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Road House (1989 film)
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Road House is a 1989 action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as a bouncer at a seedy roadside bar who protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman.
The film's tag line was: "The dancing's over. Now it gets dirty", a reference to Dirty Dancing, the film that had made Swayze a star.
s Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is a professional "cooler" (i.e. head bouncer) with a mysterious past who is lured away from his current job in Los Angeles to work at the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri.
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Encyclopedia
Road House is a 1989 action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as a bouncer at a seedy roadside bar who protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman.
The film's tag line was: "The dancing's over. Now it gets dirty", a reference to Dirty Dancing, the film that had made Swayze a star.
Plot summary
James Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is a professional "cooler" (i.e. head bouncer) with a mysterious past who is lured away from his current job in Los Angeles to work at the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri. Dalton has a PhD in philosophy and believes in "being nice."
Dalton buys a battered old 1965 Buick Riviera and fills the trunk with spare tires. These come in handy when local thugs slice the tires. He takes lodgings in a local farm. When the farmer and his new lodger become acquainted they introduce themselves to each other as "Emmett" and "Dalton".
In the course of cleaning up the violent nightclub, he dismisses several unruly employees including Pat the bartender (John Doe), nephew of Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), a local businessman who wields a powerful influence over the town.
After a scrape with Wesley's henchmen, Dalton visits the hospital, along with his own medical file, where he meets Dr. Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch). The doctor and Dalton strike up a friendship which leads to the two of them dating. Unfortunately, Clay, known to Dalton as "Doc," happens to be Wesley's ex-girlfriend.
Wesley calls Dalton to his home attempting to make peace with him. Wesley offers Dalton a chance to come work for him. When Dalton refuses, Wesley begins an assault on Dalton's friends in town and cuts off liquor deliveries to the Double Deuce. Dalton's mentor, aging cooler Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott), arrives in town and helps Dalton defend a shipment of liquor from Wesley's men. Upon his arrival, Garrett is treated with reverence by his fellow bouncers, and sticks around to help Dalton protect the Double Deuce from Wesley and his goons. Garrett gives Dalton fatherly advice, and their conversations, as well as interactions, reveal that Dalton considers Wade his most trusted friend. Later, Wade tries to convince Dalton to leave town, but Dalton is determined to stay.
Wesley sends several more henchmen to attack Dalton, but Dalton ultimately emerges victorious each time; when Dalton is attacked at the home he is renting, he battles the attacker, Jimmy, one of Wesley's best and most sadistic fighters, and ultimately, Dalton kills Jimmy by tearing his throat out, much to the disgust of Clay. Returning to the Double Deuce after receiving a threatening phone call from Brad Wesley, Dalton finds Garrett's body stabbed to death. Enraged, Dalton sneaks into Wesley's compound where he takes out the remaining members of Wesley's gang.
Dalton finds Wesley and the two fight until Dalton pins Wesley on the ground. Staring down at Wesley, Dalton sees the error of his own violent ways; he turns his back, giving Wesley the opportunity to attack again. Clay shows up just in time to watch as the townsfolk Wesley has bullied over the years come to Dalton's defense and shoot Wesley dead.
Box office
Road Houses total domestic gross was U.S. $30,050,028.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Road House featured the late Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey, whose band was featured in the film as the house band for the Double Deuce. The film's score was composed by Michael Kamen.
Story Source
The storyline of Road House derives in part from the 1953 Western Shane, with which it shares many similarities (mysterious stranger arrives from out of town, attempts to limit violence, refuses to work for the other side, ultimately wins a climactic fight freeing the townspeople).
Cultural impact
A sequel, Road House 2: Last Call, was released directly to DVD in July 2006. Set many years later and telling the story of Dalton's adult son, it featured no one from the original cast and only a few references to Dalton (who was reportedly shot dead before the movie took place). At the same time Road House 2 was released, the original film was reissued in a deluxe edition featuring, among other features, separate audio commentary tracks by director Rowdy Herrington, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, which the duo had expressed an interest in during the introduction of the tenth anniversary Clerks DVD.
In 2003 an off-Broadway musical production of Road House was staged as a campy comedy by Timothy Haskell, as seen by its full title of Road House: The Stage Version Of The Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze, Except This One Stars Taimak From The 80’s Cult Classic “The Last Dragon” Wearing A Blonde Mullet Wig.
Road House has been parodied by Michael J. Nelson as the inaugural track for Nelson's Rifftrax commentary service. In his book Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese, Nelson ironically declares Road House "the single finest American film."
On Mystery Science Theater 3000 (for which Michael J. Nelson was head writer), Road House was frequently cited as a favorite film of the characters. In Episode 321, the film is referenced when Joel Robinson and the Bots since the song "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas." Swayze reportedly found the tribute quite amusing (http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Road_House_1989.aspx?Page=15).
Episode 207 ("Cougars") of the TV series 30 Rock contains a reference to a notable scene in Road House. In successive scenes in the episode, Frank Rossitano wears hats saying "Right Boot" and "Got it".
In 2004, WFMU DJ and Monk writer/producer Tom Scharpling performed a live, one-man performance of the entire film on his radio program, The Best Show on WFMU. Listeners were encouraged to buy or rent the Road House DVD, and play the movie with the sound off in synchronization with Scharpling's live radio performance. The performance contained many humorous re-interpretations of the script, such as continually referring to Brad Wesley by Gazarra's actual name, as well as the substitution of the film's original soundtrack with music from 80s synth-pop band Bronski Beat, Pavement, The Alarm, The Smiths, Wilco, Nena, Let's Active, The Misfits, Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand and the 90s Canadian pop-punk band, Cub.
On Trailer Park Boys character Julian is often referred to as Patrick Swayze and in one instance was said to be "so fucking sexy in Road House"
External links
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