Be NIce...Until...

 

When the summer of 1989 rolled around I was a student at Southwest Texas State University (since renamed Texas State University).  I was heavily involved in an on-campus Christian group called The Great Commission.  At that time (I have no idea whether the program is still in effect), the on-campus group held an annual event every year in which those of us with the funds would pack up and move to Washington D.C. area for a leadership conference.  Essentially we got full time jobs during the day and attended leadership conferences at night.

I admit even today that I was not cut out to be a church leader.  Hell, I'm probably lucky to even be in God's good graces. If God is patient, (and people who are devout will tell you He is) then He has his work cut out for Him, in my case.

At any rate, I was in D,C. are when this movie came out.  By the time I actually had the opportunity to see it, it had already made it's run through theaters and was on it's last legs in the $1 theaters. (Yes folks, there was a time when you could actually go to see a movie for a $1.  But, to be fair, a regular price ticket was only about $6 ..)

I only vaguely remembered this film before watching again today.  I remembered, of course, Swayze as a top dog bouncer, and I remembered Kevin Tighe (formerly from one of my sister's favorite TV shows Emergency!) as the owner of a bar who entices Swayze's character to come work for him.  And that's about it.

Swayze was always a stud in my opinion, but he had some tendencies to playing less than he-man characters over the years.  Consider: He was a man's man in such films as Uncommon Valor,  Red Dawn, Steel Dawn, and to some extent The Outsiders.  But he was also in such less man-friendly films such as Dirty Dancing, Ghost and of course Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Don't get me wrong.  I actually liked some of those films, but being a gung-ho type movie buff, I gravitated to ones where he was kicking ass and taking names as opposed to ones where he making women swoon.

Which brings us to Roadhouse. This movie was directed by a guy credited as "Rowdy Herrington" , and if this movie is an indication that "Rowdy" nickname is not a misnomer.  I think the director was in the cutting room saying something like "O.K. we've been 5 minutes without a fight, it's time to stick another one in...".

Roadhouse (1989):

Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is the top dog bouncer at a bar in New York City. (Note I see credits for his first name being "James" but I can't recall it ever being mentioned in the movie.  Everybody call him "Dalton"). Dalton has such a reputation that all you have to say his name and everybody gives a low whistle and says "Dalton?" Man he's the best."

 

Into his world comes Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe). Frank is the owner of the Double Deuce, a bar in Missouri that he wants to invest money and time in to make a profitable venture.  The town is on the outskirts of Kansas City, according to the early dialogue, but the actual town is Jasper.

 

(OK, so something you need to know here is that the real town of Jasper, Missouri has nothing to do with the town in the movie.  For one thing the real Jasper is WAY too small to even support a bar of the size of the Double Deuce. But the real issue I have with the prospect of hiring Dalton for this venture will pan out over the course of this review).

The town of Jasper is basically being run by a mob boss wannabe by the name of  Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).  It becomes evident that Brad has the run of the town, and has everyone trembling at his feet.  He has everyone paying protection to him to be allowed to function within the town.  He also has the law enforcement under his thumb.  (Which explains how no cops seem to ever show up when fights break out.)

The first thing that Dalton demands from Frank is $5000 up front and $500 a day as the top dog.  Which brings one to wonder how much money a small town bar expects to bring in on a daily basis...

You can see from the beginning that Dalton has his work cut out for him.  This bar makes the average Western saloon look like a mom and pop fine diner.  There are more bottle flying and fists pumping in the space of a minute than you can even keep count.  The waitresses are selling extracurricular enhancements, the bartenders are skimming the till, and the bouncers are not pulling their own weight.  One of Dalton's rules at the beginning is that he must be given free reign to make the changes he deems necessary.  Which includes getting rid of the excess weight.

HE sets down the law with his three rules:

1. Never underestimate your opponent. Always expect the unexpected.

2. Take it outside.  Never start anything in the bar unless it's absolutely necessary.

3. Be nice. Until its time to not be nice.

Of course, these new rules do not necessarily set well, not just with unruly patrons, but even with former employees.  And time and again Dalton goes out to the parking lot to find his car has been vandalized.  But he takes it in stride.

He finds a place to live, a room on a dilapidated farm owned by an old geezer named Emmett (Sunshine Parker).  And he finds time to develop a relationship with Dr. Clay (Kelly Lynch), the local female doctor.  Making for one of the screen's most quick romances.  He just meets her and they fall in bed together (oh the charm of Swayze..)

 

 

It takes almost half the movie to introduce the real conflict, however, that of the villain of the film. Wesley.  Wesley develops an intense dislike for Dalton, some of it due to the fact that he is helping turn the Double Deuce into a better and more profitable place (which probably irks him more because he can't dip his fingers in the pie...)  But also because Dalton is developing a relationship wit Dr. Clay, a girl that Wesley once had, but apparently lost sometime in the past.  (Could it be because he is an unprincipled jackass...?)

 

Wesley and his hoodlums cause all kinds of ruckus, including the demolishing of the local auto parts place (ostensibly because the owner would.t pay he protection racket fees.)  But eventually he sets his sights on getting rid of Dalton one way or another.  Dalton has some help however, when his mentor, Wade (Sam Elliot) shows up and helps him kick some villain butt.  

 

But even this is not eventually enough.  And Dalton has a decision to make, either stay and fight, or just get out while the getting is good.  It turns out, however, that Dalton has his choice made for him by the actions of Wesley.

 So is this a good movie?  Well, as I mentioned there is a couple of major plot point that just doesn't make sense.  For one, I find it hard to believe that small town bar is such a going concern (even if it is on the outskirts of Kansas City). And how a town located that close to a major metropolis could have a small time hoodlum exercising that much control over the operations seems to be a bit far-fetched.

One of the things I mentioned in the beginning is this movie seems to be just  looking for a fight to happen.  It seems like every five or ten minutes a fight breaks out just to break up the monotony of dialogue and character interaction.  And they are quite a few dead bodies by the end of it, but most of those crop up in the final 10 minutes.  Looked at from a different angle, you could say it's one big fight scene broken up by the occasional breaks of dialogue...

You should know that the movie did get nominated for several Razzies including Worst Actor, Worst Director and Worst Picture (but fortunately for this outing it came out the same year as that turkey Star Trek V The final Frontier. There are some things that just deserve to be left on the dung heap) 

I wouldn't say this is a movie every action film fan should watch.  I wouldn't even say you should watch it if you want to be called a Swayze completist.   But if you have an hour and a half to kill and don't want to get into anything too deep, it's not too bad.

Quiggy