By all accounts, Patrick Swayze was a great guy. While he won't be remembered as his generation's Olivier, he did carve out a substantial place in the popular culture with a surprisingly eclectic filmography. Mention some of his early films such as Red Dawn or Roadhouse and you can't help but smile. Dirty Dancing would have been a forgotten B-movie of the 80's but for Swayze's rare combination of masculinity, grace and charisma (he was the son of a famous choreographer). And in Ghost he and Demi Moore made pottery clay sexy. He also was willing to poke fun at his own image with his classic Saturday Night Live Chippendales audition skit, playing the straight man alongside Chris Farley.
While he evidently thought it was serious, Swayze provided laughs that rivaled Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" when Swayze made his own attempt at pop music stardom with the 80's power ballad "She's Like the Wind." To be fair, he did have a decent voice. My Dad was telling me last night that years ago, he and my Mom stopped to eat at some restaurant outside of Austin, and Swayze was there with some friends and family. Swayze entertained the restaurant guests by singing and playing the piano.
All of this is great and all, but for me his real legacy will be Point Break. Those of you who read my Top 50 Movies list might remember my fondness for this cult classic from 1991.
ABOVE: I couldn't find a great scene featuring Swayze on YouTube from Point Break, but someone had put together this set of skydiving and surfing clips from the film and set it to some nice ambient music. Swayze did all of his own skydiving and surfing stunts in Point Break, so it is a nice tribute of sorts.
And now, "She's Like the Wind"...
RIP Patrick Swayze
2 comments:
What about "To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar"?
I have actually been following his story fairly closely. He was diagnosed the same day as my mother in law with pancreatic cancer and they were almost the exact same age. He died five months to the day after her. After watching her go through it, I do not wish that disease on anyone. The fact that he made it 17 months from the date of his diagnosis is unbelievable, since usually you are lucky if you last 6, especially if it is inoperable.
Mrs Pocky was actually a bit upset last night when we heard the news; not because she was a big Swayze fan, but because she was tracking his story along with her mom.
RIP Patrick Swayze. Thanks for bringing awareness to a frightening disease.
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