Road House (1989 film)

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Road House
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Rowdy Herrington
Produced by	Joel Silver
Written by	David Lee Henry (story) David Lee Henry & Hilary Henkin (screenplay)
Starring	Patrick Swayze Kelly Lynch Sam Elliott Ben Gazzara Kevin Tighe Red West Kathleen Wilhoite Sunshine Parker Tito Larriva
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	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$30,050,028 (USA)
Followed by	Road House 2: Last Call
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Road House is a 1989 film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze as the top bouncer at a seedy roadside bar. (It is not related to the 1948 movie).

1 Plot summary
2 Box office
3 Trivia
4 Cultural impact
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is a professional "cooler" (i.e. head bouncer) with a mysterious past who is lured away from his current job to work at the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri. In the course of cleaning up the violent nightclub, Dalton dismisses several unruly employees including a relative 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 where he meets Dr. Elizabeth Clay (Kelly Lynch). The doctor and Dalton strike up a friendship which leads to 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's 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. 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 arises victorious each time. Returning to the Double Deuce after receiving a threatening phone call from Brad Wesley, Dalton finds Wade'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. Doc 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.

[edit] Box office

Road House's total domestic gross was U.S. $30,050,028.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Late actor and cartoon voice specialist, Chris Latta plays a bar patron who offers his wife's assets 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).

The Jeff Healey Band, makes an early appearance in their career, as the bar band.

In the scene where the fired bartender Pat (Brad Wesley's nephew) returns to the Double Deuce to get his job back, blood is visible under his nose before Dalton punches him.

The book Dalton is seen reading in the movie is Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison.

[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 and only a few references to Dalton (who was 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 [[Clerks. [Clerks.#Clerks._X]] tenth anniversary DVD.^[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.^[2]^[3]

Road House is a frequent source of riffs in the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, figuring prominently in episode 321's song Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas. Road House itself has subsequently been riffed by Mike Nelson courtesy of Rifftrax.

A group of avid Road House fans, the Road Heads, remained in existence until late 2004. The Road Heads were most known for their yearly festival, and for the Road House Cafe, which the group opened near Amherst, Massachusetts.

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."

The squidbillies episode "Swayze Crazy" contains many references to Road House, among other Swayze films.