Road House (1989 film)
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| Road House | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Rowdy Herrington |
| Produced by | Joel Silver |
| Written by | David Lee Henry (story) David Lee Henry (screenplay) & Hilary Henkin (screenplay) |
| Starring | Patrick Swayze Kelly Lynch Sam Elliott Ben Gazzara Kevin Tighe Red West Kathleen Wilhoite Sunshine Parker |
| Music by | Michael Kamen Willie Nile (co-composer) |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Editing by | John F. Link Frank J. Urioste |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | May 19, 1989 (USA) |
| Running time | 114 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Unknown |
| Followed by | Road House 2: Last Call |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Road House is a 1989 film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as a top bouncer at a seedy roadside bar. (It is not related to the 1948 movie).
Many considered the film a disappointment after the phenomenal success of Swayze's Dirty Dancing. However, after its initial box office failure, it moved to television, where it quickly developed a cult following.
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[edit] Plot summary
Swayze plays Dalton, a professional "cooler" with a mysterious past, a PhD in philosophy from New York University, and a specialization in cleaning up rough establishments. Lured away from his current job to work at the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri, Dalton quickly makes an enemy of local kingpin Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), who has made his fortune extorting the townsfolk and monopolizing the liquor trade. Dalton also hooks up with his old friend, house musician Cody (singer/guitarist Jeff Healey), who fills him in on the sorry state of the establishment and warns the rest of the staff that Dalton will "seal their fate" if they get out of line.
After dismissing Wesley's cronies from the Double Deuce, Dalton begins to clean up the bar from the inside out. On his first night, he deals with a knife-wielding drunk without the usual brawl ensuing. After renovation work, a new Double Deuce opens, without the usual roadhouse chicken wire across the stage. Business vastly improves.
Meanwhile, Wesley recruits his favored thug, Jimmy (Marshall R. Teague), a murderous ex-con, to smash monster trucks into buildings and terrorize the citizenry. The people now begin to look to Dalton to liberate them from Wesley's clutches. When Dalton begins dating the local physician named Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch), called "Doc" and Wesley's ex, Wesley blows up the local auto-parts store owned by Clay's uncle who has befriended Dalton as a signal to those who would betray him.
Dalton's mentor Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) arrives in town. Wade is an aging cooler who, naturally, taught Dalton everything he knows, although his glory days are now long behind him. He appears just as Dalton is defending a shipment of liquor he brought in without using Wesley's operation. Wesley's goons fight Dalton and Wade to a draw, but then Wesley dispatches Jimmy to blow up the farmhouse where Dalton is staying. Dalton rips Jimmy's throat out in the ensuing fight, mirroring an incident that occurred years before. In revenge, Wesley declares that he will kidnap and murder either Wade or Elizabeth if Dalton doesn't leave town. He flips a coin to decide who will be murdered. When Dalton finds Wade dead (it was tails), he rushes to confront Wesley in a final showdown.
Rigging his car to crash into Wesley's house as a distraction, Dalton sneaks into Wesley's compound and proceeds to take out each of his thugs one at a time. Wesley finds Dalton hiding in the trophy room, and the two fight until Dalton pins Wesley and threatens to rip his throat out. But Dalton takes pity on him and sees the error of his own violent ways; he turns his back, giving Wesley the opportunity to attack again. Doc shows up just in time to watch as the townsfolk Wesley has bullied over the years come to Dalton's defense, repeatedly shooting Wesley with their shotguns and then hiding the evidence. The police arrive but make little effort to investigate the matter. The town is finally freed from Wesley's tyranny.
[edit] Box office
Road House's total domestic gross was U.S. $30,050,028.
[edit] Trivia
- When a local farmer agrees to lease him a room, they introduce one another as "Emmett" and "Dalton".
- Now deceased actor and cartoon voice specialist, Chris Latta plays a bar patron who offers his wife's assests to be fondled for twenty dollars. This situation eventually starts one of the many bar brawls. Latta is best known for being the voice of Cobra Commander (G.I. Joe) and Starscream (Transformers).
- In the brawl out behind the Double Deuce, when Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) arrives on the scene Morgan (Terry Funk) warns him, "Mind your own business, Dad." Funk and Elliott were both 45 years old at the time.
[edit] 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. 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.[1]
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. [1] [2]
Road House is a frequent source of riffs in the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, and figured prominently in episode 321's song Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas. There is also a new RiffTrax available from Mike Nelson at RiffTrax.com.
Ron White frequently references this movie when he talks about the story about being thrown out of a bar in New York City, saying, "They hang out with other bouncers talking about bouncing, then go home and watch Road House and fondle themselves."
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
