Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I remember my brother and dad had gone somewhere and would be gone for the weekend, so my mom and I decided to have “girl’s nights” and camp out in the living room. We watched movies and ate snacks and I got to pull out one of the sleeping bags. At six or seven this was like the coolest thing ever.

One of the movies we rented was Dirty Dancing, and that’s when it happened: My first actor crush. Head over heels he’s dreamy crush.

Also, the movie made me want to dance. It wouldn’t be until I saw Singin’ in the Rain that I decided on tap (though I would also take ballet and jazz), but this was the one that made me think ‘I want to learn to do that!’ I was a sickly and weak kid, but I was totally inspired to try and not give up.

I go back and watch Dirty Dancing today (on my upgraded DVD copy) and find it remarkable that such a simple movie had such an effect on me. But it did, and the movie and Patrick Swayze will always have a special place in my heart. And the soundtrack is one of the best ever!

So remember, have a Swayze Christmas this year.

I was wondering why I felt so affected by the news of his death, and in a few short paragraphs, you absolutely nailed it. When you think about it, no combination of the elements of ‘Dirty Dancing’ should have worked, but it really, truly *did* and it made all of us a little magic, too.

Also, this.

I never saw this film in the theater—only much later, on video, and remember being impressed by a couple of things:
One:  Baby’s father wasn’t an utterly useless tosser (unlike so many parents/authority figures in teen movies of that time) and was a competent doctor who actually helped the girl who’d botched an abortion; and
Two:  The Patrick Swayze character genuinely cared about Baby.  I was convinced up to the very last scenes that he was a complete tool who was only using her for sex and the film would have one of those dumped/sadder-but-wiser endings.  Boy, was I surprised!
I’m enough of a stickler for period detial to be bothered by the Eighties hairstyles on the leads; why did they give Baby’s sister an authentic early Sixties ‘do and leave Jennifer Grey’s curly Flashdance mop intact?  Overall, though, the film avoided some of the more egregious cliches of the Eighties and broke with convention enough to stick in my mind.
RIP, Swayze.

She’s Like the Wind is on perpetual repeat this morning and like you I’m remembering the first time I saw Dirty Dancing. It was at a school assembly—they’d given the honor roll students the afternoon off to celebrate our good grades with pizza and a movie. The minute that slow-mo grind in black & white began you could have smacked me and wouldn’t have stirred. Certainly falling in love should be like this; filled with music and dancing, sacrifice and risk—the excitement of doing things your parents don’t wanna know about.

If it comes on TV I have to watch it and it made me a fan of Patrick Swayze. That led to To Wong Foo (fab!) and Point Break (how sexy was he!) and so forth. I just tweeted that one of the greatest gifts is the ability to make others happy. Patrick Swayze was gifted.

This is such a wrench—-and a shock.  I knew he was sick, but he was working, it was goigt o be okay.

I’ve been quietly in love with Swayze since the Outsiders.  That’s more than half my life.

But as much as I like his all-male-sex-on-legs heroes, I think To Wong Foo is my favorite of his movies—-his talents (and sense of humor) really shine in that one.  It’s mostly camp to be sure, but there are a few heartbreaking moments when the mask drops and he shows the realities of Vida’s—-and her strength . . .

Damn.  I’ll miss him.

I was so brokenhearted last night when a friend emailed me with the news.  I was 18 or so when Dirty Dancing came out, and I worked at a department store warehouse ticketing clothes.  I can remember everybody at work singing together while we danced in place and clicked away (probably looked like something out of a musical…LOL).  But Roadhouse will always be my favorite Swayze movie.  Everytime I come across it while flipping through the channels, I have to watch it. :-)

Let’s try,  “the realities of Vida’s life.”

Sigh . . .

I wasn’t allowed to see Dirty Dancing as a kid, but I owned the soundtrack and had it memorized. When I finally saw it (in college), I totally loved it. I think it’s the music and dancing that sets it apart from so many other kind of cheesy class-conscious 80s movies. Like it or not, music has a really powerful affect on people’s emotions (also see that scene in Say Anything where John Cusack holds up the boombox), and I think people click with movies about dancing on a much more physical level than movies without it.

Also, he was brilliant in To Wong Foo.

How I loved that movie as a little girl. I caught it on TV a few weeks ago and was struck by how similar it was to the romance novels I love as an adult. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it still is. I wasn’t sure it would survive the test of time and adulthood for me, but it certainly has. Life is short, do what you can with what you have.

You saw Dirty Dancing at school? My memory of Dirty Dancing includes my mom rewinding the little shot of his tush as he gets out of bed…yep, my mom had a crush on him!

My favorite scene is when they dance all silly together and lip synch the words to the song.
I am slightly embarrassed to admit one summer a friend and I memorized the entire last dance and performed it over and over…for the lift at the end we used my kid sister (she was 3 or 4 maybe?).

I personally love him best in the North and South saga. Remember that tele-drama? I loved it.

I may have to dig it out now, I believe I have them all….on VHS.

I was in 6th grade when Dirty Dancing came out so I couldn’t see it in the theater.  My parents rented it and then watched it with us to explain anything that might be morally offensive.  So I think my mom was a bit shocked that abortion featured so heavily in the plot but that part flew right over me and I just wanted to see more shirtless Swayze dancing.

I also have fond memories of Ghost because I saw it with my best friend and we were allowed to see it and then walk to Burger King for dinner without any adults with us.

He was fab.  Such a loss—I feel really bad for his wife.

Hey—everyone remember the long-rolled-up-shorts craze that Dirty Dancing started?  I had several pair myself! LOL

Dirty Dancing was and still is one of my all-time favorite movies as well as Ghost, as well as so many others.  I was very saddened when I heard of Patrick Swayze’s death. He will be missed very much.  I think my daughter and I will be renting some movies and take over the T.V. today!

Terisa Wilcox

SB Sarah, we’re the same age, and like you I didn’t see “Dirty Dancing” in the theatre, but watched it with a friend once it was on video.  And memorized all the songs.  And had the rolled-up shorts, and the Keds to wear with them.  When I heard the news about Patrick Swayze, all I could think was that the people responsible for the movies of my formative years are dying—first John Hughes, and now Swayze, and at such young ages.  It makes me sad.

From Wikipedia:  Dirty Dancing was a low-budget project that was intended to be shown in theaters for one weekend only and then go straight to video, but it became a surprise hit and achieved massive international success. It was the first film to sell one million copies on video…

I didn’t see the movie in the theater, but because I was older, not too young, and going to movies then meant hubby also had to want to come along, etc.

I was too young to watch Dirty Dancing in theatres, but I remember watching it over and over when I was 4 years old on VHS (ah, those were the days…). I was WAY too young to understand any of what was going on except for the fact that Baby loved him and loved to dance, and that for some reason it wasn’t allowed. More than anything, I was thrilled to be allowed to watch a “grown-up” movie with my mother. She called Patrick Swayze “the eighth wonder”.

And that is how I answered a quiz about the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in the 1st grade. I said there were eight, and the eighth was Patrick Swayze. I wish I could remember my teacher’s face!

*is still all choked up*  This one hit me even harder than John Hughes, and that one was like a ton of bricks.

I wasn’t allowed to see Dirty Dancing when it came out.  My parents were really, really strict and were sure it was the stuff of Satan.

So I remember the first time I saw it.  I was 13 and my older sister and I snuck out of our bedroom at 2 in the morning one night, after my parents had gone to bed hours ago.  We had surreptitiously checked the tv guide earlier that day and saw that *finally* Dirty Dancing was going to be on HBO.  So we stayed awake, waiting, and when we snuck out, we turned on the tv with the volume down to, like, barely audible whisper level and sat on the floor of our living room, faces an inch from the screen so we could hear, and watched it.

It was the most amazing movie I’d ever seen at that time.  It’s still in my top ten of all time.  And now I’m dying to watch it today but, unlike 22 years ago, it doesn’t appear to be on HBO tonight.  :(

We live where the lake scenes of Dirty Dancing was filmed -Mountain Lake, Giles County, Virginia -  so it’s a special movie for us - my cousin loved it so much *he* booked his wedding ceremony in the gazebo that sat lakeside and I would have been there, but at the same time my own wedding was being held a thousand miles away.

Just so everyone knows - during the filming, Patrick Swayze and his wife Lisa were the best - actually everyone in the crew was -down to earth, normal people.  Almost every year, there is a feature in the local paper about the filming with local recollections.  And trust me, this not a part of the country that takes to outsiders.

I guess we kindof think of it and Patrick Swayze as extended family.  He will be missed -one of the good guys.

Sorry to post again, but…

But Roadhouse will always be my favorite Swayze movie.  Everytime I come across it while flipping through the channels, I have to watch it. :-)

Oh wow that is so true! I don’t know what it is about that movie, but every time I see it while going through the channels I have to stop, and considering how often it’s on, well I’ve seen it a lot.

And don’t even get me started on him in The Outsiders. Or Point Break. Red Dawn. Even Uncommon Valor. That show The Beast? Amazing. And, and, and….

I’ll miss him so much.

My co-worker and I were just talking about all the Swayze movies that we loved.  Dirty Dancing will always be a special favorite and I’m fond of Ghost and Wong Fu, but I also simply loved his cheese-tastic action movies that often had no basis in logic or reality of any kind.  For example, Next of Kin, which not only trots out every stereotype of my home, Kentucky, but also changes the geography of the US to make eastern KY a mere couple of hours from Chicago by car.  (Don’t care—love it anyway!)  Or Roadhouse, which threw in everything but the kitchen sink—T&A for both sexes, monster trucks, martial arts, guns, explosions, kick-ass blues music, Sam Elliot, women dancing on tables, a big stuffed grizzly bear, sex against a wall, bar fights, etc.  And who could forget Red Dawn?  If that movie wasn’t funded by the NRA, I’d be surprised, but still, loved it!  There’s probably not one movie that he made that wasn’t a bit over-the-top in some way and I would happily watch every single one of them again and enjoy myself immensely.

He was one of the major movie crushes of my late teens and early 20s.  He was a man who genuinely, deeply, and passionately loved his wife for most of both of their lives (I heard on the radio this morning that he was 19 and she was 15 when they met).  He was one hell of a dancer and a great entertainer.  I’m sad to know that he’s gone, but I understand he refused to take his pain meds when he was working on The Beast so that he didn’t lose his edge, so I’m glad that he’s no longer in pain.

RIP

North & South, 1 & 2…Orry Main & George Hazard…Patrick Swayze & James Read…my romance mancandy heroes in grade school and for years afterward. *sighs happily*

I’m with Sarah W...“I’ve been quietly in love with Swayze since the Outsiders.”

And then there was North and South, Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse, and To Wong Foo. So much good stuff. *sigh*

I have always loved Patrick Swayze since seeing Dirty Dancing as well. He could do no wrong in my eyes. Especially when I found out his real life wife was part of the cast and how devoted they are to each other. It just made me swoon and hope for a husband like that (which I found).

A dear friend of mine was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the same time Patrick made his announcement. We lost her last November. I remember thinking with both that maybe they would beat the odds and praying that it would be true. Cancer’s a bitch but pancreatic is pretty much a death sentence.

And that is how I answered a quiz about the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in the 1st grade. I said there were eight, and the eighth was Patrick Swayze. I wish I could remember my teacher’s face!

JJ - thank goodness I had just swallowed my tea when I read your comment, otherwise it would have been all over the keyboard.

I was also too young to see the movie in the theater, but every recess in second grade saw me and my friends dancing and singing along to the soundtrack. It also became the must-watch movie at sleepovers. I’ve watched Dirty Dancing at least once a year since then - and only got that the dancing was dirty (and all the abortion stuff), well into high school.
My friends and I now have (slightly more grown-up) “girls weekend” sleepovers, and Dirty Dancing is still an integral part of them.

My heart is a little broken. RIP Patrick.

Oh, that is exactly how I feel.  And combine that with his personal love story with his wife and I cry every time he is mentioned today.  Loved the movie, loved the music… it inspired my love of all dance movies.  I think that he and that movie was my first movie crush.  I agree, my heart is broken a little - for him, for his wife, for the child I used to be.

Oh and another thing…

He would have been the best Romance Cover Hero EVER!

*Sigh* AND he had that fabulous love-affair marriage with his wife for 34 years.  He WAS a romance hero.

I think I was around 12 when DD came out.  I remember him from the Outsiders and Red Dawn…some movies I seriously adore.

:(

Outsiders is the first movie of his that I saw on video since I lived in an area that didn’t show English movies. I loved Ghost and Dirty Dancing (I used to wish I could dance like they did in the movie). However the movie that I remember him most for is the TV movie North and South.

I have to say that I like how the media is centering on his and his wife’s love and life together. It sounds like they had the perfect love affair.

Swayze’s death resonates with so many of us. Aside from his considerable physical charms (I so hear you Brooks*bell!), here’s a guy who’s been married to the same woman his whole life, personable, self-effacing and tough as nails as he battled cancer. And how appealing is a guy who can dispatch the villains one minute and dance with you the next? A romantic hero, indeed.

Thanks so much for the last paragraph—it was just the encouragement I needed for my YA novel. 
Dirty Dancing still makes my heart feel fuller—and isn’t that something most great romances (at least the HEA ones) have in common?

PS: spamword is keep69…OK!

I came home from school one day after mom had upgraded our cable to HBO.  She had watched Dirty Dancing that day and absolutely loved it.  The next time it came on that day, she recorded it on the VCR. 

As soon as I walked in the door, Mom was like you have to watch this movie.  It’s great.

So we piled up on the couch with our dinner, and watched Dirty Dancing.  During the sex scenes mom made me cover my head with a pillow.

We both absolutely loved that movie and watched it over and over until the tape fell apart.

It’s one of my best memories with my mom.

Ever since I heard about Patrick Swayze passing away yesterday, I’ve been soooo sad. I knew he was sick, but it still came as a shock.

I was 6 when the movie came out and I don’t remember my exact age when I actually watched the movie, but I know I was in grade school. My babysitter’s daughter and I would get dressed up in our best Baby and Johnny outfits and sing and dance all over the house. With the soundtrack blaring, of course. Even after all these years, I have most of the movie and lines memorized and all the songs on the soundtrack memorized.

After running my errands today after work, I’m going to go home and watch Dirty Dancing on DVD. And cry a few tears for such a remarkable man. It is fortunate for my husband that he is traveling for business today or he’d have to put up with tears, sniffles, and Kleenex tonight.

Sarah, thanks so much for sharing that.  I remember owning the soundtrack when I was in 4th grade and making up all the dance moves with my little cousin.  The first time I saw the movie was that year on VHS at a slumber party.  We rewound and paused as well. LOL.  It was my first experience with the romance genre as well and sort of set the bar in terms of what I wanted for my own romantic future.  No, not a dancing hunk that was gorgeous and a bad boy, but someone who would be honest and stand by me when someone put me in the proverbial corner.

I was just thinking about Dirty Dancing yesterday ... how much maligned that movie often is, much in the same way as many other romances. But if you really watch it, it’s a fairytale with a strong heart - the leads don’t just fall in love because they’re both pretty, rather, Baby acts bravely and goes beyond the class prejudice that even her decent father unwittingly has, and Castle really comes to value her for her bravery and kindness.

I love that. I love that this movie captures that moment so perfectly when one era was beginning to change into another, when so many barriers were going to be questioned, which would eventually lead to the sexual revolution and equal rights and feminism and many more things - while not dissing the 50s outright but enjoying the nostalgia as well. I love that this movie is such a perfect concoction, with magic and dancing and romance, with the grounding of real life hard choices underneath.

I’m so sad that Swayze died. I really hoped he would pull through. =( Bless him for having been so wonderful over the years, he will be truly missed and always loved.

Wow, everyone has such great memories and such a connection to Dirty Dancing. It’s amazing to see how one movie can evoke such strong emotions and associations in so many people. I loved it too, of course, back in the day. And then they tried to make a new one. Remember Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights? Psh, it was nothing compared to the original!

I was and am so sad to hear about Patrick Swayze.  I loved him and his movies…my husband used to shudder when I would get in a Patrick Swayze mode.  I love them all, but my favorite is probably Point Break…which I am watching a the moment.

I remember when Dirty Dancing came out…my friends and I saw it countless times in the theartre and from that moment my love for Patrick Swayze was born and just continued to grown. 

Sarah, I think that you perfectly summed up the appeal of that movie and Patrick Swayze…thanks!

He will be missed and I send my thoughts and prayers to his family.

Great summary of the movie’s appeal. It came out when I was in elementary school and I was forbidden to watch it.  I didn’t see it until high school, but I loved it.

I actually first fell in love with Patrick Swayze from watching North and South as a youngster.  I always think of him as Orry Main.  Another 1980’s classic!

*sigh* A friend of mine from college knew him and his family. The one thing that was always completely clear from her dealings with him was that he was a genuinely nice, good person. There are few enough of those, and to lose one with such beauty is tragic.

I feel for his family, and wish them the best.

RIP Patrick. I also had the North & South crush, but I never quite got Dirty Dancing.

I got the dancing and the music and the “bad boy” falls for slightly ugly duckling angle. But am I’m the only one on the planet that thinks if a virgin sees someone nearly die of a botched abortion that she might in fact think twice about (likely unprotected) sex for the first time nearly immediately thereafter?? It ruined the whole movie for me.

Man, I must’ve watched Dirty Dancing a zillion times while I was in high school (that and The Breakfast Club. I wore out tapes, I tell you.) And I still love to listen to She’s Like the Wind.

RIP, Patrick. I’ll miss you.

i don’t remember the first time i saw Dirty Dancing—i guess i was too young to remember.  i do remember watching it every time it was on TBS when i was little. it was not until i was in high school, and we got it on DVD.  There is just something about that movie that speaks to all of us.  I recently moved out of my mother’s house, and the day before I made it a point to watch Dirty Dancing.  I was feeling sad and nervous, and the first thing that i thought to do was watch Dirty Dancing.  I guess it is just something from my childhood that i will always take with me—as long as i don’t taint it with my inherant cynicism…ie there is no way that Johnny and Baby would last past the end of the dance.  I hate thinking of things like that, but it just happens.

I was in class yesterday when it was annouced that Patrick Swayze died, so i didn’t find out until I spoke to my mom while i was on my way home.  she’s thinking about watching Dirty Dancing tonight as a way to honor his memory.  She did notice that ABC Family will be airing it on Saturday, so if you don’t have the dvd/vhs and don’t mind watching an editted version, you can watch it then. 

Watching that movie will probably never be the same for me.  It took me over a year after Heath Ledger died to watch 10 Things I Hate About You because i was so saddened and shocked by his death.  Although, we knew that Patrick Swayze was going to die, it is still a shock to know that he is no longer alive.  I feel so bad for his wife and his family, and i wish them the absolute best.

RIP Mr. Swayze

I was a young married graduate student with a 14 month old baby.  Not much romance in my life and plenty of responsibilities.  I snuck out on a Sunday and caught the matinee showing of “Dirty Dancing”.  I was enthralled!  The music, the dancing, the unlikely romance and a little salsa music thrown in for good measure. (I’m Cuban.)  But the best part was watching Patrick Swayzee dance.  I went on to see the movie FIVE more times even before it came out in video!  My sisters and I still say “You’re Wild!” when we find ourselves in a crazy situation. 

Thank you Patrick Swayzee for the memories.  I will always remember you as sleek Johnny Castle… the “bad boy” with a heart.

I’m with everyone else:  loved his movies, loved the man and fell in love with him even more when I saw him do the Chippendales skit on SNL with Chris Farley.  Gotta love a guy who can laugh at himself, be goofy and still look hot as hell.

It’s the definition of romance.

When Michael Jackson danced, he looked good.

When Patrick Swayze danced he made his partner look good.

Romance is when you are doing it for your partner, not just for you.

I just found this and it made me misty-eyed and it made me smile.  As the article that I found it attached to said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  (Which, of course, isn’t always true, but I’ll buy it in this case.)

Julia and James First Dance

I just found this and it made me misty-eyed and it made me smile.  As the article that I found it attached to said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  (Which, of course, isn’t always true, but I’ll buy it in this case.)

Julia and James First Dance

I agree with you completely.  I just blogged about this today.  I credit Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing with my love of romance (and a bad boy character).  It was the first love story I ever watched as a kid.  It has stuck with me.  What a sad day.

Actually, the people who made Dirty Dancing didn’t think it would be such a big hit. They released it on video at the same time it was released in the theater. But people loved it including me.

I was in college when it came out and I heard all the buzz. I fell in love with Patrick Swayze the moment I laid eyes on him. I loved his bad boy swagger. I loved the music and dancing. I still love it.

My mom also died of cancer when she was about the same age as Patrick Swayze. I hate this disease and I can commiserate with the way his family must be feeling. Although I’m sad that Michael Jackson passed away, Patrick’s loss means more to me personally.

My mom took me to see Dirty Dancing and I was in junior high. She and I were huge Patrick Swayze fans (we also went and saw ‘Ghost’ and ‘Point Break’ together). I loved him for his grace, his talent, and genuine warmth and kindness. I shed a few tears last night then remembered that “Nobody puts baby in a corner.”

RIP Patrick.

My mom called me this morning. She was floored too. It’s not that we knew him as a person, but when someone iconic dies, it represents our larger mortality as a species and brings it home—not as wrenching as the death of a loved one, but as a reminder. I know his family grieves, really grieves, but I’m upset nonetheless.

All I remember is my sisters and I got it on VHS for Christmas from an aunt and we watched and rewatched that movie soo many times that we could say the lines word for word. After time the tape was sooo used that it would jump and skip all over the place that it was almost unwatchable!! But now I have it on DVD and it is still one of those movies that I like to pop in if I need a pick me up because it is such a cheesy yet great movie…but hey then again I like cheese!!

Also, our friends would come over and we would watch it over and over and then we would act out the dance moves and we would pause it just at the right moment when Patrick Swayze was getting out of the bed…*wink, wink*!!

So I must agree for me this is a bigger loss than that of MJ and I am truly and deeply saddened!!!

I first saw Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn and fell head over heels for him in Dirty Dancing.  Roadhouse was just icing (plus there was Jeff Healey).

My first major crush, I had Patrick Swayze posters all over my room.  One of the most sexy things about him?  His devotion to his wife.  My thoughts and prayers are with her. 

Vale Patrick.

You youngsters are making me feel old!  :oP  

I first saw Dirty Dancing in the theater. I think I originally went more for the air conditioning than the movie, but that soon changed. It pulled me in, like it did so many others.  I then went back and saw it so many times I lost count.  Several others more ably stated why the movie touched them so much. I really can’t express it any better than they have, except to add that while I am perfectly able to take care of myself, there’s a dreamer part of me that always wanted/wants to know that someone had/has my back and would be there for me, no matter what it cost them.  That Johnny came back for Baby, against all odds, just made my heart sing, and fulfilled that fantasy.  I can re-watch that last scene repeatedly for hours.

When I dragged a friend to see it, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to certain parts of the movie as she came from a very conservative religious background, but I thought she’d like the overall premise.  Anyway, somewhere around the time when Johnny said “This is my dance space, this is your dance space,” she leaned over and asked, “Is he ever going to take his shirt off?”  Another convert.  LOLOL

Then in 1989, a local radio station was doing a promotion called Dirty Dancing Weekend.  Each hour, the tenth caller after they flashed the signal, won a video of the movie, a six pack of Mountain Dew, and a chance to win a trip to what they billed as “Mountain Dew’s Party of A Lifetime with Patrick Swayze.”  I wanted a video, so I played the game. I was thrilled when I got through and won.  Imagine my shock and awe when a few days later, I found out that I’d won the trip as well!  They flew me and a friend out to LA for a long weekend, put us up and the Beverly Registry Hotel, and sent us to all sorts of parties and private tours of Universal Studios, and handed out more Pepsi/Mountain Dew swag than one could shake a stick at.  It was my first ‘real’ vacation. I’d never traveled someplace just for fun, not to visit relatives, etc, before, and is one of my fonder memories.

Patrick and wife Lisa were incredibly gracious, warm and friendly, and far more patient with a bunch of ‘groupies’ than they needed to be.  He was ever so handsome, redneck-and-proud-of-it, funny and down to earth. One could just tell that this was a man who adored his wife, enjoyed life, and lived it to the fullest.  Not perfect, but comfortable with his flaws, and without the overblown ego that many celebrities tend to acquire.

It was a privilege to have met him, however briefly. 

RIP, Patrick.

Diane :o(

It is too sad. Before they started showing ‘The Beast’ on Five they had Schwaze talking about his cancer, one minute of that man avoiding eye contact with the camera and stating plainly that he didn’t want to die and I knew I’d never make it through that documentary.

I saw Dirty Dancing in the theatre around the age of 18. Even then I was impressed by the movie because of the femimine gaze and sexuality. As I recall it didn’t seem that movies did that stuff back then. Of course, I’m not sure they really do it that way now. Well, not in the groundbreaking way it FELT back then.

I saw PS in The Beast this spring and I have to say that he gave an absolutely gritty performance. The show had its hokey moments but I bought Patrick as an on-the-edge agent. You could tell he was fighting a disease. The gauntness, the look in his eyes. Wow. I wished he had lived a longer life but that last performance he gave in the Beast is something.

*sniff sniff*

:(

Way back when, my mom and I did a lot of short-term travelling. She would always go to the local movie rental place for me (and even rent me a VCR if the motel didn’t have them). Eventually our conversations went like this:

“What do you want?”

“Dir—”

She’d start nodding. “Dirty Dancing and A Few Good Men. Okay, okay.”

Baby and Johnny were my friends.

I first saw Dirty Dancing in the theater. [..] It pulled me in, like it did so many others.  I then went back and saw it so many times I lost count.  Several others more ably stated why the movie touched them so much. I really can’t express it any better than they have, except to add that while I am perfectly able to take care of myself, there’s a dreamer part of me that always wanted/wants to know that someone had/has my back and would be there for me, no matter what it cost them.  That Johnny came back for Baby, against all odds, just made my heart sing, and fulfilled that fantasy.

That was exactly my experience. I didn’t go because of the air conditioning I went because my father had addicted me to MGM musicals and this was the FIRST musical of my own generation WITH dancing as part of the story which I had ever heard of. I knew Swayze had done the Civil War miniseries but being German that hadn’t been of interest to me and there are so many other good-looking actors out there.

I was an au-pair in the UK at the time, the first time I was ever parted from my family for any length of time (even then I was a bookworm) and together with people who didn’t love me, which was a real waking-up call (that year in the UK changed certain aspects of my self-image that really needed to change). I was 21 at the time.

The families weren’t all happy-joy-joy in themselves (I changed family once) and to get out of the house I went to the (for a German small town girl) huge cinema screens for the matinees (a 500 people room with a huge screen - I didn’t go in the evenings because the lines waiting then were so long).

I watchted Dirty Dancing 8 times at the cinema - often there were maybe three people at the matinee, twice I was alone. I’ve never watched the film on TV, it wouldn’t be the same and I fell in love with Johnny Castle, not Patrick Swayze, but my respect goes out to the man for his work and my hopes for his family to find solace in remembering the man he was.

My eyes skimmed over Flowers From the Storm and I mistakenly thought it said “Flowers in the Attic”  The tagline is even funnier that way.

Oops, wrong thread.  Sorry

I LOVE North and South.  although I’ll admit swayze’s character got on my nerves. but what a dream boat.  I loved in dirty dancing when he was dancing shirtless and you see the muscles ripple in his back O.o yum I hope he’s teaching Jesus the merengue.