Road House (1989) Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott, Ben Gazzara

[AlbertV]

Now that the trailer for the upcoming reboot was released today, let's reminisce about the original 1989 Patrick Swayze classic...here's the official trailer

In his autobiography, "The Time of My Life", Benny "The Jet" Urquidez had told Swayze that if he wasn't an actor, he could have been a professional kickboxer. 

Of course, the film has legendary pro wrestler Terry Funk, Marshall Teague (U.S. Seals 2 and Special Forces), and Anthony de Longis (who trained Michelle Pfeiffer in the bullwhip for Batman Returns and doubled for Frank Langella's Skeletor in Masters of the Universe) all playing villains as well as John Doe, best known for his stint as the co-founder of L.A. punk band X. Playing Wesley's moll Denise is Julie Michaels, who would become both an actress and stunt performer in films and TV.  

Then we had the straight to DVD sequel Road House 2: Last Call, starring Jonathan Schaech as Dalton's FBI agent son, who seeks to avenge his dad. This one featured Jake Busey, Ellen Hollman (who starred in the underrated indie Army of One), Larnell Stovall, and Richard Norton. JJ Perry was fight coordinator on this one. 

Hollman gets a fight scene in the film

 

Edited January 25 by AlbertV

[Bruce]

When I first watched Road House as a (much) younger man I enjoyed it's B movie, drive-in kind of appeal, you know, pretty, frequently nude girls, over the top fight scenes , cheesy characters, etc., but even then it appeared to me that Patrick Swayze didn't seem to have any serious appreciable martial arts skills. I realize he had a dance background which you'd think would have given him good flexibility & I recall reading a magazine article in which he claimed he'd trained in martial arts as a kid but once you saw him kick, well, your average green belt in Tae Kwon Do kicked better than he did. Reminds me of something Donnie Yen was quoted as saying about Hollywood actors training in martial arts for film roles (the ladies in Charlie's Angels, The Matrix cast, etc.); he said with a couple month's training anyone could imitate a few hand movements fairly convincingly but when they kick you can immediately tell whether they have any serious martial arts background or not (I'm paraphrasing).

      So, yeah, in a nostalgic way, anyway, Road House is mildly entertaining for me but the action, for my taste, was always over-rated.