress via AP)
This image released by the Library of Congress shows James Cagney, right, in a scene from the 1938 film "Angels with Dirty Faces." (Warner Bros/Discovery/Library of Congress via AP)
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‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ ‘Up in Smoke’ among Movies Entering the National Film Registry

 This image released by the Library of Congress shows James Cagney, right, in a scene from the 1938 film "Angels with Dirty Faces." (Warner Bros/Discovery/Library of Congress via AP)
This image released by the Library of Congress shows James Cagney, right, in a scene from the 1938 film "Angels with Dirty Faces." (Warner Bros/Discovery/Library of Congress via AP)

Nobody puts baby in a corner, but they're putting her in the National Film Registry.

“Dirty Dancing,” along with another 1980s culture-changer, “Beverly Hills Cop,” are entering the Library of Congress' registry, part of an annual group of 25 announced Wednesday that spans 115 years of filmmaking.

“Dirty Dancing” from 1987 used the physicality and chemistry of Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle and Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman to charm generations of moviegoers, while also taking on issues like abortion, classism and antisemitism. In the climactic moment, Swayze defiantly declares, “Nobody puts baby in a corner” before taking Grey to dance to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.”

1984's “Beverly Hills Cop,” the first Eddie Murphy film in the registry, arguably made him the world's biggest movie star at the time and made action comedies a blockbuster staple for a decade.

Since 1988, the Librarian of Congress has annually selected movies for preservation that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. The current picks bring the registry to 900 films. Turner Classic Movies will host a TV special on Wednesday, screening a selection of the class of 2024.

The oldest film is from 1895 and brought its own form of dirty dancing: “Annabelle Serpentine Dance” is a minute-long short of a shimmying Annabelle Moore that was decried by many as a public indecency for the suggestiveness of her moves. The newest is David Fincher's “The Social Network" from 2010.

A look at some of the films entering the registry “Pride of the Yankees” (1942): The film became the model for the modern sports tear-jerker, with Gary Cooper playing Lou Gehrig and delivering the classic real-life line: “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

“The Miracle Worker” (1962): Anne Bancroft won an Oscar for best actress for playing title character Anne Sullivan and 16-year-old Patty Duke won best supporting actress for playing her deaf and blind protege Helen Keller in director Arthur Penn's film.

“Up in Smoke” (1978): The first feature to star the duo of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong established a template for the stoner genre and brought weed culture to the mainstream. Marin, who also appears in the inductee “Spy Kids” from 2001, is one of many Latinos with prominent roles in this year's crop of films.

“Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” (1982): The second movie in the “Star Trek” franchise featured one of filmdom's great villains in Ricardo Montalban's Khan, and showed that the world of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock could bring vital thrills to the cinema.

“Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt” (1989): The Oscar-winning documentary on the NAMES Project Aids Memorial Quilt was a landmark telling of the devastation wrought by the disease.

“My Own Private Idaho” (1991): Director Gus Van Sant's film featured perhaps the greatest performance of River Phoenix, a year before the actor's death at age 23.

“American Me” (1992): Edward James Olmos starred and made his film directorial debut in this tale of Chicano gang life in Los Angeles and the brutal prison experience of its main character.

“No Country for Old Men” (2007): Joel and Ethan Coen broke through at the Oscars with their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, winning best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, while Javier Bardem won best supporting actor for playing a relentless killer with an unforgettable haircut.



Actor Gene Hackman and Wife Found Dead at Home 

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
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Actor Gene Hackman and Wife Found Dead at Home 

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)
Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. (AP)

Gene Hackman, the intense character actor who won two Oscars in a more than 60-year career, has died alongside his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog at home, the sheriff's office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said on Thursday.

The county sheriff's office said deputies had found the 95-year-old actor and Arakawa, 64, deceased on Wednesday afternoon at around 1:45 p.m.

"Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths at this time, however exact cause of death has not been determined. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office," it said.

Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde." He was also nominated for best supporting actor in 1971 for "I Never Sang for My Father."

It was his turn as Popeye Doyle, the rumpled New York detective chasing international drug dealers in director William Friedkin's thriller "The French Connection," that assured his stardom and a best actor Academy Award.

He also won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1993 as a mean sheriff in the Clint Eastwood western "Unforgiven," and was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn as an FBI agent in the 1988 historical drama "Mississippi Burning."

Hackman could come across on the screen as menacing or friendly, working with a face that he described to the New York Times in 1989 as that of "your everyday mine worker."

A method actor, he drew from his personal experience to flesh out a role. His characters were sometimes raw and violent and ranged from a small-town basketball coach in the 1986 sports film "Hoosiers" to Superman's archrival Lex Luthor.

He retired in his 70s, saying the parts he was offered were too grandfatherly. His last substantial role was in the 2004 comedy "Welcome to Mooseport."

Living outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hackman was married twice and had three children - Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017. He married Arakawa in 1991.