I Am Patrick Swayze (2019) - General Discussion

[Robert Lynch]

I miss this guy already. Starting on August 18th.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[Spartan Girl]

Watching it right now. Finally we learn what went down with Patrick and Jennifer Grey on Red Dawn and why they hated each other (initially)! And it was all over some dumb prank?! Wow.

I do love all the footage of Patrick and his horses.

I miss him. Fuck cancer.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Spartan Girl

[Snow Apple]

I really enjoyed the footage of Patrick's ballet years. 

I was disappointed they didn't mention the North and South miniseries. I wonder why? I thought that was his first really big thing. Other than that, I thought it was a good documentary.

[texassunflower]

This documentary was extremely well done. I have heard that there is no love lost between Don Swayze and Lisa Niemi. I enjoyed the interviews with his multiple co stars. I adore Sam Elliot and figured that these two cowboys would get along well. I first saw Patrick Swayze in the North and South mini series. I also was surprised that it wasn't even mentioned. If you haven't seen the mini series, look it up. It's well worth seeing. Patrick Swayze was perfection as the Southern gentleman Orry Main. And he was girl pretty in the role!

[Bastet]

I missed the first half hour, but enjoyed the bulk of it I did see.  A friend of mine worked on one of his films, and had always talked about how much he looked out for everyone on set (something Mary McDonnell also specifically noted - as part of nothing but high praise for him - in talking about filming Tiger Warsaw); from that limited interaction long ago, she was quite sad when he died, so I was curious to see him through the eyes of people who knew him even better.

I came in right as his wife talked about packing up their two cats and heading for Los Angeles (when his agent told him he needed to be there, not NY, if he wanted to make it) and was sold - cat guys for the win!  It sounds like they had quite the menagerie of pets, and I cried picturing that majestic white horse giving a final bow to him after his death.

I didn't realize how much he struggled, mentally, and as someone with depression and anxiety I sucked in a deep breath at that clip of him saying he'd given up on happiness, but he did feel happy.  I was quite moved by his wife's relief that they'd reconciled before his diagnosis, since if she'd come back home after the cancer it would have seemed like pity. 

It also got to me when Kelly Lynch said she didn't think he realized just how much he was loved, no matter how hard that seems to believe.

Was Jennifer Grey the only one who referred to him as Patrick rather than Buddy?  I can't remember what Demi Moore called him, but it seemed that everyone else went with Buddy.

[topanga]

17 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Was Jennifer Grey the only one who referred to him as Patrick rather than Buddy?  I can't remember what Demi Moore called him, but it seemed that everyone else went with Buddy.

Rob Lowe said he never felt comfortable calling him Buddy. 

Loved this documentary. Brought tears to my eyes several times. 

I never knew how tough Patrick’s childhood was and that his mother was both physically and emotionally abusive toward him. I also wonder if Don felt left out—his mother seemed to give all of her love and attention to Patrick because he was going to be the star of the family. 

[WendyCR72]

Is this being repeated anytime? I missed it.  😞 I was a quintessential Patrick Swayze fangirl teenager in the '80s after Dirty Dancing, with his posters and everything. It still saddens me how cancer took him at still such a relatively young age.

Reading here that his mother was physically/emotionally abusive sort of shocked me, too.

I echo @Spartan Girl above. Fuck cancer.

[joanne3482]

59 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

s this being repeated anytime? I missed it.  😞 I was a quintessential Patrick Swayze fangirl teenager in the '80s after Dirty Dancing, with his posters and everything. It still saddens me how cancer took him at still such a relatively young age.

According to my cable box, the Paramount Network will have it at 12:30 am Monday morning and again 10:30 am on Monday. I missed the first hour so I DVRd it. 

[WendyCR72]

3 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

According to my cable box, the Paramount Network will have it at 12:30 am Monday morning and again 10:30 am on Monday. I missed the first hour so I DVRd it. 

Thanks!

[Robert Lynch]

Hard to believe he started in a disco flop called Skatetown USA...

There is so many actors in that film, too. And a couple of them no longer with us. Man.....how I miss this guy.

[Spartan Girl]

I forgot that he and Lisa had a miscarriage/couldn't have kids. It made footage of him playing with that kid even more heartbreaking, especially with everyone saying what great parents they would have made. But at least he got to "parent" all their dogs, cats, and horses.

[topanga]

27 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I forgot that he and Lisa had a miscarriage/couldn't have kids. It made footage of him playing with that kid even more heartbreaking, especially with everyone saying what great parents they would have made. But at least he got to "parent" all their dogs, cats, and horses.

I’m sad that that Patrick didn’t want to adopt. I know adoption isn’t for everyone, but for two people who want children but are having trouble giving birth to their own biological children, adoption is a logical option. 

2 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Hard to believe he started in a disco flop called Skatetown USA...

There is so many actors in that film, too. And a couple of them no longer with us. Man.....how I miss this guy.

His skating was amazing. 

And boy, he wear a lot of eyeliner in those early roles. 

7 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I really enjoyed the footage of Patrick's ballet years. 

I was disappointed they didn't mention the North and South miniseries. I wonder why? I thought that was his first really big thing. Other than that, I thought it was a good documentary.

I don’t know how I missed North & South. But now I’m intrigued by it. 

[texassunflower]

@topanga. If you can find North and South on eBay or through Amazon, it's worth the price. The mini series is a trilogy. The first and second installment feature Patrick as one of the main characters. You can skip the third installment. Patrick is only in the first hour or so because Patrick was filming and not available. The series has famous actors as guest stars. Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Kirstie Alley, Parker Stevens, David Odgen Stiers, Johnny Cash, George Stanford Brown, David Carradine, Leslie Anne Down, Morgan Fairchild, and Lee Horshley are a few that I remember. Excellent mini series that was pretty popular in the South.

[Robert Lynch]

12 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Is this being repeated anytime? I missed it.  😞 I was a quintessential Patrick Swayze fangirl teenager in the '80s after Dirty Dancing, with his posters and everything. It still saddens me how cancer took him at still such a relatively young age.

Reading here that his mother was physically/emotionally abusive sort of shocked me, too.

I echo @Spartan Girl above. Fuck cancer.

Never would have guessed that happened to Patrick Swayze. River Phoenix was pretty much an open book, if you read about the Children of God cult. Who could have guessed that Swayze's mother was like that? The more you know.

[Lisa418722]

14 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

I really enjoyed the footage of Patrick's ballet years. 

I was disappointed they didn't mention the North and South miniseries. I wonder why? I thought that was his first really big thing. Other than that, I thought it was a good documentary.

A few years ago I was at Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston (Mont Royal in the miniseries).  I was walking around "Patrick Swayze walked here."  He was taken away way too soon. 

[Eureka]

I didn't get to watch this last night. Anyone know if it's on On Demand (Comcast) for the Paramount Network?

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, Eureka said:

I didn't get to watch this last night. Anyone know if it's on On Demand (Comcast) for the Paramount Network?

I don't get the Paramount Network but they also showed it on TVLand last night. I don't know if that helps any. 

Sorry. I don't know about On Demand.

[Vixenstud]

1 hour ago, Eureka said:

I didn't get to watch this last night. Anyone know if it's on On Demand (Comcast) for the Paramount Network?

Why yes, it is!  Twas watching whilst getting ready for work this morning and had to stop....didn't want to cry in the Lyft drive.  Will watch the rest (with tissues!) tonight.

[babyhouseman]

5 hours ago, Lisa418722 said:

A few years ago I was at Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston (Mont Royal in the miniseries).  I was walking around "Patrick Swayze walked here."  He was taken away way too soon. 

I was there about twenty years ago. I'm a big Dirty Dancing fan which is where my profile name came from. I went to the two DD locations. One is gone. The other is the hotel in my profile picture. I always thought it was funny I ended up going to two PS filming places. The documentary was good. My mother loved seeing Sam Elliot.

[Robert Lynch]

Also, I was surprised when I heard that Rob Lowe was supposed to play the main character in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. I think Patrick was the right choice. Had Rob Lowe got the part, it would have been a very meh movie. No offense to Rob Lowe, but Patrick had a better believability to the character than Lowe. I know Lowe worked hard, but I can only see Patrick in that role.

[Vixenstud]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:14 PM, texassunflower said:

I have heard that there is no love lost between Don Swayze and Lisa Niemi.

Same here....in fact, I don't recall Don mentioning her name at all during the doc.

[topanga]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:14 PM, texassunflower said:

This documentary was extremely well done. I have heard that there is no love lost between Don Swayze and Lisa Niemi.

20 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

Same here....in fact, I don't recall Don mentioning her name at all during the doc.

Do you know why there was tension. 

23 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Also, I was surprised when I heard that Rob Lowe was supposed to play the main character in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. I think Patrick was the right choice. Had Rob Lowe got the part, it would have been a very meh movie. No offense to Rob Lowe, but Patrick had a better believability to the character than Lowe. I know Lowe worked hard, but I can only see Patrick in that role.

I think Rob Lowe would've been beautiful as a woman--but he wouldn't have been good in the role. I agree with whoever was talking about this in the documentary: Despite being tall and muscular,  Patrick's physicality and dance background allowed him to move like a graceful woman. It was a sight to behold. What's funny is that I remember nothing about the plot of To Wong Foo except for the appearance of the leads: Patrick wasn't very attractive but had great body language. John Leguizamo was beautiful, and Wesley Snipes was downright fugly. 

[Vixenstud]

12 minutes ago, topanga said:

What's funny is that I remember nothing about the plot of To Wong Foo except for the appearance of the leads: Patrick wasn't very attractive but had great body language. John Leguizamo was beautiful, and Wesley Snipes was downright fugly. 

What?  I thought Patrick's Vida was pretty, Leguizamo was definitely fine and lol, agree with the fugly Noxeema.  Unfortunately, I'm always reminded of a former friend when seeing Vida...he looked just like her whenever he did drag.

14 minutes ago, topanga said:

On 8/18/2019 at 11:14 PM, texassunflower said:

This documentary was extremely well done. I have heard that there is no love lost between Don Swayze and Lisa Niemi.

22 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

Same here....in fact, I don't recall Don mentioning her name at all during the doc.

Do you know why there was tension. 

I take it back...Don did mention Lisa a few times in the doc.  As for why they don't get along, iirc there was drama after Patrick's death concerning the auction of his things and what his family actually got out of it.  

I didn't know there was another brother outside of Don but Sean Kyle definitely had negative things to say about Lisa:

https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2019/08/patrick-swayze-brother-slams-widow-abuse-claims/

[topanga]

2 minutes ago, Vixenstud said:

I take it back...Don did mention Lisa a few times in the doc.  As for why they don't get along, iirc there was drama after Patrick's death concerning the auction of his things and what his family actually got out of it.  

I didn't know there was another brother outside of Don but Sean Kyle definitely had negative things to say about Lisa:

https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2019/08/patrick-swayze-brother-slams-widow-abuse-claims/

Hmm... I believe Lisa on this one. For one thing, she never tried to make it seem like she and Patrick had a perfect marriage. She was fairly open about their challenges, including her moving out for a year. His alcoholism probably played the largest role. But I also wonder if their inability to have children contributed to their strain. I know I'm stereotyping, but when a woman has trouble conceiving or carrying a pregnancy, to many man, she's utterly useless as a woman. 

And her not taking his last name meant she didn't want to have anything to do with their family? In what world? 

C. Thomas Howell hinted at but didn't talk extensively that Patrick's mother was intense and maybe even borderline abusive. I believe he called her intense and said something along the lines of "rightly or wrongly, she focused every ounce of her energy on him being a success. She was hard on him."