If you feel like watching a good movie, don’t watch Road House. If you want a macho sleazy movie with a ton of bar fights, then it is for you.
Definitely the kind of guilty pleasure that Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man was. That would make a pretty good double feature.
Seeing parts of this movie years ago. I always thought Kevin Tighe “who pushed his own son out a window in Lost”, was the villain. Especially since he has played a villain so much, that you just can’t trust his face.
Ben Gazzara plays the villain though, a rich a-hole who thinks he owns the entire town and everyone in it. Who also has it out for Swayze for getting with his hot doctor ex wife played by Kelly Lynch.
Who as soon as she meets Swayze, it feels like it go straight into a porn scene lol.
You also have Marshall R. Teague as Gazzara’s head henchman. When he says he wants Swayze’s ass, he means it. Since he f’ed guys like him in prison.
After finally seeing the movie, I do see why many viewers who aren’t critics love it. I also get why critics hated it. Though I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

The name is Dalton and we thought he would be bigger.

Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is a highly regarded professional cooler of bars and clubs. He is hired by Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe) to clean up his Double Deuce Road House down in Jasper, Missouri. A rough drunken and bloody place, the Double Deuce is just the start of Dalton's problems as he falls foul of town despot Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).

I don't know if it's the same the world over, but here in Britain a bouncer is very different to that of a doorman. This is something that anyone who has been in and round the profession can attest to. So even though the casting of Swayze at first glance seemed an odd one, his character Dalton (wonderfully essayed by him actually) is the epitome of a doorman, where violence is the last resort and used only in extreme circumstances. All of which makes Road House an interesting film in the context of its subjects, it's only when the makers resort to cheap tricks and heavy formula that the film descends into soggy popcorn fodder.

The fight scenes are competently handled here, and the characters are an engaging bunch (an axis between Dalton and his landlord Emmet is particularly warm). It's also a very sexy film, mucho machismo for the lads and ladies as Swayze buffs up and kicks butt, while Kelly Lynch sets pulses raising as the perfectly toned, obligatory love interest, Doc Clay. A huge question remains though as to if Road House means to be as cheese funny as it is? Because outside of the obvious jokes (plenty) there's cringe moments that make you wonder if it's comedy first, hard buttock actioner second? Be that as it may, Road House is an entertaining film regardless. Scorned by many but cherished by a lot, it remains a late 80s genre splicer that now has something of a cult following. See it at least if only for Sam Elliott's delightful turn as Wade Garrett, the cooler with a reputation as big as Jasper itself. 7/10