THE FANS' LOVE STORY: How The Movie 'DIRTY DANCING' Captured The Hearts Of Millions! (22 page)

I had sent Patrick a birthday card years ago, you know, through the fan club . . . I mean the man is incredible. He really is . . . My feelings don’t have so much to do with DD but as with Patrick and Lisa. And when I sent that birthday card . . . part of it was how much he had brought into my life—that I had been a loner most of my life . . . even in high school. Because of my interest in Patrick, I found Swayze Mania and the fan club. And I have wonderful friends now since I discovered him and started searching. I have friends throughout the states—very, very good friends . . . We will e-mail off list. We call each other. There is a true friendship, and I said Patrick, I would not have this if you weren’t you. And that’s the god honest truth. I have the most wonderful friend . . . We have been very close. I was so happy she was in Houston and I was able to meet her in person. I mean we’ll get on the phone maybe two hours.

Doesn’t she live in England?

Yes, she does live in England. She has been the most wonderful friend to me. We are very close. Also, my friend in Canada—I got to meet her in Houston, and Sandy her guide dog. We are very close. What I got out of that was so remarkable—not only did I meet Patrick in person when we went to Houston—and Lisa, and his mom, Patsy, but so many of my wonderful friends that have become so dear to me—that have brought so much into my life.

I wanted him to know how much he, just simply by being, brought into my life. And also in an anniversary card, I wrote to Patrick and Lisa how their togetherness, as they have the kind of togetherness, it’s very obvious . . . he’s on location, she’s there . . . It’s the kind of togetherness that I had with my husband. So even though I had lost my husband more than twenty years ago, it just gave me such a warm feeling to see it with them. It’s very evident how he wants her with him . . . I just admire them and love that much more because it brings that back in my life through them. That’s how much the two of them really have brought.

I like his acting, the dancing. The more I learned, the more I felt something about him that led me to his interview with Barbara Walters. His emotional response to her question about his dad showed a quality to him that made me search more and more about him and his life —and then my interest extended to Lisa as well. As you see,
Dirty Dancing
is what brought him and Lisa into my life in a way that’s impacted it tremendously. But it’s them—not the movie—them as a couple . . .

Are there other movies that you have seen many times, and if so, is Patrick in them?

There are many other non-Patrick movies that I have watched through the years multiple times and many of Patrick’s as well, but none as many times as
Dirty Dancing
. I love
Waking
Up in Reno
. I love him with Melanie Griffith—oh my god that scene—the one you know where they made the trip to find his son, and you know, he’s done some really good stuff . . . To me, one of the finest bits of acting he did. I absolutely love
Father Hood
. One spot in that movie was just brilliant—in that one scene in the courtroom. I get on the verge of tears just picturing it . . . He finally opens up and he is not giving a line. And you can see in the movie too when he began to really care about them. He did beautiful, beautiful acting. It is funny and delightful but more than that, he did a damned good job of acting . . . It was an Oscar moment . . . he knew that this man was going to be dead—his buddy. He comes in and he’s talking to him and he rolls him over and he sees the knife in him [
Road House
]. There was an incredible piece of Patrick’s acting in each of these two movies . . . I also loved the one where he had run away from home and came back . . .

Tiger Warsaw
?

Yes, I guess he was in his dressing room . . . his dog was with him . . . He said that role was killing him—what he had to feel—what he had to go through . . . this is one where he had the thing with his father . . . so he had lost that father . . . so I am sure he drew on his feelings for his own father. He has done some awfully good work. He really has. There are many others . . .
Dirty Dancing
is the one that I have watched the most. There were some I did not care for. That dark, dark movie.

Donnie Darko
?

Yes, I am not saying that he did not do good acting. I just didn’t like the movie.

City of Joy
?

It was good. He has said that
City of Joy
affected him personally very deeply. He has said that
City of Joy
affected his personal life.

Have you ever met Patrick or anyone else from the cast?

You know the answer.

What was it like?

It [Houston International Film Festival—premiere of
One Last Dance,
2003] was incredible—it really, really was. It was the most incredible experience. First of all, to be that close to Patrick and Lisa. You know, to be able to hear them . . . First, the movie,
One Last Dance
, moved me hugely. She did an utterly incredible job with that movie. She personally—with the directing and everything else. She did an incredible job. It left me breathless. I was so moved by that movie. And then, to have the opportunity . . . Patrick spent so much time with us [the fan club members] . . . He set up an area for us . . . were you there?

Yes, but I want you to tell it.

He spent so much time for us. He was so caring. He deliberately set aside an area for our group. I probably have you up on my wall because I have the picture that was taken with Patrick. There was the bus driver who was a classmate of his. It was a remarkable experience. What was more so even was the next morning. We had no idea. Margaret [President of the fan club] had no idea. She went upstairs because she had to go over something with Patrick.

Well, I only know that the first we knew anything . . . Patsy came down to tell us that he would be down. We were all wondering, “What are we sitting here for?”
(
The group of about thirty fans, including Roberta and myself, were sitting on a bus in front of the hotel that Patrick and Lisa were staying at—waiting to go on a tour. As a surprise, Patrick and his mother, Patsy, came on the bus and answered any questions we had for them for about fifty minutes.
)

I just happened to be sitting in the third row, and did eventually manage to get a question out to Patrick, which he and Patsy answered in great detail.

The way he was with us. The way he was just so down-to-earth and caring and one-on-one with each one of us.

Exactly.

That’s a very rare quality. He has impacted my life in many, many, many ways. And now of course, I send prayers up to him and Lisa . . . Let’s not get into that . . . can’t handle
Dirty Dancing
now. It’s on almost every night—on one channel or another . . . I can’t handle any of his work right now . . .

What do you think about
Dirty Dancing,
the movie being made into a stage production? Do you plan on seeing it?

I am not interested. I would not see it. Of course, Eleanor Bergstein is connected with the stage production. When they were going to do a remake of
Dirty Dancing
, they were not going to use any of the people Patrick cared about, so he wasn’t interested. For me,
Dirty
Dancing
is Patrick. I don’t believe that there is any other person who could ever, ever, ever move in the way that Patrick does. It would not satisfy me to see somebody else in the role . . . I love Baryshnikov and Nureyev. They don’t move that way . . . No, I would not ever. In fact, I resented the other stupid thing that they used
Dirty Dancing
in . . .

Havana Nights.

They used the story. She had a sister . . . Javier wasn’t approved by her family . . . And then they had them doing the three together. There are so many pieces that they took out of that movie and transferred into
Havana Nights—
copying it. It was horrible . . . I went to it only because Patrick was going to be onscreen for a period of time.

Do you think a good sequel to the movie could be made?

A great big no—underlined. Especially now given Patrick’s health, but I never did feel it could be done successfully since it was the concept of the story itself that was the movie shaker of the audience response. It cannot be duplicated.

Additional demographic information

Marital status
: Widow

Education level:
High school graduate

Occupation:
Retired

Official Patrick Swayze International Fan Club member
: Not a member right now.

Anything else about
Dirty Dancing
?

I absolutely loved him with Cynthia Rhodes (Penny). She’s no longer in acting. They left me speechless. I mean my jaw dropped down. I absolutely loved that. Any dancing they did together was absolutely exquisite. They were paired so perfectly. She was remarkable. I absolutely couldn’t get enough of it. I wish they had done more . . . I loved her in it. I thought she was a very good actress as well as a wonderful dancer. I loved the way she spoke to Baby—when Baby said she knows Robbie has money and will help—told Baby to go back to her playpen . . . Just the way she did it. It was beautifully done . . . She is good. I can’t believe, my god, the shape on her—how anybody could have such a tiny, tiny waist . . . What I loved so much—dancing meant a lot to me all the way through—and that final scene of course, at that time, I didn’t know about his bad knee. That must have been horrendously painful—for him to jump off that stage . . . Knowing his history afterwards, I shudder when he jumps off the stage in that final scene. It’s wonderful, it’s dramatic, but it had to hurt like hell. In fact, in
Dirty Dancing
he fell off that log when he was showing her how to balance on that log. He fell a couple of times. They took him to the emergency room—that’s his work ethic—that he came back and finished the scene . . . He’s a remarkable man . . . He wouldn’t have stunt doubles . . .

During the interviews, I heard over and over again that there are key important reasons why people like
Dirty Dancing
so much and why this movie has had such a positive, strong impact on them. I list these reasons in no particular order:

1. The artistry of the movie
   
2. Patrick Swayze
   
3. The love story
   
4. The haven
   
5. The messages
   
6. The timeframe—1963
   
7. The inspiration to dance
   
8. The overall feel-good effect
   

First of all, there is the artistry of the movie. People love the story line, the acting of the entire cast (especially between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze), the dancing/choreography, and the music. People who were interviewed said over and over again how great the individual above pieces were and how well they all fit together! Crystal (age 53) from the US said, “I fell in love with the entire cast. Baby, Johnny, the dancers—the casting was perfect.” People commented that the movie seemed real and that they could identify with the characters of Baby and Johnny. Elly (age 17) from Australia said, “I can relate to the movie in so many ways, such as being seventeen and individuating in your own unique way.” She stated that Jennifer Grey’s portrayal of Baby gave her strength and power to stand up for herself and for what she truly believes in. Elly also related that she really looks up to Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze for their performances—especially their creation of a soul connection between the characters. Kelly (age 37) from the US stated, “Jennifer Grey definitely stole the show for me . . . the character (Baby) being quirky and naïve . . . and timid . . . and then confident towards the end.” Regarding the character of Johnny, David (age 52) from the US said that he identified with Johnny’s initial display of a “hot-headed personality” and “victim” outlook in life, and changed these characteristics in himself and became more mature. Both David and Cheryl (age 55) from the US commented that the character of Johnny is realistic in terms of how he had to prove to himself that he was worthy—that men (per David) and people in general (per Cheryl) have a need to prove something to his or her self.

Speaking of Johnny, Patrick Swayze is mentioned over and over again. Some people went to the movie because they were already a big fan of Patrick Swayze—especially from
North and
South
. Debbie (age 54) from the US: “I went to see it because I loved Patrick Swayze.” Clare (age 26) from the UK said that she was so enamored with Patrick Swayze after first seeing him in
Dirty Dancing
at age six, she promised her dad that when she was older, she was going to go to America and meet Patrick Swayze (ended up meeting him in London in 2006). Roberta (age 83) from the US told me that it is Patrick’s dancing that makes the movie for her—that she has never seen anyone (including the Russian ballet dancers) who can move the way he does in that movie when he is dancing. Angela (age 34) from the US commented that one of the reasons she likes the movie so much is because Patrick Swayze stars in it, and she wishes Patrick could teach her how to dance. Flabia (age 41) from Argentina wrote that as soon as she saw
Dirty Dancing
for the first time at age 23 with her cousin: “Both of us fell in love with Patrick that very moment.” Becky (age 36) from the US told me that she became a fan of Patrick when she saw
North and South—
“He captured me then, and he’s had me captured ever since.” Kelly said one of the reasons she enjoys
Dirty
Dancing
so much is “ . . . because of Patrick Swayze. I always liked him. He’s hot and just a good guy.” Barbara S. (age 41) from Germany said, “I love Patrick, and it is a big dream of mine to dance with him.” Evelyn (age 73) from the US remarked how Patrick is absolutely adorable and a perfectionist in the movie. Kari (age 51) from the US commented about the amazing talent of Patrick Swayze, and said, “He was sexy but kind, in an innocent way.”