Patrick with his wife Lisa Niemi
We lost a warm, endearing and wonderful actor today. Patrick Swayze passed away at the age of 57 after nearly two years of battling pancreatic cancer. His career was diverse from stage, film to cable television.
His most recent role was in A & E’s The Beast as a tough FBI agent where he openly talked about his battle with cancer before the cable show premiere.
His career started as a trained dancer and appeared in “Greece” on Broadway. In 1979 he made his film debut in Skatetown U.S.A. His next stand out roles took place in several movies that centered on youth including The Outsiders and Red Dawn. Finally, he earned a major role in Civil War miniseries North and South in 1985.
But what really caught the attention of the public at large was his role as the dance instructor opposite Jennifer Grey in 1987’s Dirty Dancing, which became a box office hit. He received a Golden Globe nomination and sang one of the songs on the soundtrack.
Ghost in 1990 catapulted his career even further. He played a husband who romantically haunted his wife, Demi Moore, after he was murdered. He co-starred with Keanu Reeves in surfer action film Point Break before injuring himself when he fell from a horse while filming HBO’s Letters From a Killer in 1996. Both his legs were broken.
His later film roles included Donnie Darko, King Solomon’s Mines and a cameo in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Swayze also did stints onstage where he starred in a London production of “Guys and Dolls,” in 2006, and earlier appeared on Broadway in “Goodtime Charley” (1975) and “Chicago” (2003).
In addition to The Beast, he recently starred in Christmas in Wonderland and played an aging rock star in the unreleased Powder Blue.
The HBO movie where he broke both legs was filming in my hometown when it happened. The crew and local actors of the movie had nothing but kind words to say about Swayze. One actor really made it a point to tell me how down to earth he was with everyone. He really cared about people’s happiness and well-being, an invaluable commodity in show business.
Patrick may you reach the Heavens and shine forever.
For those of you who follow the comments sections of the various pieces here on Screenhead–and if you don’t, you really ought to; some great stuff in there–I was recently engaged in a discussion with my able colleague Kenna McHugh about originality in filmmaking. I took the stance that you don’t see much of it any more because it just doesn’t sell, whilst she responded that regardless of the numbers, we need to see more of it.
And now, I’m happy to report that there IS some still originality out there, as evidenced by the existence of the movie Leatherheads. I’ve been meaning to try this one for some time, folks, so it’s good to get it in.
Anyway, this is about professional football, back in an era when playing professional football was almost unthinkable. It was woefully underfunded, with teams folding on a weekly basis, games limited to one ball that was occasionally stolen, and players who demanded bonuses of five whole dollars upon proving they lost a tooth in play. One such struggling team, the Duluth Bulldogs, turns to a war hero football player to inject some necessary publicity into the whole industry. But when a sharp-witted young reporter digs up the truth about the war hero’s past–the war hero may not be as heroic as was projected–the Duluth Bulldogs’ chance to recover may not be as present as it once was.
For those of you who remember George Clooney, who not only serves as the director of Leatherheads but also its lead actor, from his fantastic performance in O Brother Where Art Thou? (which, for the sake of full disclosure, is on my top five all time favorite movies list), you will be not at all disappointed by his performance in Leathernecks. Depression-era America agrees with Clooney, for some reason, because he’s as good as a slick football player turned promoter as he is as a slick convict turned adventurer. Okay, so maybe the difference between Dodge Connelly and Ulysses Everett McGill isn’t exactly a long shot, but still, Clooney knows it well, and Clooney DOES it well.
The movie itself, meanwhile, is a rollicking comedy of epic proportions, even if it tries too hard on occasion. Frankly, Renee Zellweger would not have been my first choice for a romantic female lead set in the twenties (I personally would’ve checked if Laura San Giacomo was available), and the whole comic aspect of things occasionally felt a bit forced.
Occasionally, of course–there are still plenty of laughs and surprises in this one, and there’s never anything wrong with that. Clooney’s aforementioned skill will serve him well. I especially love the soundtrack–this is all that great old big band / early jazz music that’s so much fun to hear. There are even some (semi-) authentic football terms out there–a bit of research revealed that there IS such a thing as a “crusty bob”, but it’s not the same thing as what’s described in the movie.
Basically, Leatherheads is great fun, in its way, with plenty of laughs and a little extra drama for spice. It’s also not like anything we’ve seen recently, either. It’s an easy seven out of ten on the Screenhead ten scale, and worth every bit of your time.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Film, stage and television actor John Lithgow will portray Miami’s latest serial killer in SHOWTIME’s drama series 
“Dexter.” Lithgow will be featured in all 12 episodes of season four starting at the end of September.
Lithgow will play Walter Simmons, an unassuming, mild-mannered suburbanite who has been living a dual life as one of America’s most prolific and deadliest serial killers. Dubbed the “Trinity Killer” because of his proclivity to kill in three’s, he relocates to Miami after being tracked by F.B.I. Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine). Brought on to assist in the investigation of Miami’s latest serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) becomes fascinated with “Trinity’s” unique killing methods and his ability to evade capture for almost three decades.
“Dexter” stars Michael C. Hall as a complicated and conflicted blood-spatter expert for the Miami police department who moonlights as a serial killer.
Popularity: 1% [?]