Road House

Swayze gives up 'Dirty Dancing' for dirty fighting in this violent, spectacular and immensely enjoyable study of Zen and the art of Barroom Bouncing. A former philosophy student now majoring in martial arts, he is hired to clean up the Double Deuce, a beleaguered Missouri nightclub where the band plays behind wire and the staff 'sweep up the eyeballs after closing'. Like a modern Western hero, Swayze cleans out the sadists, till-skimmers, drug dealers and loafers, but he's also up against a ruthless businessman (Gazzara) whose heavies extort money for a 'town improvement' scheme. When Swayze's employer refuses to cross Gazzara's palm with silver, heads roll, bones crack, blood flows, buildings explode, and plausibility flies right out the window along with the bodies. Swayze's drippy romance with the local Doc, a leggy blonde (Lynch) who tends his wounds and more besides, slows things down; but when his ageing mentor (Elliott) comes to town, they kick serious ass, while director Herrington and stuntman Charlie Picerni pile on the senseless mayhem as the two factions perform their Dance of Death. Mindless entertainment of the highest order.