Summary
Otis Redding’s romantic soul ballad “These Arms of Mine” plays during Patrick Swayze’s love scenes in both Road House (1989) and Dirty Dancing (1987).
The 2024 Road House remake excluded “These Arms of Mine,” which only compounded the 2017 Dirty Dancing remake’s failure to continue this Swayze movie trend as well.
The 2025 Dirty Dancing legacy sequel can somewhat restore this trend if “These Arms of Mine” plays during a love scene, which would make up for these previously missed opportunities.
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The 2024 Road House remake failed to continue one Patrick Swayze movie trend, but the upcoming sequel to his $214 million smash hit can correct this. When the remakes of 1984’s Red Dawn and 1991’s Point Break both bombed, it suggested that remakes of Patrick Swayze movies might be cursed. Thankfully, 2024’s Road House destroyed this Patrick Swayze remake trend by proving to be a successful adaptation of the 1989 movie. One of the reasons the Road House remake worked was because it changed enough of the source material to work as a standalone film while still honoring its roots.
In order for 2024’s Road House to be different from the original movie, though, it had to cut out some major components. There are a lot of things the 2024 Road House remake leaves out from the original 1989 movie, including characters, plot details, and songs. While it made sense for the songs on the Road House 2024 soundtrack to be updated to fit the modern setting, the exclusion of one song in particular broke another Swayze movie trend for the worst. However, the upcoming sequel to one of Swayze’s biggest and most famous movies can redeem this loss.
Related 8 Ways Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House Remake Is Better Than The 1989 Original Movie The Road House remake improves upon the original in a few key ways, but it still delivers the same adrenaline-fueled action and crowd-pleasing humor.
Patrick Swayze’s Love Scenes In Road House & Dirty Dancing Play The Same Song (2 Years Apart)
Otis Redding’s “These Arms Of Mine” Plays During The Same Type Of Scene In Both Movies
In Road House (1989), Dalton brings his love interest, Dr. Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch), up to his room and flips through the radio stations before settling on “These Arms of Mine” by R&B soul singer Otis Redding. The romantic ballad from 1962 plays throughout the rest of the scene, during which Dalton and Elizabeth sleep together for the first time. Strangely enough, this was not the first time this particular song was played during a Patrick Swayze love scene in a movie.
Two years before Road House, Swayze starred in the romantic drama Dirty Dancing, arguably his best known role to date. Swayze played Johnny, a dance instructor at a resort in the Catskills who falls for Jennifer Grey’s character Baby when she secretly fills in as his dance partner behind her parents’ backs. Later that same night after their big performance, Baby goes against her father’s orders not to see Johnny again. When she arrives at Johnny’s cabin, “These Arms of Mine” is playing on the record player.
There’s no indication that this song was chosen as a deliberate reference to Dirty Dancing, but
it’s hard to believe it was just a random coincidence.
After a passionate conversation, “Cry To Me” by Solomon Burke begins playing, and they start sensually dancing before finally sleeping together for the first time. This scene is quite controversial in retrospect, given Johnny and Baby’s age gap in Dirty Dancing, but the music is particularly memorable and significant, especially since “These Arms of Mine” would be featured in the same kind of love scene in Road House only two years later. There’s no indication that this song was chosen as a deliberate reference to Dirty Dancing, but it’s hard to believe it was just a random coincidence.
It seems unlikely that nobody on Road House would’ve pointed out that “These Arms of Mine” was one of the songs on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
Not only was Dirty Dancing a recent release, it was also an unexpected hit that cleaned up at the box office, raking in $214 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). Not to mention, Dirty Dancing was Swayze’s true breakthrough performance that really put him on the map, earning him his first of three Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. It seems unlikely that nobody on Road House would’ve pointed out that “These Arms of Mine” was also in Dirty Dancing, especially since it appears to have been the first movie to feature the song on its soundtrack.
Road House’s 2024 Remake Doesn’t Play The Original’s “These Arms Of Mine”
The Road House Remake Cut Dalton’s Love Scene From The Original Movie
Whether or not it was intentional, this trend of “These Arms of Mine” playing during Patrick Swayze’s love scenes in movies ended with Road House in 1989. In the 20 years that followed before his tragic passing from pancreatic cancer in 2009 at age 57, none of Swayze’s movies featured this same song-scene pairing again. 2024’s Road House had the opportunity to finally bring this trend back, but instead, the remake cut Dalton’s love scene entirely.
There is an alternate scene where Dalton makes out with his love interest, Ellie (Daniela Melchior) at the sandbar, during which Rafa Carbonell’s “So Right” featuring Max Silver plays. It’s too bad the Road House remake went in this direction: playing “These Arms of Mine” even in this PG version of the original love scene would have not only been a great homage to Swayze by continuing his decades-old movie trend, but also made up for the song’s absence in the remake of Dirty Dancing seven years prior.
Even though the remake featured several of the original songs from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack recorded by modern artists, including a cover of “Cry To Me” by Seal during the love scene, “These Arms of Mine” was not one of them.
As a 30th anniversary celebration, a TV special remake of Dirty Dancing aired on ABC in 2017. Although it featured many original songs from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack recorded by modern artists, including a cover of “Cry To Me” by Seal during the love scene, “These Arms of Mine” was not one of them. Since the 2024 Road House remake didn’t already feature songs from the original movie’s soundtrack, it would have been more notable if Redding’s song was included as an Easter egg to the original Road House.
The TV series adaptation of
Dirty Dancing,
which aired for 11 episodes from 1988-1989, also excluded “These Arms of Mine.”
Dirty Dancing 2 Can Make Up For Road House Not Continuing This Patrick Swayze Movie Trend
Another Sequel To Dirty Dancing Is Coming In 2025
Although the remakes of both Dirty Dancing and Road House failed to continue this Patrick Swayze trend, there’s still a chance it could be reborn in the upcoming Dirty Dancing legacy sequel. The latest update on Dirty Dancing 2 was that its release has been pushed to 2025, and so far, Jennifer Grey is the only original Dirty Dancing cast member set to reprise her role. Even if no other original cast members return, the legacy sequel can still pay homage to the original movie by featuring some of the same songs, including “These Arms of Mine.”
The exact same love scene from Dirty Dancing won’t be recreated in the sequel with the same characters, but since the first movie is primarily a romance movie, it’s more likely that Dirty Dancing 2 will incorporate some kind of love scene during which Redding’s romantic tune can play. It may not be with a character Swayze originated, who, of course, sadly won’t be able to return for the sequel, but this would at least somewhat restore the trend after Road House’s missed opportunity.
Neither the 2004 sequel,
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,
nor the 2006 sequel,
Road House 2,
featured “These Arms of Mine” either.
Source: Box Office Mojo
Dirty Dancing
Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, Dirty Dancing follows Frances “Baby” Houseman, a young woman on vacation at a summer resort with her family who becomes the unwitting competition partner of one of the resort’s dance instructors, Johnny. As Baby and Johnny’s relationship deepens over the course of the summer, the disapproval of Baby’s family, especially her father, threatens to tear them apart.
Road House
With a story and screenplay by David Lee Henry and direction from Rowdy Herrington, Road House is a 1989 Action release starring Patrick Swayze in the lead role. Swayze steps into the shoes of James Dalton, a bouncer that is hired by a club owner to provide security for the establishment.
Road House (2024)
Road House is a remake of the original 1989 film, which followed protagonist Dalton, a Ph.D. educated bouncer at the roughest bar in the south known as the Double Deuce. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton, with two major changes including Dalton being a retired UFC fighter and the bar locale being in the Florida Keys.
Dirty Dancing 2
Dirty Dancing 2 is the sequel to the 1987 classic featuring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. In the new film, Grey’s character Frances (a.k.a. Baby) returns to the vacation resort where the original took place. Jennifer Grey returns to reprise her role, with Jonathan Levine in the director’s chair.