Directed by: Rowdy Herrington
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Sam Elliott, Kelly Lynch, Terry Funk, Red West
Legendary bouncer Dalton (Swayze) has his hands full when he agrees to clean up a roughneck bar in a small Missouri town. He is actually a "cooler", which is a specialized type of bouncer. He's the guy who steps in when your attempts to remove unwanted patrons from the bar fail. Dalton's advice to the Double Deuce staff: "Be nice. Until it's time not to be nice," One of his staff asks when they will know when it's time. Dalton replies, "You won't. I'll let you know," Dalton is Zen for someone in such a violent profession: "In a fight, nobody wins."
Road House is a slick action movie where one punch ignites a bar-wide brawl. You know, the ones that I'm sure happen every day in the real world. The Double Deuce has more problems than simply being rundown and having its bartenders deal drugs and skim off the top. No, the owner (and the owner of every business in town), pays local crime lord Brad Wesley (Gazzara) ten percent. Is this based on gross revenue or net revenue? Whatever the arrangement, Brad's thugs show up intermittently and demand the money. Failure to pay leads to drastic actions like the owner being roughed up, or the store being burnt to the ground, which would certainly cut into Brad's take. There aren't many local businesses to shake down, so Brad must have business elsewhere in order to afford his gigantic mansion on the lake.
Dalton, who has a Mysterious Past, befriends the locals and is soon leading the fight against Brad's reign of terror. He also finds time to romance a local doctor (Lynch), who once rebuffed Brad's advances. Brad's jealousy is inflamed when he sees Dalton and Doc (yes, that's how she is referred) together. Dalton also brings in his mentor Wade Garrett (Elliott) into the fray as backup. Road House is the type of movie where one character tears another's throat out in a fight and it doesn't even seem excessive.
Make no mistake. Road House is a B-movie with an A-list cast. Many of its elements are ridiculous, so it would not do you much good to think too much while watching it. However, what it lacks in believability it makes up for in spirit and a grounded Swayze at its center. We can tell Dalton is a fitness buff based on his physique and practicing Tai-Chi on the lakeshore for all to see, but then again in many scenes he is either lighting up a cigarette or actively smoking one. Wade makes no bones about being a rough-housing bouncer who partakes in the occasional beer. Elliott is at his laconic best as a sidekick who looks like he just rolled out of bed and went to work throwing guys out of bars. Gazzara's Brad Wesley enjoys being a villain so much his face can barely conceal a gleeful smile when is ordering a monster truck to crash into the local Ford dealership and crunch a few showroom cars. You would think it wouldn't be in Brad's best financial interests to destroy the businesses whose incomes allow him to take a cut every month, but Road House isn't a movie in which you are expected to watch and process such thoughts.
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