Houston’s own Patrick Swayze passed away last night at the age of 57
after an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer, and we are poorer for
it. I’m not ashamed in the slightest to say that I was one of the man’s
biggest fans, and indeed have tried to live my life by the lessons
taught by such movie mentors as Jed Eckert, Dalton Ross, and Bodhi.
Like
all actors, the man made some questionable choices, but let he who never
sported a Youngblood-style mullet cast the first stone.
These may not be Swayze’s biggest roles; you won’t find Ghost,
or Dirty Dancing, or…Grandview U.S.A. but they’re my
personal favorites, and they’re the roles that made him, well, The
Swayziest.
Jim Cunningham — Donnie Darko (2001)
Motivational speaker/pedophile Cunningham ended up being the most
critically acclaimed role of Swayze’s career, mostly because so-called
“critics” never recognized the tortured soul inside “Nomad” from
Steel Dawn.
Max Lowe — City of Joy (1992)
Swayze said early in his career (during the filming of Skatetown,
U.S.A., in fact) that he realized he could go the easy route and
become a teen heartthrob, but wanted to be taken seriously as an actor.
It only took 13 years, but he finally took a stab at a weightier role.
It received…mixed reviews, but props to Swayze for not making
Ghost 2 or Even Dirtier Dancing.
Bodhi — Point Break (1991)
Oh, they laughed. Keanu “Whoa” Reeves and Johnny Castle in a surfer/bank
robbery flick? It’ll bomb, they said, it’ll be the worst movie of the
year. Two MTV Movie Award nominations (and one win) later, I don’t hear
them laughing anymore. And you know why? Because they never
could’ve made War Child back off. Seriously.
Dalton — Road House (1989)
The `80s action movie equivalent of a Renaissance Man: Dalton studies
philosophy, preaches non-violence, and can tear your throat out with his
bare hands. This scene presents a bit of a dilemma, however. I mean, if
a guy tells you he “used to fuck guys like you in prison,” does that
make killing him a hate crime?
Jed Eckert — Red Dawn (1984)
Every adolescent boy in 1984 played out the Russian invasion scenario in
his head. And every one of those boys believed with full confidence that
they’d be as stoic and capable as Jed. Never mind that the idea of
Cubans dropping into Colorado was…a little far-fetched. Or that most
of those same boys would end up happily licking the boots of their
oppressors as long as the Russkies didn’t take away their Ataris.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.
