Road House

Drama, Action

Patrick Swayze	Dalton
Ben Gazzara	Brad Wesley
Kelly Lynch	Dr. Elizabeth Clay
Sam Elliott	Wade Garrett
Jeff Healey	Cody
Julie Michaels	Denise
Sunshine Parker	Emmet
Kevin Tighe	Tilghman
Red West	Red Webster
John Doe	Pat McGurn

Director	Rowdy Herrington; David Lee Henry
Producer	Joel Silver; Tim Moore; Steve Perry
Writer	David Lee Henry; Hilary Henkin

One of those movies that helped usher out the era of action films that had plots that made any sense (and also helped reverse the direction of Patrick Swayze's career arc), Road House concerns a handsome, existential bouncer in a rinky-dink honky-tonk who owns both a degree in philosophy and a Mercedes. And that's perhaps the most believable aspect of the whole movie. Swayze stars as Dalton, "the best bouncer in the business," who runs afoul of Wesley (Ben Gazzara), the meanest SOB round these parts, by taking up with his former girlfriend, Doc (Kelly Lynch)--the only woman in town with an IQ approaching double digits, even if she had unfathomably hooked up with such a lowlife. Swayze had complained about being typecast as beefcake when this was made, but that didn't stop him from revealing as much skin as possible--even guys like him, as revealed in a luridly seedy scene in which one of Wesley's goons tells Dalton that he reminds him of the kind of boyfriend he had in prison (albeit in much saltier terms). It's so insulting to its audience that it's nice to be able to turn the tables and laugh at the filmmakers. --David Kronke