Better Late Than Never
I know this is a little late, but I feel bad for having not yet given a shout out to the wonderful Patrick Swayze. I mean, how could I be so inconsiderate? This is the man who starred in Dirty Dancing, one of the greatest hits of the nineties—and one of every adolescent girl’s favorite movies of all time. I dare you to find one girl my age who didn’t watch this movie over and over again. Whether her parents let her or not. My friend Jenni and I would squeeze into the same recliner together and pause and rewind the butt scene a million times. Patrick Swayze was, at least for a short time, the heart-throb of teenybopper-dom. I would even go so far as to say, given the success of “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost,” he was probably one of the oldest actors ever to appear in rags like Teen Beat and Tiger Beat, (both of which Jenni and I would walk downtown to the local bookstore to flip through, gaggle over, and buy—along with our sacks of candy from Gardner’s across the street.) Oh, and “Ghost.”
Our town theater was so small it only showed one movie at a time. But I distinctly remember sitting in those seats with my friends, a row of ponytails and braces sniffling away into our tissues; trading glances through tear stained eyes, purple mascara running down our faces. And don’t even get me started on the pottery wheel scene. How many of us begged the teacher to invest in a pottery wheel for our junior high art class after that one?
I personally never saw “Roadhouse,” but it was on t.v. the other night while I was at work and lemme say this at least, it looks amazing. Like cultishly so bad-it’s-good amazing. But I have seen “Point Break.” And if you haven’t seen “Point Break,” then I’m sorry you missed out on the fabulous duality of acting dynamic that is Keanu Reeves AND Patrick Swayze playing surfers. Bank-robbing surfers. If you’re head is spinning around a little on your shoulders, I understand. But you still have to see the movie.
Then there was Swayze’s unexpected role in “To Wong Foo…” What another awesome cult classic that turned out to be. And starring Swayze, John Leguazamo, and Wesley Snipes in drag no less. All of whom were fabulous with a capital F. (Especially Leguazamo—although that is not to downplay the graceful charm of Swayze as a drag queen. Someone of his masculinity could hardly have been expected to pull this off so convincingly and charmingly.)
Last but not least, who coulda seen Swayze comin’ in the unlikely role he played in “Donnie Darko?” I won’t lie, I love this movie. As cliche as I feel like it makes me. He fit the role so perfectly; yet, I feel like he’s one of those actors that everyone can just tell is such a nice guy in real life, there’s no way this could have negatively implicated his career or type-cast him in future roles. He was so diverse as it was, he had already established himself as relevant. Someone who—thankfully—didn’t get stuck in those macho roles for the rest of his career.
But then, it hardly seems surprising. Just watching the way in which Swayze handled his last years battling cancer, stoically, with quiet grace and dignity even in the face of imminent death. How could you have anything but respect? Not to mention the fact that actors have the difficulty of dealing with paparazzi and the challenge of keeping their personal life out of the limelight.
And then there was that Chippendales sketch on SNL with Chris Farley. Comedy gold.
R.I.P. Patrick.
