During the past number of months, we heard ongoing reports about Patrick Swayze’s pancreatic cancer and subsequent declining health.
Sadly, twenty months after diagnosis, Swayze has passed away from his illness.
It’s a sad death, but not an unexpected one; we knew he was dying for some time, so, like Farrah Fawcett or Paul Newman, we were reluctantly awaiting the sad news.
Still, Swayze left a lasting mark on American cinema in the 80’s and 90’s. So many of his movies are memorable and timeless, and all of his characters are unique. Who else but Swayze could claim to have played a dance instructor, a ghost, a bouncer, a drag queen, a surfer/skydiver/bank robber, and a motivational speaker/pedophile?
Patrick Swayze was the man who inspired couples around the world to start using the pottery wheel, to practice their smoldering dance moves in a lake, to fight against invading Soviet troops in Colorado.
Sure, the third choice isn’t as romantic as the first two, but who can resist the battle cry of “WOLVERINES”?
He was a great actor who completely embodied his characters. Even though he was 35 when he played Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing and Jennifer Gray’s character was supposed to be seventeen, you never doubted the sexual chemistry between them.
Re-watch the Chippendales sketch with Chris Farley from Saturday Night Live – the man never breaks character, even when Farley’s pants are starting to slide down mid gyrating.
Now that’s commitment to your craft.
He had the versatility to play ultra-feminine (Vida Boheme in Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar) and kick-your-ass cool (Dalton in Road House).
Probably the coolest character on his resume was that of Bodhi in Point Break, a surf enthusiast and “ex-president” who strikes up a bordering-on-guy-love relationship with Keanu Reeves’s “EFF-BEE-EYE agent.”
Their turbulent bromance was so over-the-top that it was parodied, to hilarious effect, in Hot Fuzz.
Movies aside, Swayze was a rarity in Hollywood: a faithful sex icon. He was married to the same woman for over thirty years, a small slice on the pie graph of Hollywood.
The man also landed a twin-engine Cessna on a dirt road when it was experiencing pressure problems. Had he been nominated for an Oscar or two and/or endorsed a couple of food products, he might as well have been the Baby Boomers’ Paul Newman.
We are not only left with the sad news of Patrick Swayze’s death, but with his entire career. It was a career that ended too soon, that never really reached its full critical potential. For those who want to revisit his catalog, I recommend the classics: Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and Point Break. We can sleep peacefully knowing that Swayze has gone off to spin that great pottery wheel in the sky.
