Road House

Details

The Double Deuce bar wants to go upmarket, but unfortunately its usual clientele are not exactly the sort of customers you'd invite around for dinner. Hardly a night goes by without broken bottles, flying fists and the occasional body being thrown through a table. Desperate to clean the place up, owner Frank Tilghman hires the legendary Dalton, a professional "cooler" with a reputation for restoring order to even the roughest bars.

Dalton quickly transforms the Double Deuce from a violent backwater into one of the hottest bars in town. However, his success soon attracts the attention of local racketeer Brad Wesley, a ruthless businessman who effectively controls the entire town through intimidation and fear. Wesley is not best pleased by Dalton upsetting the balance of power and begins sending his increasingly violent henchmen into the bar night after night, only for Dalton to send them packing with equal force.

As Wesley escalates matters by targeting Dalton's friends, interfering with the bar's supplies and generally terrorising the local community, Dalton realises that simply keeping the peace is no longer enough. With the help of old friend Wade Garrett, Dalton prepares for an all-out showdown with Wesley and his gang in a battle where fists, boots and flying furniture become the order of the day.

Picture & Sound

For a film of this age the picture quality is surprisingly good and largely free from dust marks and other print damage. After watching a number of bargain-bin catalogue titles I really wasn't expecting much, but the transfer actually puts some more recent releases to shame.

The colours are rich and vibrant whilst the above average bit-rate ensures there are very few problems with artifacting or outlining. The neon-lit interiors of the Double Deuce look particularly impressive and really capture the smoky late-80s atmosphere of the film.

The age of the film does show up in the soundtrack and the large number of fights and explosions really cry out for a remastered 5.1 mix. Instead we are left with a fairly standard surround presentation. Never the less, it still does a respectable enough job and keeps the action flowing nicely even if you won't exactly be diving for cover when the punches start flying. Dialogue remains clear throughout and the front soundstage handles the busy bar scenes reasonably well.

Fans of the late and much missed Jeff Healey will also be pleased to know that both his on-screen performances and soundtrack contributions come across wonderfully well. His bluesy guitar work gives the film much of its identity and atmosphere, and the music remains one of the highlights of the entire production.

Menu & Extras

Unfortunately, as this is very much a budget catalogue release, the extras are extremely sparse and the menu system is little more than a silent static screen. Under normal circumstances I'd criticise the distributor for such a lazy effort, but given the bargain price of the disc it becomes slightly easier to forgive. Still, a retrospective documentary or interview with Patrick Swayze would have been a welcome addition.

Overall

Road House is one of those gloriously over-the-top late-80s action films that really shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. The plot is paper thin, the dialogue occasionally borders on laughable and the number of bar fights is frankly ridiculous, yet somehow the film remains hugely entertaining from start to finish. A large part of that success comes down to the sheer charisma of Patrick Swayze, who effortlessly balances laid-back cool with bone-crunching toughness. One minute he's philosophising about violence, the next he's ripping somebody's throat out with his bare hands.

Whilst most people will probably remember Swayze for films such as Ghost and Dirty Dancing, Road House serves as a reminder that he could handle action roles just as convincingly. Backed up by a wonderfully sleazy villain in Ben Gazzara, scene-stealing support from the effortlessly cool Sam Elliott, plus an endlessly quotable script, the film has deservedly become something of a cult classic over the years.

It may not be sophisticated cinema, but if you're after old-fashioned bar-room brawling, cheesy one-liners and unapologetic 80s action, then Road House delivers in style.

Special features

• Theatrical Trailer