Blu-Ray Review: Road House
The Film: Road House follows the story of Dalton(Patrick Swayze), the worlds best bouncer. He is hired by Tilghman(Kevin Tighe) to help him fix up the night club he just purchased, Double Deuce. Dalton arrives and attempts to clean the bar up. While he is there he sees bartenders skimming off the top and waitresses dealing drugs. He fires them and tells everyone else follow his three rules:
1. Never Underestimate your opponent, expect the unexpected.
2. Take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it is absolutely necessary.
3. Be Nice.
Dalton soon learns that the town is being hustled by a business man named Brad Wesley(Ben Gazzara), and he doesn’t take to kindly to Dalton not only firing his cronies from the bar but he also beds the beautiful Doctor, Doc(Kelly Lynch). The gloves are off in an all out war!
This movie is on my list of shame. I have never seen it until tonight and for some reason always put off watching it. I am disappointed in myself for taking so long to see this amazing piece of 80’s cinema. The film is loaded with gratuitous violence, curse words, big hair, loads of nudity, and tons of classic one liners. Is the movie cheesy? Of course. Is it awesomely over the top? Hell Yes! We learn that Swayze’s Dalton graduated from NYU with a degree in Philosophy, we learn this because he carries his medical file with him, because he gets hurt in fights all the time. When asked if he wants a shot to relieve the pain from a knife wound that will require nine staples he refuses. When asked why he waxes poetically, “Pain don’t hurt”. Sam Elliot has a fun part as Dalton’s bouncer mentor(they’re real!) who also spouts words of wisdom like, “That gal’s got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.” The fights are crazy over the top. Dalton even has a Fatality. He rips the throats out of his opponents with his bare hands! I had so much fun watching this movie, I miss movies that are this silly fun. If you love explosions, synth-rock songs, naked women(and men, we see Swayze’s butt too ladies), and balls out fight scenes you can’t go wrong with Road House.
The Video: Surprisingly this film looks great on Blu-Ray. Colors pop, there is no grain and the blacks are silky smooth. You will never see a clearer picture of Patrick Swayze’s butt, I promise.
The Audio: The audio is solid as well. The bar fight sound effects are clear and the awesome soundtrack thumps out those 80’s hits and in the tender love making scene Otis Reddings’ These Arms Of Mine sounds crystal clear.
The Extras: The only bummer is this Blu-Ray is bare bones, only the awesome trailer, that’s it.
The Verdict: This is a winning 80’s action movie. It deserves its status of a cult film. It might not be great filmmaking but it is a load of fun. What other movie has a scene when after Dalton rips the throat out of a dude he drags him into a lake and screams at the top of his lungs at the evil business guy, “F@ck You, Wesley!” The answer? Only one. Road House. If this Blu-Ray had even a little more special features I would give it a perfect score. Maybe for the 30th anniversary.
