R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

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R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

POSTED: Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 7:00 PM

Filed Under: In Memoriam | Movies

Patrick Swayze wasn't a great actor. I don't think anyone is going to lament in their obits that he was denied meaty roles because of his chiseled good looks and dancing skills or the roles that might have been if hadn't died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. Instead, here's a guy who embodied a brainless (said with both love and respect), fun time at the theater: Dirty Dancing, Red Dawn, Road House, Point motherfuckin' Break. You can go through his filmography and giggle out the utter camp of it all but you can't deny enjoying each and every one of those. Did he make great movies? Not really. Did he make awesome movies? Hell yeah. When I asked a friend if he could remember any movie other than Point Break where Swayze is the villain. He answered, "Black Dog? I can't remember if he was a bad guy or just a badass." (Verdict: Badass.) That spirit embodies Swayze's legacy. Here was a guy you wanted to root for, you wanted to win, even if he wasn't supposed to. At the end of Point Break, you're glad Bodhi gets to catch that one last, gnarly wave even though he robbed banks. He just seemed like a good guy. Favorite Swayze scenes? There's the obvious: a Dirty dance sequence, the pottery scene in Ghost; (siiiiigh), when he rips that dude's throat out in Road House, pretty much all of Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar and, once again, Point motherfuckin' Break. But beating out all of those is this SNL skit where he goes head-to-head for Chippendale's gig with Chris Farley. Farley gets all the credit for this one, but Swayze's ability to keep his shit together as Farley jiggles and gyrates is Emmy-worthy. And at the end (SPOILER ALERT), when Swayze lands the Chippendale's job, he seems genuinely sad it didn't go to Chris. Because he was a nice guy. And sometimes that's all that really matters.

Chris Farley - Chippendales

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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