Review of Road House (1989) by Spencer S — 05 Jul 2013

No matter what you're expecting, this film is beyond expectations, and that is not a good thing. Veiled in the guise of a simple film about a man who cleans up a bar while working as a cooler (head bouncer), this film takes a lot of strange twists and turns and becomes something altogether ugly and laughably horrible.

The lead character is relentlessly hypocritical, having a PhD of unclear origins, a glossed over love of Tai Chi, and yet an obsession with cutting up bad guys and vagrants alike. Dalton (Swayze) comes to a small town in Kansas, teaches some bouncers what to do, and then helps starts a yuppie blues bar.

There is a villain to this story, and he is the most hedonistic, disgusting, devilish man to be on screen since the age of the fifties' B-movie. He kills, tortures, and maims, threatens everyone even associated with the bar, and yet doesn't get caught for his actions because he has "ties with the police.

" The things he gets away with are tantamount to a drug kingpin with a small rebel army, and yet he only has several crooks. Most of this heavy-handed and far too long film revolves around Dalton fighting bad guys, avenging friends and co-workers, and falling in love with, and awkwardly making love to, a local doctor.

They literally meet one time, and the next meeting they have one of the most strange love scenes, comparable only to "Showgirls". This shifts to a revenge flick as the man controlling the entire town (Gazzara) starts a vendetta against this Dalton, who isn't the owner of the bar, doesn't have much control over how the town is run, and though starts dating this villain's crush, doesn't throw it in his face.

The last thirty minutes is all out violence, murder, arson, and senseless baiting by the villain. It devolves quickly, and it easily earns its reputation as a movie that is harsh to watch, and simple to make fun of.