ROAD HOUSE (1989)

title: ROAD HOUSE
year: 1989
cast: Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Sam Elliott, Kelly Lynch
rating: ***1/2

This late-80's Patrick Swayze action vehicle has become a sort of pop culture punchline; but as bloody-knuckle entertainment goes, this is topnotch stuff. A sought-after bouncer... Swayze with cool, brooding gusto... is imported to a small town to "clean up" a seedy road house dive. And that he does, first by getting rid of the crooked employees and then beating up the particularly seedy customers who turned the place into something worse than the STAR WARS Cantina. The transition of old bar to new one hold the best scenes, but the work's only half done. For the town is owned by a Hugh Hefner gone bad millionaire played by Ben Gazzara, who not only imports all the town's booze, but has the vicious hots for Swayze's love interest. Sam Elliott, as Swayze's bouncer mentor, adds world-weary charm and classic vitality to an already kickass film.