Patrick Swayze's oeuvre marks an unfortunate gap in my film knowledge (having never seen Dirty Dancing, let alone Road House or The Outsiders), but I'm still saddened to hear of his death after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. The only popular movies of his I saw, enjoyed, and will watch again are Ghost and Point Break (and Donnie Darko, if you'll allow.) Dirty Dancing just never appealed to me at the time, so it's just a jumble of catchphrases, that dance move, and a soundtrack filtered through pop-culture jokes, parodies and reality shows.Still, Swayze's an actor intrinsically linked to "The '80s" (consequently etched into memories of that era in some indefinable way), I liked the how he managed to stage a mini-comeback post-millennium, and he was definitely a man whose bravery in the face of terminal illness will be an inspiration to many. He spent the last months of his life writing his autobiography ("The Time Of My Life"), and I'm sure it'll be a great read. Maybe now's the time to give that dance flick a spin...
