The name's Dalton…’ Nothing epitomised Patrick Swayze's screen cool quite like 1989's Road House, an action film very much of its decade. Sandwiched between Dirty Dancing and Ghost on Swayze's CV, it cast him as ‘cooler’ (read bouncer) Dalton, brought in to clean up a Missouri bar.
Swayze, often the swoon-worthy romantic lead, was convincing as the level-headed but double-hard doorman who could take out the trash while still remembering to ‘be nice’. Despite some 80s excesses, Road House was a different kind of action film, and a different kind of hero, to what audiences in that era were seeing from the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone.
‘DOUG CAME TO ME AND SAID, “I WANT TO DO FIGHTS IN A WAY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE”’
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
A thinly veiled western – many character names reference classic cowboys – Road House is fundamentally a simple story of a new sheriff in town entering the local saloon and standing up against the local bullies who are ruling the town by fear and force. And as such, it's a rare beloved gem that cries out to be remade. It's a story that could be transplanted anywhere.
It's also a film that continues to punch above its weight, despite not being the biggest box-office hit of its day (it took in an estimated $61 million). Jake Gyllenhaal, for one, recalls it grabbing his attention. ‘When I was a kid, I remember seeing the Road House poster, and it being so intriguing to me as an original idea,’ says Gyllenhaal, Zooming in from a break in Paris, casually cool in a black T-shirt.
‘And at some point, maybe on television, I remember seeing clips of it, and it was also sparking interest. It really had a strange, intense resonance. And I was of an age when I didn't really know what exactly it was that I was watching.’
Gyllenhaal had previous form with Swayze, having worked with him on (Gyllenhaal's breakout film being something of a late-career standout for Swayze). ‘I definitely fanned out, but I tried to play it].’
