Warning: This Queer Film Theory 101 screening is NOT the same as the show that usually runs on the Highball stage. Rather, these screenings are curated straight-but-sort-of-gay cinematic canon fodder – you know the type – and boy, you could really program every Patrick Swayze movie in that series. But the 1990 supernatural romance is a special case in that it’s perhaps Swayze’s most heterosexual role. Still, the man fits alotta queer into his portrayal of the beautiful Sam Wheat, who perishes when defending an extremely they/them coded Demi Moore (hello, Best Actress nominee!) only to continue into ghostdom in order to solve who exactly their attacker was. Really, the chemistry that makes the movie isn’t between Moore and Swayze; it’s the crackling comedic and emotional connection forged between Whoopi Goldberg’s reluctant medium Oda Mae Brown and the incorporeal loverboy that brings the whole film back to life. – James Scott
