Road House

Plot synopsis:
James Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is a professional "cooler" (i.e. specialized doorman, or bouncer) with a mysterious past who is enticed from his current job at a club in New York City by Frank Tilghman (Kevin Tighe) to take over security at his club/bar, the Double Deuce, in Jasper, Missouri. Tilghman plans to invest substantial money into the club to enhance its image, and needs a first-rate cooler to maintain stability.
Arriving in Jasper, Dalton eventually takes lodging at a local farm owned by Emmett ("Sunshine" Parker). He attracts attention driving his 1965 Buick Riviera and having a quiet demeanor—contrasting with the tough locals. Dalton's "real" car is a 1986 Mercedes 560SEC with New York license plates, which he keeps hidden (at a private garage and later under a car cover in his landlord's barn in Jasper) because it becomes a target for disgruntled bar patrons. Dalton is soon introduced to local business magnate (and next door neighbor) Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), who appears to have a stranglehold on the town; little happens without his knowledge and approval. In the course of cleaning up the violent nightclub, Dalton dismisses several unruly and corrupt employees, some of whom are connected with Wesley. After one particularly violent night where Dalton is forced to physically remove Wesley's henchmen, he suffers a knife wound. Going to the hospital for stitches, he strikes up a friendship with Dr. Elizabeth "Doc" Clay (Kelly Lynch), which develops into a romantic relationship.
Wesley summons Dalton to his home in a seemingly innocent attempt to make peace, but has an ulterior motive: Wesley would like Dalton to work for him once he extorts Tilghman's club. When Dalton declines, Wesley begins an assault on Dalton's friends, including interfering with liquor deliveries to the Double Deuce. Dalton's mentor, legendary but aging cooler Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott), arrives in town after a disconcerting phone call from Dalton and helps him defend a liquor shipment from Wesley's thugs.
That evening, local business owner Red Webster's (Red West) auto parts store is destroyed by a fire after he refuses to give ground to Wesley's persistent extortion demands. Dalton, not wanting to exacerbate matters, allows Wesley and his men entrance to the club that night. The next day, car dealership owner Pete Stroudenmire becomes Wesley's next victim when he also refuses to pay. As a result, Wesley has one of his thugs, Gary Ketchum (Anthony De Longis), demolish the dealership and crush four station wagons in the showroom with his monster truck (BIGFOOT #7) as Dalton and his friends look on with contempt.
That night, Doc visits Dalton and attempts to persuade him to leave. However, their conversation is interrupted by a powerful explosion at Emmett's house next door. Dalton rescues Emmett from the blaze before his house is destroyed. He then witnesses one of Wesley's henchmen, Jimmy (Marshall Teague), fleeing the scene, and manages to intercept him. After a vicious fight, Dalton kills Jimmy by ripping out his throat with his bare hand. The next morning, Dalton receives an ominous phone call from Wesley, who vows to have either Wade or Doc killed. At that moment, Wade staggers into the Double Deuce, badly beaten but alive. Believing Doc to be in danger, Dalton races to the hospital, but she refuses to leave with him, repulsed by his increasingly violent nature. Upon returning to the Double Deuce, Dalton finds Wade sprawled out on the bar with a knife lodged in his chest. Deeply in tears but also enraged, Dalton pulls the knife free and jumps into his car, determined to settle the score with Wesley.
Driving his Mercedes, Dalton speeds recklessly toward Wesley's estate. The car draws gunfire from Wesley's henchmen but when it crashes they discover the car empty, and the knife that was used to kill Wade stuck in the accelerator. Using the distraction, Dalton sneaks onto the estate on foot and, one by one, dispatches each of Wesley's thugs, eventually coming face-to-face with Wesley. Dalton gains the upper hand in their fight and prepares to finish Wesley in the same brutal manner as Jimmy, but decides against it. As Dalton releases him and walks away, Wesley seizes the opportunity to reach for a gun, but is promptly shot to death by Red, Emmett, Stroudenmire, and Tilghman. They stash the weapons away prior to the arrival of law enforcement and proceed to corroborate each other's innocence, with the implication that what happened in Wesley's house will remain a secret.
The final scene finds Dalton and Doc enjoying each other's company in a swimming hole, suggesting that they do get together and Dalton remains in town for good.

Tags: insanity, romantic, murder

Review:
This was a very interesting character study of three people: "LIly Stevens" (Ida Lupino), "Jefty Robbins" (Richard Widmark) and "Pete Morgan" (Cornel Wilde).The two guys are attracted to Lupino, who prefers good-guy Wilde.
This film was a year after Widmark played sadistic killer "Tommy Udo" in "Kiss Of Death" and his character in this movie isn't too far removed from Udo. In both films, Widmark provides the spark when the story needed it.That's not to say the rest of the cast isn't good, too, but Widmark playing these psycho villains is just fascinating and just stands out.
The casting of this film could not have been better.Richard Widmark, Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde and Celeste Holm are all at the top of their game here.
Jean Negulesco was able to capture it all in this tale of passion gone wrong.Lily Stevens arrives at Jefty's Road House to entertain in the lounge area.
Pete offers money to send Lily back to Chicago because he senses she will bring chaos between him and Jefty, the man who has been generous to him and who, he feels, will fall again for this chanteuse of mysterious origins.Thus begins one of the best films of that era.
Richard Widmark is fantastic as the owner of the roadhouse who spoils the marriage of Cornel Wilde and Ida Lupino in the quasi-idyllic setting located in the U.S.-Canadian border.
'...and then by bus to a throaty restless obsessed temptress 'thrush' slouched in mortal danger atop a white piano, singing the blues and chain-smoking, somewhere in the long, dark, wet and winding night between Chicago and 'the coast.'  James McCourt, "Mawrdew Czgowchwz"Jean Negulesco's Road House must have inspired that sentence (or rather fragment).
She's been brought up from Chicago by Richard Widmark to lure paying customers into the cocktail lounge of his establishment  Jefty's Road House  up in the piney woods a few miles from the Canadian border.
So when Lupino arrives, Widmark's boyhood pal and now Man Friday Cornel Wilde, cruel to be kind, tries to send her packing.
But Wilde was wrong; Lupino brings down the house at her debut, with a gravelly, sprechstimme rendition of the Mercer/Arlen 'It's A Quarter To Three.' ('She does more without a voice than anybody I've ever heard,' marvels Celeste Holm, another worker toiling under Widmark's thumb.)Maybe it would have been better had she packed.
Crazy!' Since, in film noir, that's about the worse thing you can say to someone with a mad little glint in his eye (and demented giggles to match it), Widmark goes totally unhitched....Like the following year's Beyond The Forest, Road House is an overheated melodrama set in the cool climate of hunting lodges and icy lakes where loons (not only the avian kind) call through the dusk.
(We see it in a drunken bear of a backwoodsman who comes violently onto Lupino, thinking her torch songs were sung not for a paycheck but expressly for him.)Negulesco was working at the top of his game in Road House, as was Widmark (though we had seen his gleeful psycho before).
She turned a routine role as a hard luck woman singer into a great performance.Richard Widmark is one of my all-time favorite actors.
Wilde gave a fine naturalistic performance as the stable and hard working good guy whom Widmark turned against out of jealousy and eventually hatred.The direction, screenplay and cinematography were also top notch, and "Again" is a classic song that has endured the march of time and is still played on jazz and oldie stations regularly.Come on Acadamy!
The core is that the troubled and cocky Jefty, played by the inimitable Richard Widmark, wants the troubled Lily, played by a tough Ida Lupino.
The fourth main character, the "second woman" played by Celeste Holm (the beguiling voice-over in Letter to Three Wives), seems to have a smaller role, but she's ultimately the sensible and good gal, not as sexed up and headturning as Lupino's Lily, but steady and practical and a key to everyone's salvation in the end.
Director Jean Negulesco has only a few features of note to his credit, but Road House, along with How to Marry a Millionaire and Johnny Belinda, makes a great case for his ability.It's easy to fault the film for some small things (Pete seems inexplicably powerless to fight the frameup) and even for larger ones (the romance that holds it together isn't all that convincing), but the moods and sets and lines are all great stuff.
It's curious, and maybe defining, that the natural match between the troubled characters, the Widmark and Lupino leads, is rejected, but then Lily's shift to Pete ought to catch fire.In a way, the film's theme, of a man being overwhelmed by his wanting and expecting a woman, is defined best in Lily's matter of fact line, "Doesn't it enter a man's head that a girl can do without him?" Not usually..
When the Chicago singer Lily Stevens (Ida Lupino) arrives at the Jefty Road House hired by the owner Jefferson T.
'Jefty' Robbins (Richard Widmark), the manager Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde) gives a cold reception to her.
Soon Pete changes his opinion towards Lily and the accountant and cashier Susie Smith (Celeste Holm) informs that the public has increased not only in the roadhouse, but also in the bowling alley.
When Jefty returns, he brings a marriage license and proposes Lily; however she dumps him and Pete and she decide to travel to Chicago and leave the town.
Following up his sensational movie debut in Kiss of Death, Richard Widmark got another psychopathic role in Road House.
Richard Widmark owns the Road House and his World War II buddy Cornel Wilde manages it.
Widmark on a trip to Chicago hires a singer, Ida Lupino at a good deal beyond the normal rate.
The rest I won't say.Celeste Holm is in this film and I'm not sure what her function is other than to be a witness for Wilde and Lupino in the end.
The woman, talented actress that she was, could not sing.The song Again was introduced in Road House and if it could become a hit with Lupino's croaky singing of it, it must be a great song.A key piece of evidence also turns up rather conveniently in the end to destroy Widmark's nefarious scheme.
Unlike many of the other film-noir films; the setting is a "sinister" bowling alley, which is more and more suspenseful, as you don't know what Richard Widmark will do next.Ida Lupino, Celeste Holm and Cornel Wilde are the perfect foils, setting off Widmark in this film; the settings alone are original; the acting superb, and I wish they still made them like this!!!!.You will enjoy the mystery, the cast of characters, and the final outcome of this movie.
What stands out in ROAD HOUSE, despite the lurid melodramatics of the plot, is RICHARD WIDMARK doing his standard psychopathic job once he discovers his love life has been compromised when IDA LUPINO and CORNEL WILDE fall in love with each other.
It's not one of his best films.Ida Lupino's husky voice is barely able to wobble through a few good song numbers, which makes her nightclub scenes a little ludicrous.
Ida Lupino is so overwhelming there are no words to express it but Richard Widmark is surely the finest actor in Noir!
Richard Widmark, Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde and Celeste Holm are all in the "Road House," a 1948 film noir directed by Jean Negulesco.
Widmark, fresh from his career-making role of Tommy Udo, plays Jefty, who owns a road house.
The lovely Ida Lupino and curiously handsome Richard Widmark deliver brilliant performances in this classic film noir about a love triangle in a small town bowling alley.
Of course, she refuses to leave and ends up in a love triangle with Widmark and Wilde.Lupino exudes star quality in a truly amazing performance as a sultry, world-weary night club singer in search of redemption.
Widmark gives a mesmerizing performance as a repressed psychopath who naively deludes himself into believing Lupino will marry him, then goes off the deep end when he discovers she is in love with his best friend.
Road House manager Pete (Cornell Wilde) falls in love with singer Lily (Ida Lupino) brought to entertain customers by Road House owner Jefty (Richard Widmark).
Well, once Jefty discovers this, he is not happy and plans revenge against the pair and it's a good revenge, which leaves the pair only one real choice..........they make a run for it.......Throughout the film, I felt a little sorry for Susie (Celeste Holm) as she is made out to be Pete's girlfriend but her feelings seem to be papered over.
He greets pal Pete with a cheeky delivery of the line "Hey, you son of a gun" on meeting Pete and Lily in the Road House office.The cast do well with Richard Widmark being my favourite, despite being 4th billed.
Overall, it's an interesting and enjoyable film with memorable scenes including every time Widmark appears and an interesting sparring between Lupino and Wilde while he is teaching her to bowl.
Richard Widmark gives a superior performance in this film as an unstable owner of a road house that's located in a small community close to the Canadian border.
For such an idyllic setting as the Road House is in, miles of forests and lots of lakes, the film noir characters provide a great contrast.
This is not at all to suggest 'Road House' is a copycat -- it is superior original work, and, if anything, explores variations on familiar noir themes -- lust, rot, and madness on the dark side of the moon of humanity and whatnot.I admit I never 'got' Cornell Wilde before seeing this film -- but the scene where he teaches Ida Lupino how to bowl -- masterful.
Widmark's a solid talent, and this performance compares favorably to similar heavies-with-humanity of the genre, e.g., George MacReady in 'Gilda', Thomas Gomez in 'Johnny O'Clock'.Celeste Holme as the 'nice, semi-involved bystander' character skillfully provides the supporting connective tissue between the suppurating major organs, as she decides where her sympathies lie.Director/Portrait Artist Jean Negulesco's visual sense gives the film a look you like to look at.
Great noir, fantastic bowling scenes, Ida Lupino...What else do you need?
The two do not hit it off at first but after a brief period become an item, much to the chagrin of spurned Jefty who frames Pete.Road House polished look and setting makes it more of a melodrama than dark noir.
Wilde and Lupino are convincing lovers and Celeste holm registers in a subtle way but Widmark has a little too much Frankie Udo left in him from the year before, his rodent like rage a bit over the top and sophisticated for the sticks.
Richard Widmark matches one of his sleaziest characterization (the one where he wheels a disabled person down the stairs) as a road house owner that picks up a new singer from Chicago (Lupino, who is very good).
How fantastic is noir style,another fine one,this time Richard Widmark on third role in your career portrait one more time a similar Tommy Udo's character when he bring the beauty singer (Lupino)from Chicago for act in your night club, the manager your lifetime friend (Wilde)adviced him about too expensive woman,but Jefty insist that it will be increase the profits,but Pete fail in love with her,but Jefty has another plans for Lily,the last part of the picture burning strong when Jefty has a time revenge,fantastic ending of this amazing noir directed by Jean Negulesco.
It stars Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark.
Mockridge and cinematography by Joseph LaShelle.When Jefty Robbins (Widmark) brings new torch singer Lily Stevens (Lupino) to the Road House he owns, it causes friction between Jefty and his boyhood pal Pete Morgan (Wilde).
It's owned by Jefty Robbins (Richard Widmark), and managed by Jefty's good buddy Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde).
Another regular is Susie (Celeste Holm), the implied assistant manager,Enter Lily Stevens (Ida Lupino), Jefty's newly recruited entertainer.
And Celeste Holm has the thankless job of being the caring friend, a woman whose shoulders anyone can cry on.With noirish B&W visuals, "Road House" is not quite as dark as other noir films.
Mostly, it is memorable for the character of Lily, and for the performances of Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark..
It's great when he builds up to it like he does here, starting out as the somewhat absentee owner of Jefty's Road House, right through the complicated relationship that develops between himself, singer Lily Stevens (Lupino) and business manager Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde).
It's like he's building on his Tommy Udo character from 1947's "Kiss of Death", Widmark's first film role.Yet on the flip side, there's not a whole lot about this story that makes sense if set in the real world, particularly as it relates to that jury trial over the stolen money.
Along the way you get Widmark and Wilde in that great bar room brawl, and Ida Lupino makin' it for her baby with one more for the road..
Instead, Ida Lupino plays a world-weary lounge singer who acts much like your typical Noir femme fatale.
A year after his Oscar nomination for "Kiss of Death," Richard Widmark gives another sinister performance, this time as an owner of a lounge-bowling alley who frames his partner (Cornel Wilde) for robbery when the latter wants to marry his girl, a very sultry Ida Lupino.
Lupino, with light hair, can't sing a note to save herself, but she still knows how to put over a song in this film noir production.A year after winning the best supporting actress award for "Gentleman's Agreement," Celeste Holm has a routine part in this film as a cashier, with no guy of her own, who gets caught up in Widmark's mayhem and winds up with a bullet in her arm.With the interesting cast, you know what can happen when Widmark is at his evil best and a gun is put in Lupino's hand..
Cornel Wilde is his junior partner and Celeste Holm is the cashier.Widmark brings home a singer, Ida Lupino, whom he picked up on one of his jaunts to the city.
Ida Lupino is Lily, a nightclub singer who comes to the unhinged (but we don't know it yet) Jefty's (Widmark) bar.
He soon falls hard for her, but she's got the hots for his long-time pal and right-hand man, Pete (Cornel Wilde, in one of the better performances he ever gave).
There are many better noir films out there, but "Road House" is well worth a visit..
When Widmark comes into the kitchen with Ida and Cornell kissing and does nothing, if that went into a 3 way thing, that would have been memorable (but this isn't a European film so, NOT!).
Very good Film-Noir from 20th Century Fox. Richard Widmark is Jefty, the owner of a combination road house and bowling alley along the U.S.-Canadian border.
A classic noir featuring Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark.
Screen written by producer Edward Chodorov, it stars Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark (in his third film), and was directed by Jean Negulesco.
It's managed by athletically-built Pete Morgan (Wilde), a former state bowling champion, who used to be a pin boy with his rich friend Jefty (at his father's alley).Enter Lily Stevens (Lupino), the latest in a long line of 'talent' that Jefty met during a drunken weekend in the Windy City; apparently, he woos the ladies by promising them a gig in his 'nightclub'.
However, Lily doesn't fit the mold for two reasons – Jefty has yet to successfully overwhelm her with his charms AND she actually has talent or, as cashier Susie Smith (Holm) remarks, "she does more without a voice than anybody I've ever heard".Holm, in only her fourth film, plays a role that would become somewhat stereotypical for her – a part that Joan Blondell made famous – a sassy gal whose love is taken for granted by the movie's hunk (Wilde) and is therefore destined to fade into the background when the femme fatale (Lupino) arrives on the scene.
That's irony if anybody asks you because the other three actors are Richard Widmark, Cornel Wilde and Celeste Holm who would tower over anyone else but had the misfortune to come up against Ida Lupino in a performance she equalled only eight years later when she played Marion in The Big Knife.
***SPOILERS***It's when sultry Chicago night club singer Lily Stevens, Ida Lupino, showed at at the Jefty Robbins, Eichard Widmark, roadhouse on the US/Canadian border sparks started flying in all directions.
Not only between Jefty Robbins and his friend, who manages the roadhouse, Pete Morgan, Cornel Wild, but also the customers there as well.
"The Mask of Dimitrios" director Jean Negulesco's crime thriller "Road House" with Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Richard Widmark, Celeste Holm, qualifies as a good, solid example of film noir that wraps up too abruptly for my taste.
Actually, as Lily Stevens, Lupino has been bought in to sing at Jefty's Road House by Jefty Robbins (Richard Widmark of "Kiss of Death") who likes to combine business with pleasure.
Jefty's old friend Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde of "A Song to Remember") manages the place for him.
Things come to a head when Jefty orders Pete, Lily, and another employee Susie Smith (Celeste Holm) out to his hunting lodge in the woods not far from the Canadian border.
Ida Lupino is sensational as Lily in her film after she changed studios from Warner Brothers to Twentieth Century Fox. Naturally, as the slimy Jefty, Richard Widmark steals the show, playing a character who has more polish that his creepy Tommy Udo character in Henry Hathaway's "Kiss of Death," but who is just as dangerous.