I'm an unabashed Swayze fan. No, really. The Outsiders, Red Dawn, North and South (Orry Main was a badass), Point Break, Next of Kin (underrated), and of course super-badass Dalton in Road House.
Hell, even Ghost was about the most enjoyable chick flick if you ever had to see one. I'm not sure what all happened in the mid-90's where his career went all Costner, but I dug his heyday work a lot more than I would have figured.And by all accounts, he was a tremendously good dude. 57 is young; that's 18 years away for me. 18 years ago (when I was sitting in the Greenleafe drinking electric lemonades, throwing darts, and listening to The Flannel Animals with Rob and Dave) quite obviously seems like not too far in the rearview.
So drink up and live well, people. And remember: "If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love."
Wolverines!
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Dating myself (along with you), but I remember North and South a little too well, courtesy of an older sister and a mother who liked them some red hot Swayze.
It took me until the late 80's to realize that Swayze was not the same guy who co-starred in Lords of Discipline, Officer and a Gentleman and Firestarter. Allegedgly, that guy is David Keith.
Vaya con Dios, Brah.
Again dating myself, but The Outsiders was a bad-ass movie, especially if you saw it when you were 12 or under. Matt Dillon as Dally and Swayze as Darrel were about as cool as two characters could be. The rumble, Dally's shooting, the fire and the hospital scenes were as good as it got for a 10 year old version of me.
Looking back, the entire cast was pretty ridiculous (Rob Lowe, Estevez, Matt Dillon, Cruise, Swayze, Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Leif Garrett, Diane Lane).
I'd like to host a panel discussion about Patrick Swayze featuring David Keith, Keith David, Congressman David Davis and running back Kenton Keith.
C. Thomas Howell, also in Red Dawn. Patrick Swayze's career got derailed in the 90's, but Howell was a bigger bust than Todd Marinovich. After these two flicks, he does The Hitcher and Soul Man, then . . . nothing. Within 7 or 8 years of those films, Rob and I are watching his performances on Cinemax Late Night along with Nicole Eggert, Shannon Tweed, and the guy from "The Greatest American Hero."
Oh, and in the spirit of Music Month, today we're going to be releasing an a capella version of Patrick Swayze's song, "She's Like the Wind" as sung by the voices at Gheorghe: The Blog.
How can you leave out his tremendous work in "Side Out"?
I've seen Side Out more times than I'd like to admit. Any movie involving Bernie from Weekend at Bernie's, Rocky's corner guy who beats Russians in chess, Courtney Thorne Smith, and that dude from Thirty Something (Peter Horton?) is worth 90 minutes of my time.
Swayze was tough as nails. No one survives with pancreatic cancer for as long as he did.
It is Peter Horton, and TJ is correct that it is blasphemy to ignore that movie, as unwatchabel as it may be. Let's not forget that Howell had quite a lenghty run in the 1980's: Tank, ET, Secret Admirer, Soul Man, Outsiders, Red Dawn...
Soul Man has some sneaky funny scenes and a very bizarre supporting cast, including Rae Dawn Chong, Leslie Nielsen playing a racist, James Earl Jones, Julia Louise Dreyfus and Arye Gross, a poor man's Mark Linn-Baker.
C. Thomas Howell, who co-starred with Swayze in "The Outsiders," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Red Dawn," said: "I have always had a special place in my heart for Patrick. While I was fortunate enough to work with him in three films, it was our passion for horses that forged a friendship between us that I treasure to this day. Not only did we lose a fine actor today, I lost my older `Outsiders' brother."
I would contend that Mark Linn Baker is a poor man's Ayre Gross. Baker only has Perfect Strangers to his credit, whereas Gross was in any number of forgettable films, including personal favorite "The Experts" with John Travolta and Kelly Preston, wherein Travolta and Gross are secretly kidnapped and brought to Russia in order to open a disco that will show Russian spies how to act like Americans.
To Zoltan's point, the guy was dying of cancer but refused to take meds while filming his recent A&E show "The Beast" because it would affect his tv character's personality.
He also performed Jennifer Grey's nose job.
as whitney notes, 'next of kin' is seriously underrated. swayze and neeson in the same film. there's my thesis.
In all seriousness, Linn-Baker is a highly regarded Broadway star who is often in big productions. I know you're saying (in your best Balki voice) "Don't be REEE-dick-u-lous," but it's true.
The Experts was such a train-wreck that it is literally impossible to watch it without wincing. At least Travolta met Preston on the set and locked down a sexy beard.
Yeah...that movie was in the $2 bin at Erols (on VHS, of course) and my sister picked it up. I believe it is still in my mom's attic.
Now we do the dance of joy...
Here's a Swayze-related bit I just remembered. Rob and I went to a wedding in the mid-90's that took place at Mountain Lake, VA -- where Dirty Dancing was filmed. He wanted to act out parts of the movie, but I wasn't all that familiar.
During the course of the 3-4 hour reception, the DJ played "I've Had the Time of My Life" 5 times (at least). Like every 45 minutes, it'd start up again. I think I had to slug two beers on a bet because of the final playing.
And that's a nice PCU reference in a Next of Kin comment from our little buddy.
Anyone else sitting at their desk laughing their ass off picturing rob in the corner of the dance floor repeating over and over again "nobody puts baby in a corner"?
Just me? OK.
I used to love C Thomas Howell. I had the Tommy Howell Tiger Beat posters on my wall. And the Outsiders is a classic. "Lets do it for Johnny!"
C. Thomas Howell is starring in the new M. Night Shyamalan flick. It's based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about J. Edgar Hoover's controversial investigation of J. Paul Getty. It also stars F. Murray Abraham and A. Whitney Brown.
mr. whitney - i think the lake you refer to in va is actually "smith mtn lake" and i believe the movie, was shot in n.c., at lake lure....and i'm surprised no one brought up point break - it's 100% pure adrenalin.
Dan, I respect your dissenting comment but reject it wholly. Please see this link for some edification.
http://www.fourseasonscottages.com/movies.htm
i'll call it a draw...which is generous....
Finkle is Einhorn...Einhorn is Finkle
i believe "next of kin" is what made me unplug the cable during our summer of un-love in nag's head.
we also saw "point break" in the theater that summer, so perhaps we should now refer to it as "summer of swayze."
and remember the most important thing about beig a bad-ass bouncer: be nice.
. . .until it's time not to be nice.
C. Thomas needs a new publicist. His IMDB bio contains this gem:
In 2003 he was hospitalized for 4 weeks because of a ruptured appendix, a very serious illness, fatal if not treated on time. He lost 45 pounds and surgeons had to take out 3 feet of his intestine among other things in order to save his life. That's the real reason behind his gaunt look in all his movies between 2003 and 2005. As of today he has fully recovered. He's currently working out with a trainer and he has already gained 12 pounds of muscles and his face has filled back. He's also following a strict protein and carbohydrate diet.
"surgeons had to take out 3 feet of his intestine among other things"
What things were among those "other things"?
From the Wikipedia site on Dirty Dancing:
For a location for the film, they did not find anything suitable in the Catskills, so they decided on a combination of two locations: Lake Lure in North Carolina, and Mountain Lake Resort near Roanoke, Virginia, with careful editing making it look like all of the shooting was done in the same area.
Okay, Dan, so we were both right -- but you were wrong about Smith Mountain Lake, as that is a whole other place. So it's 2-1, me.
But you were right about Point Break being 100% pure adrenaline. So maybe it's 2-2.
But you spelled adrenaline without the "e," which is the trademarked drug name, not the natural bodily chemical, so it's 3-2, me.
Score updates will continue throughout the day.
Rejected slogans for Point Break include "100% pure epinephrine!"
ya got me on the smith mtn lake...i can't concede on the adrenalin(e) thing though...how do you know that he didn't mean the trademarked drug??? unless you were a grip on the set, or an executive producer, or the script writer, you are just speculating, and that won't hold up in this court. i'm sorry. so it's tied...2-2.
back to smith mtn lake - having spent much time there, which is also very close to roanoke, and which many locals believe is the filming location for my favorite movie ever, AND never having ever heard of such a place as...uh...Mountain Lake...well, i think you can see how i truly believed it was the Mountain Lake founded by the Smiths that was the location for the filming of the greatest movie ever.
You people have seen far too many Swayze movies.
Bills coach Dick Jauron said "You've got to finish. You've got to finish games."
"We have to play 60 minutes," defensive tackle Marcus Stroud said.
Aaron Schobel, "We've got to figure out a way to finish these games, because we have the talent."
"We know what we have," Lee Evans said, "and we know the potential we have...But we've got to learn how to finish games."
I get jokes.
i had no idea the smiths founded a lake. thought they were just a really great band. this nugget is worth another point to dan.
I like people challenging Whitney. rob, you might've looked into this concept 15 years ago...
Didn't Sports Guy do a live chat/commentary last night? Why isn't it on the site? I don't feel like playing iPhone Sudoku while I poop. I want an article. Dammit.
Remind me to never touch your iPhone.
Here's why you don't question me on such stupid, inane stuff, Danny Boy.
Because you know how to use Google?
dude...i tell ya what...i'm feelin 100% pure adrenalinE right now knowing there's a pure adrenalinE version...i'm f'ing stoked broh...Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah...does it get any better that that? deuces.
C'mon, it's not like I get poop on my fingers a lot. And it gets under the nail even less frequently. You have less than a 1% chance of getting my poop on you if we shake hands. You have to like those odds.
Point Break is airing right now on the Encore cable channel. It followed Youngblood. And I don't think the schedule's been changed in light of Swayze's passing, that's just how they roll at Encore. Brah!
Point Break is perfect on so many levels...
Gary Busey...hey dude, act like you normally do.
Keanu...do the same.
Patrick, act normally and you'll be an Oscar winner.
don't forget lori petty, the spunky little love interest
I like Lori Petty. Her surfboard has more curves than she does, but she's a spitfire.
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