Scene of the Week: Road House
On May 19, 1989 the Patrick Swayze film Road House opened in the United States. Decades later the movie is still looked upon fondly… to borrow a phrase from the old TBS days, Road House is a movie for guys who like movies. And Patrick Swayze’s sex appeal made this one a hit with the ladies too… so it really is no wonder why this one has a special place in so many people’s hearts.
The story in Road House is simple… the number one bouncer in the bar biz, Dalton (Patrick Swayze), is hired to clean up The Double Deuce, a bar in small town Missouri that has been run amok by trouble making thugs. But things escalate when Dalton finds out that many of the troublemakers are on the payroll of the most powerful man in town, Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).
This week’s Scene of the Week will clearly illustrate the escalating war between Dalton and Wesley. Things are far removed from the barroom as Dalton finds himself in a real knock-down, drag-out brawl with Wesley’s right hand man/ex-con, Jimmy (Marshall R. Teague, Fists of Iron)… and that ending. Let’s just say there won’t be a rematch…
Another appealing factor about the enduring popularity of ROAD HOUSE is that it plays like a big budgeted mainstream Hollywood version of a grindhouse/drive-in style feature with its copious doses of nudity,rousing action sequences,and gory violence. It succeeds where other films of the Quentin Tarantino/S. Craig Zahler/modern grindhouse/”throwback” era massively fail at achieving.