the Swayze post

As I said many times to friends on Facebook last night, damn you, 2009, for taking another of our pop culture icons away.  I don't know how much more we can take.

Natasha Richardson, Ed McMahon, Farrah Faucet, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Ted Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, John Hughes, and now Patrick Swayze.  It's the year of celebrity deaths.

The first time I remember seeing Swayze was in The Outsiders, as Ponyboy Curtis' older brother.  The Outsiders was the breakout movie for practically every up and coming male actor of the 80's (PLUS Tom Waits) and come on — Tom Cruise playing a greaser?  shut up.  

Then Red Dawn with Jennifer Grey in 1984, which was clearly foreshadowing of Dirty Dancing.

Enter Johnny Castle.

That's right, nobody puts Baby in a corner.  And don't you forget it.  I don't know a girl who grew up in the 80's who didn't watch this at a slumber party and commit practically every line to memory.  It's not even one of my favorite movies and I know just about every line.  Aside from John Hughes movies, this film is one of the most quotable 80's movies ever:

This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine. 

Oh, come on, ladies. God wouldn't have given you maracas if He didn't want you to shake 'em.

But, last week, I took a girl from Jamie, the lifeguard. And he said to her, right in front of me, "What does he have that I don't have?" And she said, "Two hotels." 

I carried a watermelon.

Who hasn't carried a watermelon?  That's the proverbial watermelon.  That's when you have your chance to say something brilliant to someone you admire and instead, when they say "what are you doing here?" you say "I carried a watermelon" or something equally ridiculous, which leaves you feeling like a fool.  I have done this approximately 400,000 times in my life thus far and can only imagine it will happen again any day now.  Back in the day, there were a few Johnny Castles in my life and I proved that I was much more eloquent on paper than in person more than I'd like to remember.  Once, a teacher asked me to bring my crush's varsity jacket that he had left in her classroom to him, so I walked up to him at that afternoon's pep rally, jacket in hand.  He says "we have to stop meeting like this" (I know, how cute is that?) and I say "this is your jacket."  Well, it did have his name on it and I was queen of the obvious.  He looked down at me from over his glasses, said "thanks" and turned back to his friends.  And I wondered why he never asked me out.  

Back to Swayze.  So, we had Dirty Dancing, then Road House, then there was this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k2QgiIqdampnr45VmV&related=1

A Difficult Choice – Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

And that's just plain awesome.  

And Ghost, which for the one person reading this blog who hasn't seen the film, is about pottery.  Oh, and dead people.

Point Break is one of the best movies in the history of ever.  If you didn't like this movie you may have an undiagnosed mental illness.  Seriously.  Point Break has sky diving, FBI dudes, bank robbery, surfing, Gary Busey — what's not to love?

I couldn't pick a favorite part of the movie because it's just THAT awesome.  And Swayze's hair?  Sweet mother of Vidal Sassoon, his hair alone deserved an Oscar.  

But in 1995, Swayze brought it.  I'm talking about To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.  As Miss Vida Boheme, Swayze was a flawless mentoring drag queen/ass kicker (that's right, ass kicker).  Oh, let's just go to the clip already.

When I grow up I want to be Vida.  Girl loves her accessories.  Oh, and she kicks some serious ass starting at 3:23 of this clip.

Rest in peace, Patrick Swayze.  Thank you for giving us some of my generation's most memorable characters.  You will be missed.