Top 3 Best Patrick Swayze Movies of All Time

I was extremely sad to read on Fox News that Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. According to the Fox News report, the star has but a few weeks left to live. It seems that we will again be robbed of a favorite celebrity. Patrick Swayze is only 55 years old.

Hearing this awful news has caused me to reflect back on his movie career. While I have thoroughly enjoyed most of Patrick Swayze's movies, three stand out against the rest for various reasons. The top 3 best Patrick Swayze movie picks of all time in order of release are:

Dirty Dancing, 1987:

Set in the early 1960s, the story follows Patrick Swayze's character, Johnny Castle, as he teaches Baby, played by Jennifer Grey, how to dance. Rich girl Baby steps in to help poor Johnny when his dance partner is sidelined by a botched abortion. The problem is, Baby can't dance well. So, Johnny has to teach her all of the moves she needs to know. Over the course of the film, Baby's dancing improves greatly and due to the nature of the dances they are performing, there is plenty of sexual tension between them. The dancing is very erotic and leads up to the memorable scene where Johnny and Baby are practicing lifts in water. Also memorable is the scene where Johnny declares that "Nobody puts Baby into a corner."

Dirty Dancing showcases Patrick Swayze's voice talent, as the song "She's Like The Wind"appeared in the movie and is available on the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. Dirty Dancing is one of the best Patrick Swayze movies because it showcased his entire talent package. Patrick Swayze showed the world he could dance, act and sing.

Ghost, 1990:

Cast as Sam Wheat, a banker who was killed during a mugging, Patrick Swayze's came back to take care of unfinished business as a ghost. Assisted by Whoopi Goldberg, an unwilling medium, Sam communicates with his girlfriend, Molly Jensen, played by Demi Moore. Our hearts literally break for the couple the entire movie as we and they mourn the life they would have had. Some comic relief in this movie came by way of Whoopi Goldberg. Who couldn't help but laugh at Sam's rendition of "I'm Henry the VIII" until she agreed to help him communicate with Molly? Both Swayze and Moore do an excellent job of ripping our hearts out in this flick. Ghost is a top Patrick Swayze movie because it is a movie you can watch over and over and still brings tears to my eyes 18 years later.

Point Break, 1991

Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah investigates a string of robberies committed by individuals dressed as former US Presidents. Following his hunches, FBI agent Utah infiltrates the group and goes deeply undercover, consorting with the adrenaline junky surfers whom he believes are connected to the robberies. The leader of the surfers, Bohdi, played by Swayze, grows on Utah, who begins to lose sight of his duty to bring the bank robbers to justice. In the end, Swayze's character is allowed to surf the 100 year storm waves in Australia, and ultimately dies as a result, on his own terms and with Utah's consent. What makes Point Break a top Patrick Swayze movie? Because Point Break lets us see that Patrick Swayze can play villain very convincingly. Bohdi 's complex character is played so well that you understand why he robs banks and are torn between wanting him to be caught for Utah's sake and wanting him to escape scot free.

Sources used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Dancing

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102685/synopsis

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335210,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Break