He made the mullet and poverty starved pottery art sexy. He created a dance sensation and single handedly defeated the USSR when it infiltrated American soil. He helped Ponyboy stay golden, and showed us that robbing banks can be an existential, life affirming experience. He was the Road House. He was Patrick Swayze. Yesterday, Swayze peacefully paced away amongst friends and family at the too young age of 57. Today, we look back at his life in film. These are the movies that made Patrick Swayze a cinematic legend in his lifetime.

Texas born and raised, Patrick Swayze always had a habit of choosing the right project at just the right moment in time. Throughout the 80s, every new film he attached himself to became an over night phenomenon. His biography is full of epic hits and cultural milestones. Not many celebrities have racked up the amount of true cult classics that he has under his belt. Some actors only get to star in one great film during their entire career. Not Swayze. He was the unique every man. An action hero macho enough to admit his affinity for dancing in tights. Women loved him for his rough-hewn sexiness. Men identify with his hometown heroics. He was an American original, and contemporary cinema would have been at a loss without him.

Here are the films that defined the Epic Legend that is Patrick Swayze:

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  The Outsiders

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  Red Dawn

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  Point Break

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  Road House

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  Next of Kin

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  Dirty Dancing

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  Steel Dawn

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  Waking Up in Reno

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  Donnie Darko

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  The Beast (TV Series)