Despite receiving negative reviews and little money from audiences during its initial release,
the 1989 Patrick Swayze vehicle Road House has since become a cult classic for a variety
of reasons.
While some of these reasons, such as the film’s intense action and campy attitude, might seem
obvious, other reasons are more obscure.
Join Facts Verse as we take a look at the huge details you missed in Road House.
Road House might not have been successful during its initial release, but it has since
become regarded as a cult classic and is perhaps the most popular film from Patrick Swayze’s
career.
The film came soon after the success of Dirty Dancing, and its drastically different tone
put off holdover audiences from that film.
As compared to Dirty Dancing, Road House was much closer to a Chuck Norris vehicle.
The film had a campy atmosphere, although it was debatable whether the atmosphere was
intentional or not.
In addition to Patrick Swayze, Road House also featured a memorable performance from
Western film legend Sam Elliott.
Patrick played the character of Dalton, and Sam played the character of Wade Garrett.
In the film, Wade serves as a mentor to Dalton, who subsequently uses his mentor's wisdom
to help him take down the bad guys.
The film sees Dalton as a famous bouncer that's tasked with eliminating the scum from a dingy
bar called the Double Deuce.
Dalton proves too effective at the job, and he soon catches the ire of the area's local
criminal underworld that runs the city.
However, they prove no match for the town’s new bouncer!
While there are numerous reasons that Road House has stood the test of time despite its
initial poor reception, some little details may have passed even the most astute observer
by.
There are many aspects of the film that continue to go unappreciated, and the movie remains
a good deal more interesting than critics at the time gave it credit for.
Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting facts that not even the film’s biggest fans
might know!
Dalton’s 3 Rules Were Used in Actual Police Training
Of course, Road House fans will likely easily be able to recite the three rules that Patrick
Swayze’s character of Dalton instates upon his team of bouncers to make sure that the
situation always stays under control.
Those three rules are to expect the unexpected, take it outside the bar when things get out
of control, and to be nice when the situation allows it!
While the exercise that the New York Police Department did that incorporated Road House’s
three rules may have been slightly tongue in cheek, it’s still notable that the event
even occurred at all.
The three rules were snuck into a training seminar during a specific training exercise,
and it added some much-needed levity for the officers.
A Real Kickboxer Trained Patrick Swayze One of the reasons that Road House has stood
the test of time so well despite its campy atmosphere is the fact that its fight scenes
feature some serious action.
A big part of why the action from Road House remains so intense is that a legitimate kickboxing
expert was hired to train the film’s actors, including Patrick Swayze.
That kickboxer is a man named Benny Urquidez, who later went on to work on the 1994 film
Street Fighter, adapted from the popular video game of the same name.
While having experienced trainers on hand wasn’t exactly anything new for an action
film, it is notable that Benny went on to claim that Patrick was such a natural at kickboxing
that he had recommended the Hollywood star make a change of careers and start trying
out competitive kickboxing instead.
Patrick was no stranger to intense physical performance, as his background in dancing
was a big part of what allowed him to get his breakout role in the film Dirty Dancing.
The Actors, Including Patrick, Performed Their Own Stunts
Patrick put his kickboxing training for the film to good use, as he ended up performing
all of his own stunts on the picture.
The rest of the cast performed their own stunts, as well, though most of the actors playing
in roles that required a good deal of stunt work were hired specifically for their experiences
as stuntmen.
The film’s respect for its stuntmen is one of the reasons that it has gone on to have
such a massive cult following decades after its release.
Patrick Swayze performing his own fight scenes granted Road House a level of grit and realism
that stood out to the audience - at least in the film's action scenes.
The film's dramatic scenes, however, were anything but realistic and caught the ire
of pretty much everyone who saw them back in the day.
Despite this, modern audiences have learned to embrace the film’s cheese factor while
appreciating its intense action.
During Patrick’s young adult years, he had sustained an injury while playing college
football that haunted him for the remainder of his life.
Patrick fought through the sustained effects of this injury while filming his stunts in
Road House.
In addition to choreographing Road House, Benny Urquidez had also choreographed several
early Jackie Chan features.
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Annette Bening Was Originally Meant to Play Doc
Road House fans will know that Kelly Lynch played the role of Doc in the film, but this
wasn’t initially supposed to be the case.
The original actress that had been hired to play the character was Annette Bening.
As legend has it, Annette was fired from the film early on due to the insistence of would-be
costar Patrick Swayze, who simply felt that he couldn’t muster any chemistry with the
actress.
After Annette Bening was booted from the film, actress Kelly Lynch was then brought on to
take her place.
It remains doubtful whether or not Patrick and Kelly had any legitimate chemistry in
the film or whether the chemistry between Patrick and Annette would've been better or
worse.
However, Road House fans have certainly come to appreciate all that Kelly Lynch brought
to the role of Doc.
Things ended up turning out fine for Annette, as she was later given a star-making role
in the film The Grifters.
Performing in Road House would’ve arguably only dampened Annette’s career prospects,
so it remains doubtful that the actress has any ill will towards Patrick for the incident
that occurred so many decades ago.
However, she may have some ill will about the fact that she was denied an Academy Award
win for her performance in The Grifters when she lost to Whoopi Goldberg for her performance
alongside Patrick Swayze in the 1990 feature Ghost.
Kelly Lynch Researched Her Role Although Kelly Lynch wasn't originally meant
to play the character of Doc, she still ended up making the character her own.
The actress supposedly underwent weeks of medical training before filming her role in
the film.
Some of this training involved extensive work with stitches, which made Kelly incredibly
angry when her character in the film used a staple gun instead of traditional stitching
tools.
While Kelly Lynch put a lot of work into Road House, her husband has some qualms about her
performance in the film.
Kelly married writer Mitch Glazer in 1992.
Mitch is friends with Bill Murray, and has shared that anytime Bill catches Road House
on television, he will call Mitch up and remind him of the bizarre sex scene featured in the
movie between Patrick Swayze and Mitch’s wife.
Patrick Swayze Sang on the Film’s Soundtrack Patrick didn’t just act in the film Road
House, but he also sang several songs on its soundtrack.
Patrick had done the same previously with Dirty Dancing, but it made much less sense
given Road House’s tone.
Road House’s soundtrack also featured the Jeff Healey Band, and the actual band could
even be seen performing in the Double Deuce.
The Film Features a Former Bodyguard of Elvis’ Road House is also notable for giving one
of Elvis' former bodyguards the biggest entertainment role of his career.
That man was Robert Gene West, better known as Red West.
Red West had served as Elvis' loyal bodyguard for a period of time before quitting his position
due to his distaste for his employer's increasing drug abuse.
It was Elvis that helped Red get his start in the entertainment industry.
Red had initially started working in the entertainment industry as a stuntman but received a small
legitimate dramatic role in Road House as the owner of the trashed auto parts store.
The Characters Are Named After Cowboys While Road House features Western legend Sam
Elliott, that’s not the only thing that ties the film to Western classics of the past.
The film pays some massive respects to the Wild West in the naming of its characters,
with many of them being named after notable figures from Wild West history.
Sam Elliott’s character of Wade Garrett was named after Pat Garrett, who was the sheriff
that killed Billy the Kid.
The character of Doc can be seen as having been named in tribute to Doc Holiday, and
the Double Deuce’s owner, Tilghman, was named after a famed Oklahoman lawman by the
name of Bill Tilghman.
Finally, Road House’s main antagonist, Brad Wesley, was named after a notorious Wild West
bandit by the name of John Wesley Hardin.
Road House Didn’t End in 1989 Although Road House wasn't the biggest box
office success, its subsequent cult status allowed it to be revived in a variety of ways.
For one thing, the film was given a direct-to-video sequel in 2006, though the film seemed to
have fairly little to do with the original.
Patrick Swayze didn’t return, and the film instead focused on a different actor playing
a character that was supposed to be the son of Patrick’s Dalton.
Although the direct-to-video sequel to Road House wasn’t a very big hit with fans, the
original film was later adapted into an off-Broadway musical that was!
As well, talks of a 2016 reboot starring wrestler Ronda Rousey were being kicked around, although
nothing seems to have ever come of it.
Although Road House wasn’t the biggest success during its initial release, it has arguably
gone on to outlive many of Patrick’s more successful features.
Comment down below to share if there’s any trivia we missed or if you were shocked to
learn any of the aforementioned details about the film.
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