. . . . Road House (1989)
What a secure time it was that something like this could be a movie. OTOH, I swear to gd, this is kinda what the Jack Reacher novels went for. (First Jack Reacher novel was 1997.) Here we have James Dalton, a bouncer -- excuse me, Cooler! -- who is not only a legend for cleaning up night clubs, but the whole towns and counties that are run by thugs and other nogoodniks in flyover country nowherelandia. Then he moves on.
In this film, the nowherelandia is in Kansas – or is it Missouri? Not only are the reviewers kinda confused about this but it seems the film’s characters are as well, but everybody knows Something Happened With Our Hero in Memphis which is why he's no longer there. Our Hero Dalton has a network of bouncers, -- excuse me -- coolers! instead of marines and Big Gummit D.C. Intelligence allies that Reacher’s got, but still a network. Or at least Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett, who is an even more super Cooler than Dalton.
So it’s the lone gunman who cleans up the western town under a siege of terror by local thugs, except Dalton does it with what he’s learned in New York University’s philosophy department, and his Asian martial arts skillz, instead of two blazing six guns (though there comes the point when gunz must uzed; this is America!). Not to mention the best hair and exquisite wearing of pants (not jeans! those tight, sexy black levis are for Sam Elliott) that nobody else can get away wearing because they'd look so stupid in those high waisted, soft, flowing trousers – but Swayze’s ass and legs are magnificent in them.
Road House was edited by the same guys who edited Die Hard, RoboCop, Predator, Commando, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Tombstone, therefore we are not mistaken that Dalton's character is one of those larger than life sorts, like a superman, while flattering us that he’s just like us really, the way Spider Man is (while Batman isn't just like us, being a zillionaire and all) -- while making fun of both this superhero genre and affectionately ribbing this film in which the superhero is a – bouncer. The affection the editors have for the film shows in many ways, not least in how palpably we feel the sheer sexiness of the feelings at least three of the characters have for each other. It is really one of the few really sexy films I’ve watched, I think, i.e. the characters even gave this watcher hot feels.
Other entertainments that RH appears to make part of a pattern are the Travolta Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Urban Cowboy (1980), which may have set off this examination of fairly specific, but disparate US cultures in connection with matters outside the law or accepted mores. Flash Dance (1983), Dirty Dancing (1987) of course, not only because of the amount of dancing in RH (though it is fairly muted -- just like the female characters are in RH, even Kelly Lynch's character, though Kathleen Wilhoite's Carrie has good moments, particularly when she melts into sexy feels inadvertently viewing Dalton naked (but then, everybody does, even when he's not naked, but her moments just felt so authentic and you like her for them too) -- unlike in SNF, FD, UC, or DD), through pop music combined with pro and non-pro dancing. Here are supposedly normal people like us, who love combining dancing for fun as well as going for our personal best. But only DD and RH star Patrick Swayze at his peak of gorgeousness. Not to mention equal peak Sam Elliott gorgeousness in a different manner, showing up in RH, as Swayze’s sidekick.
Closing day for the original Gilley's, Pasadena, TX.
In spite of this superheroing, I too have a lot of affection for Road House because 1) the sex parts really feel sexy; 2) I spent a lot of time in my earlier in the famous Texas outside of Houston's gigamous roadhouse, Gilley's (where Urban Cowboy did scenes); the Double Deuce, judging by the size of its parking lot, was the Gilley’s of its locale.
That world is gone, as much as NYC’s world of Studio 54, Danceteria and the Paradise Garage. They were of their time.
I suppose we must also think of Cocktail (1988) with hyper annoying Tom Cruise? Which I’ve never seen it, though I think I tried to watch it, once. Now that is a truly stupid movie – just read the story line! But then, for me, anything that features Tom Cruise (except when he was paired with Paul Newman) is unwatchable.
There was a Road House 2 (2006). It went straight to video. They Say it was a sequel in name only.
O. Dear. They Say there’s a Road House remake in production.
Fight at the Double Deuce! SuperHero Bouncer Dalton is the only one who can stop this going on!
It’s interesting that from this perspective, there are so approaches to liking Road House. Though the reviewers in 1989 cocked snooks and sneered about it, it's a good action film with lots of other stuff going on, the kind thing that attracted so many of us to the Reacher novels. The action sequences are what we see praised these days as making a movie "that's fun to watch." for those who prefer action to feels. Alas though, the ridiculous part is the entire premise of a bouncer and national fame for being part of a community improvement - gentrification action. Nevertheless, I doff my sombrero to whomever had the brain storm to translate all those concerns of crime vs gentrification and the hierarchies of clublandia, all constant subjects then in the era, into this concept. That is, these were constant subjects if you lived where these matters were going on and of concern, all at once, anyway, as we did.
The film concludes with the Jeff Healey Band, which is featured mostly throughout the film, playing a cover of Bob Dylan’s "When the Night Comes Falling." This film, in a lot of ways is comment on US films and culture of the time, and if looked at with care, done as a goof on it, in the same way that Dylan’s own sense of humor has done in his own films like Masked and Anonymous (2003) funning on his long decades of dealing with celebrity and the intersections thereof, while determined to remain a working musician who riffs endlessly on US culture and musical traditions. I mean, the penultimate great violent sequence in Road House is a monster truck driving into a car dealership and crushing all the brand new cars. This could only be imagined in America!
This has been one of the most interesting movies I’ve watched in years. I wonder … if I’d seen it when it came out, would I have gotten all this? I … rather doubt it. Sure I believed I was truly tuned in back in 1989, but from the perspective of this year I see how freakin’ callow I was, and how little I really knew.
Just who were those people who got away with making this? They must have had a lot of fun -- most of all, this flick is relaxed, like they had been doing yoga and tai chai daily, for years.
Have a Monster Truck!
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