Monday, September 14, 2009

Patrick Swayze, R.I.P.

Dang, I was truly saddened to just learn of Patrick Swayze’s passing.  I unabashedly admit that he was one of my “guilty pleasure” actors.  Sure, he didn’t win any academy awards, but I could not, and still cannot, resist his movies such as Dirty Dancing (just a sweet movie), Roadhouse (a terrific “ass-kicker” with Ben Gazzara as a fabulous villain), and my favorite of all the guilty pleasures, Point Break (tell me a better flick to sit back and watch with a bowl of popcorn).   While I really like Ghost, it was a tiny bit too serious/sappy to make my guilty pleasures list.

If you haven’t seen Point Break, I say dig it now in honor of Swayze – or watch it again in tribute.  The flick has absolutely some of the best stunt stuff you will see packed into one movie (surfing and sky diving scenes are epic), with Swayze at the height of his buff, athletic prime playing a yin/yang bad/good guy.  Keanu Reeves is the supposed star, but it is Swayze’s movie.  Gary Busey steals a few scenes and Lori Petty is a sweetheart in her role.  Check it out…

And off-screen Swayze was a stand up guy:

 Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on "man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws," he told the AP in 2004.

Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center, People magazine reported in a cover story.

I’m gonna miss him.

3 comments:

Lally said...

Beautiful post man, which I entirely agree with about the flicks, except I actually dig the sentimentality of GHOSTS and love everyone's performance in it, especially his. And thanks for that quoted bit about what a great guy he was and what a great marriage that sounded like. Lucky man (and woman).

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