Photobucket Patrick Swayze Battling Cancer & His Top Movies from the 80s - Kickin' it Old School

One dude's point of view on popular culture & sports (especially the 80's)


Blog For Free!


Archives
Home
2009 November
2009 October
2009 September
2009 August
2009 July
2009 June
2009 May
2009 April
2009 March
2009 February
2009 January
2008 December
2008 November
2008 October
2008 September
2008 August
2008 July
2008 June
2008 May
2008 April
2008 March
2008 February
2008 January

My Links
Old School's "Top 10 List" Summary
Old School's "80s Related Articles" Summary
Pop Culture Madness
Popdose
Like Totally 80s
The Interactive 80's Network
Life in the 80's
80s-music.net
Ultimate 80s Mix Radio & More
80's Girl 4ever
Child of the 1980's.com UK
The Eighties Blog
80sNostalgia.com
80sInjection
The Great 80s Blog
The Retroist
Raised in the 80s blog
Branded In the 80s
Imdb
CBS Sportsline
Wikipedia
You Tube
Pop Culture Madness Blog
List of the Day blog

tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images


Sponsored
Blog


Photobucket

Creative Commons License

Arts & Entertainment Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

 Subscribe in a reader

My Zimbio

Entertainment

Top Entertainment blogs

Entertainment Blogs

Blog Ratings

Blog Directory

Pop Culture Blog Directory

The Hunger Site


Patrick Swayze Battling Cancer & His Top Movies from the 80s - Kickin' it Old School
01.11.09 (4:40 pm)   [edit]
I think most people know that actor Patrick Swayze Patrick Swayzeis battling pancreatic cancer. Most are pulling for him to win that difficult battle and some signs pointed to that happening with a new television series, The Beast, set to debut soon. Now, there is a recent story that Swayze needed to be hospitalized. Here is that story from newsday.com (which has a video to watch too if you click on the link for the original article).

Actor Patrick Swayze hospitalized for pneumonia
Los Angeles Times
5:45 PM EST, January 10, 2009


HOLLYWOOD -- Patrick Swayze, who has been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer, checked into a hospital Friday morning.

Swayze, 56, was supposed to appear on a panel at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles to promote his new A&E show, "The Beast." But when introducing the panel, A&E's Abbe Raven announced that Swayze has pneumonia as a result of the chemotherapy treatments he has been receiving.Swayze with Walters

Earlier this week, Swayze appeared on "20/20" in an interview with Barbara Walters, his first TV appearance since he was diagnosed with the often deadly cancer last March. He told Walters that statistically he might have two years left to live. "You can bet that I'm going through hell," Swayze told Walters of his treatment. "And I've only seen the beginning of it."


As that article mentioned, this hospitalization came on the heels of his emotional and inspirational interview with Barbara Walters. I know there are thousands of people out there going through a similar battle, but there is something about this Swayze story that really inspires and seems to put things into perspective. Here is video of a portion of the Barbara Walters interview with Patrick Swayze:


Now, I figured I would include a Top 10 list for SwayzePatrick Swayze in this issue. As usual, I think I will just focus on the 80s for this list, so films like Ghost and Point Break won't be eligible. The only problem is that I do not have 10 movies to put on the list just for the 80s, so I am only going to give you my top 5. So, here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 5 PATRICK SWAYZE MOVIES OF THE 80s:

5. Uncommon Valor (1983) as "Kevin Scott" - A minor role in this film which starred Gene Hackman

4. Red Dawn (1984) as "Jed" - This movie was a result of the Cold War and depicted a World War III situation. It also starred other young actors like Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey.

Dirty Dancing3. Dirty Dancing (1987) as "Johnny Castle" - This is obviously more of a chick flick and if a female was making this list it would no doubt rank at #1. Swayze sings on the soundtrack with the song "She's Like the Wind" which was surprisingly a success hitting #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack album was #1 on the charts for 19 weeks. The iconic dance scene at the end ranks on my popular Best Dancing Scenes from 80s Movies list.Road House

2. Road House (1989) as "Dalton" - This movie has always been sort of a guilty pleasure of mine because it is not very good, but I have still seen it more times than I would like to admit. It has all of the components of a cheesy 80s action drama. Here is a link to watch a trailer for this movie.

The Outsiders1. The Outsiders (1983) as "Darrel ‘Darry' Curtis" - This is one of my very favorite movies of the 80s and will rank highly on that list when it is published. The film is based on the fantastic novel by S.E. Hinton. Swayze plays the older brother who has to take on the responsibility at a young age of raising his two younger brothers after their parents die in a car crash. Here is a link to watch a promotional trailer and you can see the tremendous cast that worked with Swayze to make this special movie.

There's my list. SwayzeIt does not include his critically acclaimed work as "Orry Main" in the 1985 television Civil War mini-series North and South. His work in the 80s was memorable, but probably my most memorable Swayze moment was in the 1990 episode of Saturday Night Live which he hosted. The skit was a Chippendale's Dancer Audition against the late Chris Farley. I start laughing just thinking about it. I don't know how Swayze is able to keep a straight face through the skit. I could not find a video online which shows the original skit which was set to "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy, but I did find a video which shows it with the audio changed to a different song. Here is that video below (which is still pretty funny) though you lose Swayze's monologue at the end:


I will continue to pull for Patrick Swayze in his battle against cancer. If you want to find out more about pancreatic cancer, here is a link to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. I truly hope they find a cure to all cancers in my lifetime.

That will do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading more of my 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you are interested in reading more of my Top 10 lists, please click there for a summary. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the new Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: One of the most iconic pieces of pop culture from the 80s is the music video (short film) for "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. It ranks #1 on my popular Top Music Videos of the 80s list - which, incidentally, you should check out if you have not before. I came across a video from 2007 featuring Philippines prison inmates performing the dance from the "Thriller" video. I thought I would share it here in case you have never seen it yourself. Enjoy!

Quote of the day: "It's amazing...The love inside. You take it with you." -Patrick Swayze as character "Sam Wheat" in Ghost (1990)

 


posted by: someone/somewhere (reply)
post date: 01.11.09 (5:22 pm)

I also saw the story and found it to be touching and inspirational. I will always love Dirty Dancing but have to admit that roadhouse is a favorite too. cheesy at times - yes - but better than Billy Jack!
The most precious gift of his life that he has been so fortunate to experience is not so much being married 33 yrs (tho quite an achievement) but in having found a soul mate to journey with. TO have come together at such a young age knowing they had something remarkable and hanging in there. what a plateau to have reached - to have that type of love and intensity and depth that can only be achieved by committment and time. there are some that would see that as the ultimate -- nirvana if you will.



posted by: PirateGirl (reply)
post date: 01.11.09 (5:56 pm)

Thanks for posting about this OS.
I saw part of the interview and then had heard of his hospitalization. Patrick Swayze and his wife both, seem to be very loving people. They are in my prayers.


- Do you think you will do a post on John Travolta? or do a re-post if you already have done one?



posted by: someone/somewhere (reply)
post date: 01.11.09 (8:53 pm)

oops...now that i have looked over your site more closely i see you really are an 80s man. Hope saying Bily Jack wasnt sacrilege since he was an icon of the 70s. Actually the first one wasn't tto bad for the times(before you were born) but the second one put me to sleep(maybe you were in diapers by then)Yikes -- i might be too old for this site. i did notice the work and energy that you put into this and think that it is quite good. So even tho the 80s were not really a carefree time for me, i may like to take an occasional peek now and then and refresh my memory



posted by: Ladyg (reply)
post date: 01.11.09 (9:38 pm)

Just praying that he wins this battle. Dirty Dancing was one of my favorites.



posted by: OldSchool (reply)
post date: 01.12.09 (6:13 am)

Reply to: someone/somewhere
Though I have to say that most issues do revolve around the 80s, that is not always the case. Hope you check back often and your comments and feedback are always welcome!
Thanks for reading.



posted by: bawdy (reply)
post date: 01.12.09 (12:23 pm)

I wish him well in his battle. Those were pretty entertaining films and I have no problem with their order.



posted by: auntconi (reply)
post date: 01.12.09 (6:42 pm)

So sad to hear about anyone dealing with cancer ~ praying for him ~ and I absolutely love "Dirty Dancing" and it must be popular as it is shown quite often on TV and I watch as often as I can ~ love the music and 'dancing' ~ I did see the Walters interview ~ brought tears to my eyes...





posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 01.13.09 (5:29 pm)

Hope he makes it through. Lousy deal.



posted by: Margherita (reply)
post date: 03.17.09 (10:51 am)

I just wish that he was not in so much pain. I wish he would be one of the miracles and beat this dreadful disease

Your Name:


Your Comment:


Facebook Page for Kickin' it Old School

Twitter Page for Kickin' it Old School

Top Blogs

Add to Technorati Favorites

Photobucket

I80S.COM