20 Best Patrick Swayze Movies, From 'Roadhouse' and 'Red Dawn' to 'Dirty Dancing' to Drag and Beyond
Patrick Swayze in "Road House" (1989)
Patrick Swayze was taken from the world far too soon. The screen legend died at just 57 years old in September 2009 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, leaving behind a movie career that ran the gamut from action thrillers to romantic tearjerkers to pop culture classics.
Of course, not all of it was cinematic brilliance: Swayze famously bought all copies and rights to his film debut Skatetown, U.S.A. to keep anyone from ever seeing it (though we genuinely doubt, when viewed retrospectively, that it's as bad as he thought). But when it was good? Oh man, was it good.
From Swayze's dance moves to his action hero good looks to his cheeky humor and smoldering, soulful romances, look back at the 20 best Patrick Swayze movies.
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20 Best Patrick Swayze Movies, Ranked
FilmFlex
20. Powder Blue (2009)
Swayze's last film, Powder Blue, wasn't celebrated at the time of its release, with most of the attention going to then-7th Heaven star Jessica Biel's turn as a stripper, but it's campy and fun: It's a bizarre Christmas Eve movie, in which Swayze plays a crime boss and strip club owner who styles himself like a cross between Bret Michaels and Dog the Bounty Hunter. If you're sick of Hallmark fare, this may be an interesting piece of holiday canon for you.
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Disney
19. Tall Tale (1995)
Swayze stars as Pecos Bill in Disney's Tall Tale, a fun family-friendly celebration of American folk legends, flanked by supporting cast members including Oliver Platt as Paul Bunyan and Catherine O'Hara as Calamity Jane. While it underperformed at the box office at the time of its release, it's since become a favorite on Disney+.
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Sony Pictures
18. Tiger Warsaw (1988)
Hardly seen at the time of its release, Tiger Warsaw features Swayze as a self-destructive son trying to make amends with the family he fractured. It's low-budget, but high-drama, and a great vehicle for Swayze's brooding and co-star Piper Laurie's always-on-point emoting as his mother.
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Warner Bros.
17. City of Joy (1992)
Though not a box office success at the time of its release, City of Joy let Swayze flex his dramatic muscles as a Houston surgeon desperate for redemption and enlightenment—and it doesn't fall prey to white savior tropes.
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MGM
16. Youngblood (1986)
Swayze stars alongside Rob Lowe and real-life hockey player Keanu Reeves in Youngblood, a relatively by-the-numbers but still fun and inspiring sports movie that later became a cable and cult favorite.
Lowe revealed in August 2023 that Swayze wrote "She's Like the Wind" while they were working on Youngblood.
"He never slept. He was up writing songs or working out. The man was like a vampire bat," Lowe said on his his Literally! podcast. "He had this song 'She's Like the Wind' ... We're like, 'We're not putting this song in this hockey movie!' And then a year and a half later, it's the No. 1 hit in the world from Dirty Dancing. There was nothing he couldn't do."
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Universal Pictures
15. Black Dog (1998)
Black Dog co-stars Meat Loaf and Randy Travis and largely takes place in a truck. It's mindless fun that probably isn't for everybody, but it's also one of the last road movies to use practical effects, giving it some serious nostalgia quality.
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Warner Bros.
14. Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)
Swayze and Jamie Lee Curtis have chemistry and charm that sparks off the screen in Grandview, U.S.A., which features love triangles, fast cars and drama that wouldn't necessarily be out of place on a daytime talk show—but manages to work beautifully.
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New Line Cinema
13. 11:14 (2003)
Think Crash with exclusively terrible people: The 2003 dark comedy 11:14 is a series of vignettes and seemingly unrelated bad decisions, events and storylines that all culminate at 11:14 p.m. in a single night, with the ties between each being gradually revealed later through flashbacks. We won't give away any more than that!
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Eagle Pictures
12. One Last Dance (2003)
If for no other reason, watch the romantic dance drama One Last Dance because it was a real Swayze family affair: He co-starred and co-produced the movie with his real-life wife Lisa Niemi, who wrote the project based on a play she'd penned previously about real-life struggles of fledgling dancers in New York City. Swayze's mother choreographed One Last Dance, and Niemi directed. It's basically a love letter to each other, which makes it truly touching to witness.
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Paramount Pictures
11. Uncommon Valor (1983)
A surprise hit in 1983, Uncommon Valor follows Gene Hackman as a retired Marine searching for his son, who went missing in the Vietnam War. Swayze stars as a member of a group of fellow Vietnam veterans who help Hackman's character return to Asia to find not just his son, but also answers and closure.
Related: The Best War Movies of All Time
Columbia Pictures
10. Green Dragon (2001)
Swayze plays Sgt. Jim Lance in his second Vietnam War-centric film, which examines the experience of young Vietnamese refugees acclimating to Camp Pendleton in the United States after the fall of Saigon. There was a language barrier between him and his Vietnamese co-star Don Duong, but he made it work.
"[Duong's] English got better, but in that scene Don and Patrick did not understand each other at all, not a word, but they were able to act through their eyes," director Timothy Linh Bui later told IndieWire. "That's what Patrick told me, that by looking at Don’s eyes he could understand the emotion that was there. I think that language barrier worked nicely into the film."
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MGM
9. Red Dawn (1984)
Red Dawn, in which Swayze co-stars with Charlie Sheen as teens defending their hometown from a Soviet invasion, was initially intended to essentially be anti-communist and pro-gun propaganda, with many conservative fans celebrating it as such still.
The film was groundbreaking in several ways: It was, at the time, the most violent movie in history per The Guinness Book of World Records, and the first to ever get a PG-13 rating.
Red Dawn has played roles in some pretty historic real-life moments by conservative leaders as well: Operation Red Dawn was the name given to the mission to capture non-communist Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, with its targets nicknamed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2; and messages surrounding the early days of Donald Trump's COVID-19 pandemic response were called "The Red Dawn Emails."
Watching Red Dawn today, however, brings a perhaps unintended irony and anti-war message—depending on the lens and past trauma through which you view it.
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Warner Bros.
8. The Outsiders (1983)
Every hunk in Swayze's generation was in Francis Ford Coppola's classic teen angst opus The Outsiders. As orphan-turned-patriarch Darrel Curtis, his role isn't the biggest in the movie (though his biceps sure are), but he imbues it with all the intensity and emotion that Coppola's script deserves.
Co-star Rob Lowe later compared Swayze to co-star Tom Cruise.
"He was something. Patrick Swayze was a true renaissance man," Lowe said on his his Literally! podcast in August 2023. "I mean, he could do anything. He was an accomplished dancer, he was an accomplished archer, cutting horses, gymnast ... Before Tom Cruise was doing it, Swayze was doing it."
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Warner Bros.
7. Next of Kin (1989)
Swayze co-starred with Liam Neeson, Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt and Alec Baldwin in Next of Kin, an action and revenge romp about hunting a mobster who murdered his brother. The film is a little cheesy, but in a fun way—imagine if a reluctant John Rambo hunted the Mafia around Chicago instead of Soviets and Vietcong in the Middle East and the jungle. While it received mixed reviews at the time of its release, it's since become a cult classic.
Related: The Best Liam Neeson Movies
?20th Century Studios/Everett Collection
6. Point Break (1991)
Swayze stars as surfer and bank robber Bodhi in Point Break, in which even an FBI agent played by the breathtaking Keanu Reeves can't resist his charisma. Kathryn Bigelow's directorial debut is very '90s, for better or worse, but it's also a deeply moving look at male friendship, and it holds up beyond its nostalgia value.
Reeves said in a March 2023 Reddit AMA that his favorite memories from making the movie revolved after Swayze himself. "He was a gentlemen and a total pro," Reeves said. "A movie star, an inspiration."
(Also, to reiterate, it's Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, usually on a beach. You're welcome.)
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United Artists
5. Donnie Darko (2001)
Swayze has a darkly hilarious turn as villain Jim Cunningham, a thought leader before there was really a word for it (and before LinkedIn made them even more ubiquitous and insufferable) who's hiding a really dark and disturbing secret. His part in Donnie Darko is relatively small, but incredibly pivotal—and honestly, who wouldn't be entranced by this guy?
In March 2024, Jake Gyllenhaal, who played the titular Donnie Darko, paid tribute to Swayze on Instagram.
"I've been thinking back about my time working with Patrick on Donnie Darko, and rewatching this great man in the original Road House plus so many other films," he wrote. "I've never stopped being a fan. He was such a talent and I continue to have so much respect and admiration for what he put out and into the world. I'll never forget his kindness to me when I was starting out—he didn't have to take the time, but he always did."
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MGM
4. Road House (1989)
Demonstrating that the man was as much an athlete as he was an actor, the original Road House became a cult classic for two reasons: Patrick Swayze and roundhouse kicks. You do not need anything else, and anyone who says you do is probably the worst person to ever invite to a party. (And if you're that person, now you know what you need to do next time you're home alone on a weekend: Watch Road House and learn your lesson.)
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Vestron Pictures
3. Dirty Dancing (1987)
From the soundtrack (which features the original Swayze-penned and performed song "She's Like the Wind") to the iconic moves, Dirty Dancing is a classic for a reason. Though not all the plot points necessarily hold up (Johnny Castle is 25 to Baby's 17, so maybe he really should have been sorry), the pivotal moments do.
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Universal Pictures
2. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
Swayze co-stars with Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo (who, God bless him, always commits) as drag queens whose car breaks down in a small town during a cross-country road trip.
Swayze earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role of ringleader Vida Boheme, with Leguizamo also getting a nod for Best Supporting Actor. Progressive ahead of its time, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar has everything from a RuPaul cameo to a fabulous Spartacus reference, making it not just one of Swayze's best movies ever, but also just a damn fun movie.
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Paramount Pictures
1. Ghost (1990)
Channing Tatum is reportedly in talks to remake Ghost, and while the Magic Mike star can certainly make a shirtless ceramics session look good, nothing will top the heartwrenching, and at times hilarious, original. From Swayze's sweet and sexy chemistry with Demi Moore to Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar-winning turn as a scammer-turned-legit medium, the film is pure perfection in every imaginable way.
