RIP Patrick Swayze
I was saddened to hear that Patrick Swayze died yesterday--he was 57, the same age as my mom!--of pancreatic cancer. I always liked his movies, but what I loved most about him was that there was a masculinity to him, yet he was an amazing dancer. In many ways, he was the Gene Kelly of the 80s crossed with an action hero.
I remember not being allowed to watch Dirty Dancing as a kid. I first saw it when I was 17 and I finally got my own rental card for the video store (they were a lot stricter back then). It was my first rental on my card, and I snuck down to my parents' basement and watched it late at night. I fell in love with it. I believe that I have 90% of it memorized. Once, I sat and counted the lines that the mom had throughout the film (11) and made my friends listen to my theory about the marginalization of women in the film and how Baby creates an identity separate from the society female just as much because of her mother's absence and what it represented as because of her pull toward Swayze. (Can anyone guess why I was drawn to film studies??)
I'm not a big fan of Ghost...not because of him, but because of the story. I just think that movies about ghosts coming back to help their loved ones are dumb: you get all caught up in the action and the romance of it, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking, "Yeah, but he's DEAD. At the end of the movie, he's leaving because he's DEAD. How is this making the loneliness for the rest of your life any better??" At least he protected her from a bad guy, so I suppose that makes sense. But he's DEAD. Not romantic at all.
I remember, too, watching North and South with my parents on TV (or perhaps when it came out on video, I don't remember). Probably not the best introduction to the Civil War ever, but boy was it moving! I loved that miniseries. I must buy it soon.
I was just looking at some stuff online, and found this trailer for his first movie Skatetown, USA in 1979. Check it out. Don't blink and miss a pre-Charles in Charge Scott Baio and a post-Brady Bunch Maureen McCormack! And dang if Patrick Swayze doesn't look just as buff in recent photos as he did back then.
I so want to see this movie now!!
I remember not being allowed to watch Dirty Dancing as a kid. I first saw it when I was 17 and I finally got my own rental card for the video store (they were a lot stricter back then). It was my first rental on my card, and I snuck down to my parents' basement and watched it late at night. I fell in love with it. I believe that I have 90% of it memorized. Once, I sat and counted the lines that the mom had throughout the film (11) and made my friends listen to my theory about the marginalization of women in the film and how Baby creates an identity separate from the society female just as much because of her mother's absence and what it represented as because of her pull toward Swayze. (Can anyone guess why I was drawn to film studies??)
I'm not a big fan of Ghost...not because of him, but because of the story. I just think that movies about ghosts coming back to help their loved ones are dumb: you get all caught up in the action and the romance of it, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking, "Yeah, but he's DEAD. At the end of the movie, he's leaving because he's DEAD. How is this making the loneliness for the rest of your life any better??" At least he protected her from a bad guy, so I suppose that makes sense. But he's DEAD. Not romantic at all.
I remember, too, watching North and South with my parents on TV (or perhaps when it came out on video, I don't remember). Probably not the best introduction to the Civil War ever, but boy was it moving! I loved that miniseries. I must buy it soon.
I was just looking at some stuff online, and found this trailer for his first movie Skatetown, USA in 1979. Check it out. Don't blink and miss a pre-Charles in Charge Scott Baio and a post-Brady Bunch Maureen McCormack! And dang if Patrick Swayze doesn't look just as buff in recent photos as he did back then.
Click to viewI so want to see this movie now!!