Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Stay gold, Patrick Swayze. Stay gold.



Patrick Swayze has been such a huge part of my movie-watching years. I can't remember which I saw first: The Outsiders or Dirty Dancing, but I fell equally in love with Darrell Curtis and Johnny Castle, and thus fell for Patrick Swayze himself.

Even though I've seen Dirty Dancing enough times to recite the whole movie by heart (providing much fuel for Hubby's make-fun-of-Cheryl fire), it's like a force that prevents me from changing the channel whenever it's on TV. When the movie was rereleased in the theater a few years ago? I was there, and yes, I even created a scrapbook layout dedicated to it. And while Swayze delivers many unforgettable lines, my favorite scenes are the ones in which he doesn't talk at all.

Screenshot from Dirty Dancing.
Click picture to play yummy, hot scene (not for young eyes).

Then there's The Outsiders - from where the title of this post originates - a movie that doesn't get nearly enough recognition, if you ask me (and by reading my blog, you did, even if you didn't realize it). This one's not replayed a whole lot on TV, but I of course own it (both versions, in fact), and it's tradition for me to watch it at least once a year (when I was teaching, I watched it five times a year). If you haven't seen it, you should add it to your Netflix queue (as in now; I'll wait).



Screenshots from The Outsiders.
Click on the top pic to see the super-cheesy trailer.

Speaking of cheesy... let's talk Ghost. Wait, wait, wait- before you unfollow me for sacrilege, I admit that I love the movie. But I - and you - can't deny its layer of cheese. That said, it makes me cry every time. In fact, just thinking about it makes me teary. I think I might have to put a moratorium on watching it for a little while because you know seeing Patrick Swayze play a ghost is going to be even more heart-wrenching now. I can't even look at the pictures or play the clips on YouTube, SO moving on...

I know it's a terrible movie (looking at Hubby, who I know is going to roll his eyes when he reads this), but I can't help it- I love Road House.

Screenshot from Road House.
Click on pic to see a trailer even cheesier than The Outsiders one (I think... it's a tossup).

His best role, though, was his most recent. If you haven't seen The Beast, A&E is having a marathon tomorrow (click on the image source below for a teaser, as well as links to other videos). I only wish he was around to film another season.


He put up one heck of a fight, in typical Patrick Swayze style, and hopefully through the awareness he raised, we'll soon find a cure for what took him away from us too soon.

I look forward to the day when my daughter (who is completely imaginary right now) is old enough to watch Dirty Dancing with me. That is how, I know, he will live on for years to come.

Rest in peace, Patrick Swayze.


If you're reading this post in an email and can't see the video, click here.

7 comments:

~Kristen~ said...

I have been so sad about his passing. And I am with you on all of those movies...even the ones that definitely were cheesy! And I am not ashamed to admit I fully enjoyed Point Break, too...c'mon, Patrick AND Keanu?!? can you stand it?!?! lol But seriously, I don't think I will be able to watch Dirty Dancing without crying now. It came out when I was in my senior year of high school and "Time Of My Life" was our senior prom song (can we talk cheese again?)...{{{{sigh}}} the memories...

Jen Shults said...

This has been really sad for me too. He was an icon of my youth. I can't tell you how many times I sneaked over to my friends house to watch Dirty Dancing because it was definite contraband in my house. And Road House and Point Break. Classics.

Bumbles and Fairy-Tales said...

Thanks for posting this! I'm really sad too... Dirty Dancing and it's soundtrack is right on top of my list of musts every couple of months. Road House is a fave of mine and my Dad's, whenever it's on TV we sit and watch no matter what is going on...

Also, thank you for all of you super sweet comments :)
I love them all and really appreciate you visiting me!

Anonymous said...

wow-what a great tribute. thanks for sharing this. my mom was really upset-we were both humongous fans and still will be-definitely doing a patrick marathon this weekend :)

xoxo

Teena in Toronto said...

Sad news :(

Jenn said...

Very nice post!

I was not a big fan of his movies but he always seemed like a nice person when interviewed. Sad news for sure but glad he no longer had to suffer from cancer.

Oh, I still love the Outsiders. I will watch it any time I catch it on.

Kelly said...

The Outsiders was my first favorite movie and remains in the top spot, and I, too, have both versions. It's just timeless. That's a credit to the book, but it's also a huge credit to the acting -- with Patrick's Darry at the top of the list. I'm so happy to find another The Outsiders fan, even if it's because of something so incredibly sad.

I'm still a little teary, especially after re-watching all the videos in your post!

Deconstructing Jen - I wasn't allowed to watch Dirty Dancing either, so I, too, had to sneak around. It was so worth it!

I'm also Netflixing The Beast. I'm usually an A&E whore but somehow missed this!