Everyone walked out of Road House into the sunlight feeling stunned, stupid, a little gay for Patrick Swayze, and wondering idly why they ever thought Duran Duran was a good band. In one day, the 80s were over. Women's hairdos started to make sense once again. Spandex was abolished. The New Kids and Wham! were purged from our cultural memory.
Road House is a 1989 film directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze. It is not related to the 1948 movie.Dalton (Swayze) is a professional "cooler" (read: Bouncer) with a mysterious past who is hired to work for the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri. In the course of cleaning up the seedy roadside bar, he runs afoul of crime kingpin Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara) who is extorting from the townspeople. A generous helping of Barfight Fu ensues.Road House is rated a camp classic not because of its quality, but because it is one of the most implausible films of all time. Much of this is traced to Swayze's character, a modern-day samurai with a degree in philosophy who practices Tai Chi and dresses like a Jedi. A direct-to-DVD sequel, Road House 2: Last Call, was released in 2006 and replaced Dalton with his hitherto unknown son, Shane.It inspired the Mystery Science Theater 3000 song, "Let's Have A Patrick Swayze Christmas".
Alternately, there's a 'Trivia Track' on some versions of the DVD.
Artistic License - Biology: There is a sex scene involving Swayze's character, Dalton, and his love interest (played by Kelly Lynch) that reveals that either Swayze's package is located somewhere in the vicinity of his belly button, or else Mr. Swayze is a very, very fortunate man.
Badass Creed: Dalton scatters these around like confetti.
"All you have to do is follow three simple rules: One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice."''
Beware the Nice Ones: For someone who can (and does) rip someone's throat out with his bare hands, Dalton is actually a really nice guy. A good example is when he pays the owner of a restaurant to allow a homeless guy to sleep there for the rest of the night.
He also encourages politeness among the other bouncers working under him, telling them to "Be nice! It's nothing personal."
Chekov's Gun: Ketchum's knife. Pulled from Wade's corpse by Dalton, it's used to pin down the accelerator on his car, and recovered by Ketchum. He uses it later in an attempt to kill Dalton, who manages to get the knife away from him and kill him with it.
Cool Shades: Wade makes his entrance wearing Ray-Bans.
Corrupt Hick: There's a no-gooder trying to take over the bar and businesses in a little backwater town with his hired redneck muscle.
Creative Closing Credits: The Jeff Healey Band play the bar's resident band, and perform "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky" on screen behind the entire end credit roll.
Death by Looking Up: Wesley's sole surviving mook gets conked out by a stuffed polar bear which topples. Rather than step out of the way, he screams and fires his gun at it. (He doesn't actually die, though.)
Mike Nelson: Yes, feathered hair and a mullet! His hair came to play.
Every Car Is a Pinto: Wesley's goon sets a speeding car on fire with a single shotgun blast. And by "fire", I mean a fireball that can be seen from space.
Evil Counterpart: Jimmy to Dalton. The only thing they have in common is the martial arts knowledge.
Fan Disservice: Sam Elliot's pubes. Thanks for making me never look at him the same way again, movie.
Fanservice: Want to see the bare butts of Patrick Swayze and Kelly Lynch? You've come to the right place. (Also, lots of barely-dressed ladies in the bar.)
Except for background extras, the pixie-like waitress/singer may be the only woman in the film who never gets at least topless.
For the Evulz: Brad Wesley's actions all seem to be justified—if at all—by, "Because I can."
Originally his motive is keeping all the businessmen cowed and paying into his town-wide protection racket; he can't afford to let any of them start bucking him by doing things like firing his nephew. He loses it and makes it personal after watching the woman he was obsessed with having sex with Dalton on the barn roof across the lake one night.
Freudian Slip: Wade Garrett's mispronunciation of "Double Deuce".
The singer of the band in the beginning is the lead singer of Tito and the Tarantulas, the band that played during the striptease scene in From Dusk Till Dawn.
Anthony De Longis (Blade from Masters of the Universe) appears as Ketchum, one of Wesley's top Mooks, although with a full head of hair he's difficult to recognize.
Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight: Jimmy, The Dragon, does not have the chance to kill Dalton "the old-fashioned way" with his gun. Later, Dalton disarms the knife-wielding Ketchum and skewers him.
No, Mister Bond, I Expect You To Dine: Wesley "invites" Dalton to his place, and offers him first a Bloody Mary, and then some breakfast. Dalton declines both, however.
Pet the Dog: To make us like Dalton during the first 10 minutes of the movie, the story has him give his car to a homeless man on an impulse.
Popcultural Osmosis: Inspired the classic Christmas song, "Let's have a Patrick Swayze Christmas"
Oh, let's have a Patrick Swayze Christmas this year
Or we'll tear your throat out and kick you in the ear!
Pop the Tires: Dalton keeps multiple spare tires in the trunk of his car. He is used to having disgruntled bar patrons put holes in his tires and prepares accordingly.
Taxidermy Terror: Tinker, the only survivor among the Big Bad's Mooks, is so freaked out by the various stuffed animals surrounding him that he can't testify to the Sheriff about what happened in the climax.
The Worf Effect: Despite showing himself as a badass bouncer, Dalton gets in big trouble trying to take on Wesley's mooks, simply so his friend/mentor Wade Garrett's own badass bouncer credentials can be established.
Xanatos Roulette: Brad tries to force Dalton into making a Sadistic Choice, but he was clearly prepared to kill Wade. He also knew how Dalton would react, knew when Wade would recover from his initial beating, and how long it would take Dalton to head off to check on Dr. Clay so he could finish off Wade.
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