Road House (1989)

Pardon the hyperbole. I love this movie. I think the story is compelling enough. Down on his luck college graduate enters a line of work best suited to his real talents-eradicating town scum. At his core, Dalton is good. Swayze is on. Perhaps this is best as a guy flick.

I love action movies. I thought Patrick swayze did great in this film. It made me want to work out more. It's a great film to watch with a friend.

I'm not the biggest fan of Swayze, but just knowing this was such an iconic movie from the 80s, one you find references to even to this day, I guess I just thought it would be something more than what it was. In terms of plot and characters, all I can say is everything is just stale, or cliché. It's hard to take anything in this movie seriously. There's no one who is particularly likable, at one point Swayze rips a guy's throat out in front of the dude's girlfriend and it just left a bad taste in my mouth. There's better Swayze movies, there's definitely better 80s action movies, I'd say you could probably pass on this one if you're looking for either one of those.

I'm not sure how I could give this a proper review to make you go see it in a way past: well... it kicks ass, mostly. By the 'mostly' I might say that it's fairly one note - it's a brawny movie for MEN, and that's all there is to it. It's got bar fights, it's got fake breasts, it's got Patrick Swayze doing... tai-chi or whatever that is, it's got the kind of guy team up with Swayze and Sam Elliott that makes Cruise and Kilmer in Top Gun look like My Little Pony. And it's got Ben Gazzarra. Holy cow is he intimidating, like a Batman villain who says more in his eyes than any of his words (he even does a coin toss to decide a fate at one point!)Road House is dated as hell, with its hair and occasional pop music, though the latter of that is off-set mostly by how good the bar music covers are (and I say this when it includes a cover of Cream's 'White Room', so that's a bold move right there). To say Swayze commands his role and makes you want to keep watching is an understatement; he just HAD that screen power when in the right role, and this is it: a kind of middle-America martial arts guru, an NYC graduate with a degree in philosophy who also can beat the ever-loving s*** out of you... but it's not what he wants to do, which is key. He's a professional, and even tells his new group of workers at the bar he's been hired at that one of the three rules is "Be nice", and you know he means it. But the wrong hombre comes in with a knife in their boot... watch out! This is a Chicken-Fried steak of a movie (which is to say it's as tasty and guilty-pleasury as that sounds), at times funny (both intentional and unintentional), and featuring a roster of supporting actors that stand out well, like Red West. Also, to say again, Ben Gazzarra quietly, almost, steals the show as the opposite of his Chinese Bookie character, the ruthless villain Weasley (even that name!) and who's entire motivation is... well, I can do it, so this is MY town, get in line or get out (though he plays it in the same mostly cool manner as in a Cassavetes film, which is the right decision). But I say 'almost' because when in roam there's always Sam Elliott. Watch it with your dad or your grandpa, and by the end you'll both have some extra chest hair grown, whether you want it or not.