# Road House (1989 film)

Road House is a 1989 American action film directed by Rowdy Herrington and produced by Joel Silver. The film stars Patrick Swayze as the bouncer at a newly refurbished roadside bar, who protects a small town in Missouri from a corrupt businessman. The cast also features Ben Gazzara, Kelly Lynch, and Sam Elliott.
Upon its release in U.S. theaters on May 19, 1989 by United Artists, Road House earned $61 million worldwide on a $15 million production budget. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, who lamented its excessive violence and sleaziness, and expressed incredulity at Swayze's character. In the years since, it went on to achieve cult status. Its popularity resulted in the creation of the Road House franchise, which includes a stage adaptation, a sequel in 2006, and a remake in 2024.

## Plot

James Dalton is a professional bouncer working security for a club in New York City. Although stoic and cool-headed, Dalton is tormented by memories of a man he killed in self-defense by ripping out his throat. Frank Tilghman, a businessman, recruits Dalton to take over security at his club Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri. Tilghman plans to invest substantial funds into the dilapidated club and needs Dalton's highly regarded skills to tackle the endemic violence and rough customers. Dalton agrees in exchange for full authority over the club's operations, immediately firing several employees for poor behavior, theft, and drug dealing. For privacy, Dalton stays in a sparse barn owned by a farmer named Emmett, unaware that the mansion across the adjacent lake is owned by Brad Wesley, a crime lord controlling the town through bribery, intimidation, and violence.
Wesley's nephew Pat, who is one of the fired employees, intimidates Tilghman into giving him his job back and attacks Dalton, who badly injures Pat and his accomplices. Receiving a knife wound in the process, Dalton visits a hospital and befriends Dr. Elizabeth Clay to whom Wesley is also attracted. After sending his henchmen to unsuccessfully try to disrupt business at the Double Deuce, Wesley offers to hire Dalton himself. Dalton refuses and Wesley uses his connections to prevent the Double Deuce from purchasing alcohol from any suppliers. Dalton uses his own connections to secure some supplies and reunites with his mentor Wade Garrett, an aging bouncer who arrives in town after a disconcerting phone call from Dalton. Wesley sends his men to destroy the Double Deuce's supplies, but Dalton and Garrett defeat them.
One evening, the auto shop adjacent to the Double Deuce—owned by Elizabeth's uncle Red Webster—is destroyed by arson. After Dalton and the crowds return inside the Double Deuce, they find Wesley awaiting them, who deploys his henchman Jimmy Reno to start a brawl with the Double Deuce bouncers. When Dalton intervenes, Wesley calls an end to the fight and leaves the bar. Wesley continues to sabotage other businesses as the local owners discuss their futile efforts to stop him. Garrett attempts to calm Dalton, trying to assuage his guilt about killing in self-defense and his frustration at being unable to end Wesley's campaign. Elizabeth also tries to dissuade Dalton before Emmett's home is blown up by Jimmy. Although Emmett is saved, the enraged Dalton fights Jimmy and rips his throat out, much to Elizabeth's shock and disgust.
Later, Wesley contacts Dalton, threatening to kill either Elizabeth or Garrett. A badly beaten Garrett arrives at the Double Deuce, while Dalton leaves to check on Elizabeth, who is safe but unwilling to leave with him. Dalton returns to the bar to find Garrett murdered. Distraught, Dalton storms Wesley's estate, kills most of his henchmen and defeats Wesley, but relents from killing Wesley himself. Elizabeth arrives and reconciles with Dalton, but Wesley recovers and attempts to shoot him before being shot dead by the locals, including Emmett and Red. The police arrive, but all present claim that they saw nothing. Sometime later, the modernized and refined Double Deuce bustles with customers while Dalton and Elizabeth swim together in a lake.

## Cast

* Patrick Swayze as James Dalton
* Kelly Lynch as Elizabeth Clay
* Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett
* Ben Gazzara as Brad Wesley
* Kevin Tighe as Frank Tilghman
* Red West as Red Webster
* Jeff Healey as Cody
* Sunshine Parker as Emmett
* Marshall Teague as Jimmy Reno
* John Doe as Pat McGurn
* Kathleen Wilhoite as Carrie Ann
* Terry Funk as Morgan
* Anthony De Longis as Gary Ketchum
* Travis McKenna as Jack
* Keith David as Ernie Bass
* John William Young as Tinker
* Julie Michaels as Denise
* Michael Rider as O'Connor

## Production
### Casting

Annette Bening was originally cast as Dr. Elizabeth Clay. However, since she had little chemistry with Patrick Swayze, she was replaced by Kelly Lynch. Scott Glenn turned down the role of Jimmy Reno, which eventually went to Marshall Teague. Joel Silver cast Sam Elliott as Garrett due to his "baggage".

### Filming

Filming started in April 1988 on location throughout California, primarily in Newhall, Valencia, and Canyon Country. The filming of much of the "New Double Deuce" used Anaheim's Cowboy Boogie, also later called the Bandstand among other names until it closed. The opening and monster truck scenes were filmed in Reedley, California. The Kings River runs between the two residences. The monster truck used was Bigfoot #7, which was originally built for the film. The scene cost $500,000 to film. While filming the famous fistfight scene, Marshall broke Swayze's ribs.

## Music

The soundtrack for Road House features Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey, whose band is featured in the film as the house band for the Double Deuce. Cruzados are the band in the opening credits, contributing three songs to the film that never made the soundtrack. Patrick Swayze also wrote one song and sang two for the soundtrack. The film's score was composed by Michael Kamen. A limited edition 14-track score album part of the Special Collection was issued by Intrada Records in 2012. An expanded limited 31-track score was reissued for the film's 30th anniversary by La-La Land Records in 2019.

## Release
### Theatrical

The film premiered in New York and Los Angeles on May 19, 1989.

### Home media

Between VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and streaming service sales, Road House has grossed over $203 million, including its original box office of $61 million. The film was originally released on VHS and then on DVD. In the United States Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer first released the film on DVD on February 4, 2003, with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and theatrical trailer as the sole extra feature. In 2006 a Deluxe Edition DVD was released with two audio commentaries including one with the director, two featurettes titled "On the Roadhouse" and "What Would Dalton Do?". Road House was first issued by MGM on Blu-ray disc on June 2, 2009. A second disc combines the same six special features ported from the Deluxe DVD. After being reissued numerous times in the U.S., in 2016 Shout! Factory released a 2-disc Blu-ray collectors edition with fourteen extra features with material ported over from the previous editions. New supplements include a 'Making of' documentary with new interviews by Herrington, actors Kelly Lynch, John Doe, Kevin Tighe, Julie Michaels and Red West, a separate conversation with the director and featurette for the film's music. The magnet clasp boxed limited edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack from Vinegar Syndrome was released on November 25, 2022.

## Reception
### Box office

Road House grossed $30 million in the United States and Canada and $31 million internationally for a worldwide total of $61 million. It has also found life on cable television.

### Critical response

Upon its release Road House received mostly negative reviews from critics, while audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and commented, "Road House exists right on the edge between the 'good-bad movie' and the merely bad. I hesitate to recommend it, because so much depends on the ironic vision of the viewer. This is not a good movie. But viewed in the right frame of mind, it is not a boring one, either." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune was less complimentary, calling it "outrageous in terms of its cartoon-like plotting and dialogue" and lamenting "Swayze’s mindless posturing. A young star has sold himself to become a pinup boy."
In The Washington Post, Hal Hinson's scathing review dismissed the film as "Full of gratuitous mayhem, head-bashing, gay-bashing and woman-bashing, Road House has a malicious, almost putrid tone." Caryn James of The New York Times was similarly critical, saying "Road House is much funnier than most comedies, until it turns vile instead of just stupid." She also said the film made Swayze's career "look like a bad joke" and sent it "spinning out of control". Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times, compared Road House unfavorably to Swayze's recent hit Dirty Dancing, "It wasn’t sex that Dirty Dancing delivered, it was romance. But in deep Road House country, . . . the undefined made crassly visible, there isn’t a whiff of romance anywhere, any more than there’s a single jot of common sense."
On Rotten Tomatoes, Road House has a rating of 44% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The consensus states: "Whether Road House is simply bad or so bad it's good depends largely on the audience's fondness for Swayze -- and tolerance for violently cheesy action." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

### Accolades

Road House was nominated for (but did not "win") five Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Patrick Swayze), Worst Supporting Actor (Ben Gazzara), Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

## Other media

A sequel, Road House 2, was released directly to DVD in July 2006. Set many years later and telling the story of Dalton's adult son, it featured no characters from the original cast and only a few references to Dalton (who was reportedly shot dead before the film took place). The sequel confirmed that Dalton's first name was James, which could be seen momentarily on the medical chart in the original film's hospital scene, but which had been otherwise left unsaid. At the same time Road House 2 was released, the original film was reissued in a deluxe edition featuring, among other features, separate audio commentary tracks by director Herrington, Kevin Smith, and Scott Mosier, which the duo had expressed an interest in during the introduction of the tenth anniversary Clerks DVD.
In 2003, an off-Broadway musical production of Road House was staged as a campy comedy by Timothy Haskell, as seen by its full title of Road House: The Stage Version Of The Cinema Classic That Starred Patrick Swayze, Except This One Stars Taimak From The 80's Cult Classic "The Last Dragon" Wearing A Blonde Mullet Wig.
In the Family Guy season 8 episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag", Peter Griffin purchases a DVD copy of Road House for a dollar at a closing video store. After watching the film, he decides that the only way to solve every problem is by roundhouse kicking everything in sight including his family. The episode was dedicated in memory of Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer on September 14, 2009.
Following the death of Eric Garner, the New York City Police Department began using a scene from Road House as part of a mandatory, three-day retraining course for 22,000 officers expected to "be nice" under pressure.
In the Young Sheldon season 4, episode 2 titled "A Docent, A Little Lady And A Bouncer Named Dalton" (November 2020), it is discovered that Mary's secret pleasure is watching action movies like Road House, which creates an unexpected bond with her teenager son Georgie.

### Remake

In September 2015, it was announced that Ronda Rousey would star in a remake of Road House. A month later, Nick Cassavetes was announced to write and direct the film. However, plans for the film fell through and the remake was quietly canceled in 2016.
In November 2021, it was reported that Jake Gyllenhaal was in talks to star in a remake of Road House by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Doug Liman directing. In August 2022, a full cast was announced, and principal photography commenced. The film was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on March 21, 2024, following its premiere at South by Southwest.