Damn That Hurts Don’t It? – ‘Road House’

My wife and kids were out of town a few weeks back and I had some alone time with the DVR.  I of course took it upon myself to watch a bunch of movies that I’d seen before.  When it comes to 80’s action flicks this is one of the best. The premise of the movie is pretty straight forward:

• Bar owner buys a place and wants to clean it up
• Said bar owner decides that he needs to get the best “cooler” to help him with said clean up
• Patrick Swayze is said cooler (I.E. bad ass) and chaos ensues

While there’s nothing in here that’s going to win any awards this is just a good old fashion “drink beer with the guys” action flick.  All Dirty Dancing blasts aside, Swayze plays a GREAT character named Dalton who is the new guy in town there to clean up the joint.  He’s learned everything he knows from Wade Garrett (played by Sam Elliott) and there are no two better at doing what they do: kicking ass.

Like all 80’s action flicks we’ve got a supreme bad guy to stir things up.  In this case it’s Brad Wesley (played by Ben Gazzara).  Wesley is a super rich dude who owns the town.  He’s got everyone on his payroll and it’s his way or the highway.

Kelly Lynch plays Dalton’s love interest and looks FINE doing it.  She and Dalton have a couple of romantic interludes during the film but otherwise it’s all action all the time.

Not only is Road House action packed but it’s got some GREAT dialogue in there as well such as these gems:

• “That gal’s got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.”
• “Calling me sir is like putting an elevator in an outhouse. It don’t belong.”
• ” Pain don’t hurt.”
• “I got married to an ugly woman. Don’t ever do that. It just takes the energy right out of you. She left me, though. Found somebody even uglier than she was. That’s life. Who can explain it?”
• “I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice.”
• “I’ll get all the sleep I need when I’m dead.”

If you’re looking for Oscar material you won’t find it here.  If you’re looking for an in-depth storyline with a lot of character development you won’t find it here.  If you’re looking for something that you can watch with your girlfriend or wife you won’t find it here.  However… if what you’re looking for is an ass-kicking good time then Road House is the flick for you.