Patrick Swayze Drug Abuse: a Requiem for Patrick Swayze on Satellite TV Networks

Whenever there is the passing of an actor or performer who has enchanted the public for decades, it’s natural to want to relive those great moments preserved on film again. Remembering those movies is in many ways remembering one’s youth or another special time. Patrick Swayze was an actor whose humility always seemed genuine, his work ethic unquestioned. Here are five great ways to see this fallen actor on satellite TV networks and revisit a remarkable career.

1. Roadhouse. The remake of a classic Richard Widmark film seemed perfect for Swayze. He had to play a bouncer with a haunted past who falls for the wrong girl. Dirty Dancing comes to mind, but this film had a much more violent twist, courtesy of the snarling Ben Gazzarra in a wicked role. Before the somewhat overblown ending, you’ll see the Swayze you expect: brave, bold and cursed from the get-go. This film is in heavy rotation on satellite TV networks like USA.

2. Point Break. Dismissed by surfers as hooey and questioned by critics for its sincerity, Point Break views as an extremely entertaining action picture nearly twenty years later. Swayze stars as the hunted point man of a bank-robbing gang in Southern California. When they’re not knocking over vaults, they’re out carving up the local waves. Keanu Reeves has to do double duty as infiltrator and beginning surfer as the stakes rise. Say what you will about the film, Swayze is never less than convincing. Check out Point Break in high definition on satellite TV premium networks.

3. The Beast. Swayze’s last role was in this television series. As always, if there is no physicality involved, he wouldn’t have taken the part. Swayze plays an FBI man who never seems to go by the rulebook.

Roughing up perpetrators and trading with the most despicable characters are part of a day’s work. Seeing his emaciated face was difficult for many, but this series is worth viewing.

4. Dirty Dancing. For many people, the be-all, end-all of Swayze films. Few performances were ever so charismatic and few have showcased such masculinity in the world of dancing. Fred Astaire is a far cry from this film. In many ways the story of ‘the guy from the wrong side of the tracks’ and the sheltered daddy’s little girl, the thrill of the music and movement and the honesty of Swayze’s performance overshadow everything else. Dirty Dancing remains a favorite on satellite TV networks from AMC to HBO.

5. Donnie Darko. An odd film in so many ways, the director wisely cast Swayze as a self-help guru who becomes the enemy of the psychotic main character (played wonderfully by Jake Gyllenhall). Donnie Darko is an exploration inside a dark mind, with time travel and myth getting their share of film along the way. No matter what, the film will stand as one of Swayze’s best late-career roles. See it on the IFC network.

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… for Everything, Julie Newmar'. Starring Wesley Snypes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York drag queens stranded in a small conservative town, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114682" target="_hplink">this campy 1995 comedy</a … Read more on Huffington Post