Let a Man Not Be Remembered By the Crap He Stared In

Poor Patrick Swayze. He probably made some poor decisions in his life but no more then you or me. He didn’t deserve to die of cancer. There are plenty of people in this world whose deeds have earned them such a fate but I doubt that Patrick Swayze is one of them.

Patrick was not the best actor in the world, hell he might not even have been the best actor in his high school play...I don’t know, I wasn’t there. But I’ll be dammed if he’s remembered for just Dirty Dancing and ack....Ghost. What about the other movies....you know the good ones?

It seems that when people talk about Swayze’s career, they will mention a few movies that he stared in. But depending on whom you are speaking to you will hear different titles. Women, gay men, and those who have had their manhood taken by marriage will automatically bring up the two above mentioned titles. However if you speak to a man, or possibly a very butch lesbian you will get tiles like Roadhouse.

See this is where I get confused. Roadhouse is a kick ass movie as are Point Break and Red Dawn. Why aren’t these the ones he’s remembered for? There is no reason that Men and Women (and others in between) can’t agree on this. There’s action and chases and hot babes for the guys and then there’s Patrick Swayze, half naked no less, for the women.

You’re nodding your head but at the same time you’re thinking...yeah but Dirty Dancing was a classic. It was only a classic in so much as video rental places and TNT have made it so. The movie was not a critically acclaimed success. It did win an Oscar but that was for best music...not for the acting. It was also a flop at the box office only pulling in $3.9M in 1987 when it cost almost $6M to make the damn thing. Now compare that to Roadhouse which was his next big film in 1989. The movie was also panned (it was nominated for a few Razzy Awards) but it hit the jackpot in the box office grossing $30M+ with an estimated budget of $19M. Hell, back in 1984, Red Dawn grossed over $8M, just in the opening weekend. That beats the hell out of DD’s full box office run.

Come on people, let’s celebrate Swayze’s entire career but if we’re going to highlight films, lets highlight the good ones! As Bodhi says, “Yo, Johnny! I see you in the next life!”