For many, many years I was TOO sad to watch a Swayze movie because I miss him SO much. But this year, I’m swinging in the other direction. This is also my 500th post (!!) and we’re coming up on the blog’s 7th anniversary (!!!) so I want to do something big to celebrate. Very Special Readers, Welcome to the Summer of Swayze.
I’m really excited to share this line-up with you.
–M*A*S*H – “Blood Brothers“
–The Outsiders
–Red Dawn
–Dirty Dancing
–Road House
–Ghost
–Point Break
–To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
–Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
In the meantime, feast your eyes on a young Patrick Swayze dancing in Toto’s “Rosanna” music video. Swayze’s the one in the red jacket (until he takes it off at 04:15).
The Very Special Blog 
Danced today with Patrick and Toto! This Very Special Reader is Very Happy!
So much to look forward to!!
I suggest checking out the extended edition of The Outsiders if you haven’t seen it yet. I actually think it’s better than the theatrical version (even if the additional scenes throw off the pacing. The theatrical version indeed has the better pace, and I for that reason I can see why that’s the version we originally got, but this is a rare case where the better pacing is a bad thing in my opinion. We get the start of the story “As I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house…” And then suddenly the next thing we see is Dally staying outside a building that isn’t a movie house. It’s jarring. Extended edition fixes this). Only shame is that they replaced so many good tracks from the score with 60’s rock music, which drastically changes the tone of some of the scenes. One of these days I plan to put together a combination of the two versions: Extended edition with the original score. The 60’s rock music is a small price to pay though IMO. Also, the extended edition is the only version available on Blu Ray (the theatrical version can only be found on DVD, VHS, and Laserdisc). While I prefer the extended edition anyway, I still think the theatrical version should get a Blu Ray release because of preservation.
Oh wow I’m curious about the change of music! I wonder if the full score wasn’t done prior to editing? It seems really odd to take out the original score. I can’t wrap my head around that.
Believe it or not, the 60’s rock music was Coppola’s original intention for the movie. The score we ended up with in the theatrical version was due to Executive Meddling (but, definitely in this case, “Tropes Aren’t Bad”)
Oh wow! I had no idea! I figured Coppola would know the magic of a good score better than anyone but I stand corrected.