Road House (1989)

Plot of Road House: The owner of a bar in Jasper, Missouri goes to New York to hire a chief bouncer and finds Dalton to whom he offers the job. The bar, Double Deuce, is very violent but Dalton soon stamps his authority on it sacking various people and giving rules to the security team. He is injured in a fight, and when visiting the local hospital meets Doctor Elizabeth Clay,’ Doc’, with whom he starts a relationship. In control of Jasper is Brad Wesley a gang boss whose nephew is sacked from the bar by Dalton, and therefore sends some thugs to sort things out. Elizabeth’s uncle, Red, runs a car parts shop near the bar, and tells Dalton that he and everyone else in Jasper pays Wesley protection money. Although the violence in the bar is under control Wesley now starts to control the delivery of liquor and later burns down the car parts shop. The scene is set for a final reckoning.

Content: There is a lot of female nudity during couple of sexual encounters and as part of the entertainment in the clubs, and actually Swayze’s well oiled torso is often on display. There are a lot of fist fights in the bar, an even though it is said that the director tried to make them different, they all looked pretty similar to me. Since most of the drama takes place in a bar there is a lot of drinking, and at one point drugs are sold, but none actually used. Dalton tucks his expensive Mecedes away and drives an old V8 saloon and takes up residence in the upper floor of a barn, across the river from Wesley’s luxury mansion. He is helped as things hot up by a friend Wade Garrett, who is later assassinated.

A View: This film made some money when it came out, but has become a cult classic making possibly more than $200 million over the years. It was panned by the critics and was nominated in several categories of the Razzies. I was aware of its cult status, and therefore gave it a look. Some critics have called it ‘camp’ possibly due to its featuring of the male physique. The fights were quite boring after a bit, the music featuring blind guitarist, Jeff Healey, was pretty good and the sex scenes did at least look as if they meant them. There has been a sequel, some re-issues on Blue Ray and a remake from 2024 on which I have also reported, so it obviously has a place in movie history, but that’s the best place for it.

Fun Fact: There is an event featuring one of those pick-ups with enormous tyres. Big Foot 7, which squashes some cars. The scene cost $500,000.