Ghost at 30: the shock romantic blockbuster that tried to do it all

By Scott Tobias

 

Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost. Photograph: Allstar/Paramount

 

American cinema has never had a star quite like Patrick Swayze, who now seems like a bridge between eras, redefining masculinity after an 80s dominated by brute-force heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and, to a much lesser extent, Chuck Norris.

 

Jean-Claude Van Damme had some of his velvet-hammer appeal – the romantic coupling in Bloodsport was about showing off his body, not his girlfriend’s – but Swayze’s gentle, zen-like self-assurance was much rangier, unlimited to any one genre.

 

It was not just the Catskills that were scandalized by his sexuality in Dirty Dancing, but the culture at large, and it kept slipping through even in male-oriented, adrenalized action fare like Roadhouse and Point Break.

 

The notion of a star like Swayze paying attention to women and serving their fantasies is more radical than it seemed, especially at the time of his ascendence, but it does a lot to account for the success of Ghost, which barreled through mostly dismissive reviews to become the biggest hit of 1990. 

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/13/ghost-at-30-the-shock-romantic-blockbuster-that-tried-to-do-it-all

So this is what the Guardian is reduced to now, retelling the story of the film Ghost. 80 percent of that article basically tells the story of Ghost!

 

Pathetic.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

redefining masculinity after an 80s dominated by brute-force heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and, to a much lesser extent, Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris will not approve! Chuck Norris says he extended the 80s well into 2010 by force of his beard alone.