Bad action has rarely been so good, December 28, 2003

Forget "Dirty Dancing": Patrick Swayze's career peaked in this and the similarly underrated "Point Break." It doesn't quite reach the stratospheric heights (or is it depths?) of Arnold Schwarzenegger's deservedly legendary "Commando," but "Road House" is still the stuff of which B-movie legend is made. Starring Swayze as the head bouncer at a rowdy Southern bar called the Double Deuce, "Road House" derives its appeal largely from the ingenious idea of having a bunch of rednecks for villains. You get to see Swayze's Dalton, perhaps the only Mercedes-driving, philosophy-majoring bouncer in history, take on a seemingly endless succession of slack-jawed inbred troglodytes as he tames the Double Deuce and ensures victory for truth, justice, and the American way.

To avoid any confusion, by rating this movie 5 stars I am NOT suggesting that it is in the same league as GLADIATOR, THE LORD OF THE RINGS (trilogy), GONE WITH THE WIND or any other top-calibre flick. However, this film doesn't try to compete with the likes of top-rated movies, and that's the beauty of it.The story is based on a top-notch bar bouncer (Patrick Swayze) who is compelled to call in his old mentor (Sam Elliot) for an especially tough project. Instead of just busting heads and throwing hoodlums out of the bar, these guys end up having to save the whole town!This is a B-movie all the way. In my opinion, it COULD be the greatest B-movie of all time. In short, despite being stupid it is also immensely entertaining. The plot is contrived. There are aspects of it that are way, way beyond being remotely believable. It seems the whole movie was inspired by pushing the envelope on the concept of the bar brawl.Despite its limited plot, the...

Road House mania has finally hit in 2006! Not only has this movie, which has been to late night TBS what Whoopi Goldberg is to Hollywood Squares, finally been reissued in a special edition, but now Mike Nelson from MST3K has released a RiffTrax for it! Road House was long acknowledged as a target that Nelson and the 'bots wished they could skewer on MST3K and he finally got his wish.Listen, Road House is great. Tinker, Sam Elliot (voice of the beef council) and the oh so creepy owner of the Double Deuce are some of the best characters to ever populate small town Missouri. But watching it with Nelson's RiffTrax playing in the background took the unintentional (i think?) comedy of Road House to an entirely new level. Nelson is both knowledgable and funny, the kind of guy you wish your friends were as clever as. If we are ever blessed with a 20th anniversary edition of Road House, I would hope that Nelson's riffing can be included, because I can't imagine watching this...