"The Dialog is Pure Cheddar"

Critical Drinker looks at a 1980s "classic:" Road House staring Patrick Swayze.

It is hard to believe that Patrick Swayze died more than 10 years ago.

I know I have seen this movie, but for the life of me, I can't remember when. Or why.

Dalton is your classic tough-guy 1980s protagonist with a dark past and suspiciously well-styled hair...

This is not great cinema, but then it wasn't trying to be great cinema. The 1970s and 1980s gave us Dirty Harry and its sequels, Death Wish and its sequels, Die Hard, the original Indiana Jones movie, Soylent Green, Top Gun, Robo Cop, Highlander, Escape from New York, and so much more. They weren't trying to be great cinema, they were just trying to entertain. Along the way a couple of them did make poignant statements about life and society. Sometimes. And they gave us a bunch of great one-liners. I'm not sure if we got any of that out of this movie.

But back to Road House...

It doesn't really invite deep analysis, or careful deconstruction because it's not trying to offer anything except a fun, easy-going, action-adventure with cool protagonists, evil villains, beautiful women, and kick-ass fight scenes.

This isn't my favorite movie, and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to watch it. But thinking about it, it is so much better than something laboring to impart some message, or tell me how horrible I am for existing.

This is The Critical Drinker's Extra Shot video on a 1980s classic: Road House.

This is link to the final bit of the final scene, so it contains spoilers, if there was ever a doubt. But it also has the funniest line of the movie, or one of them anyway.