Road House, Yeah!

In less than two weeks, the special edition of Road House will be released on DVD. I would argue that this is one of the modern classics of "guy" movies. Every red-blood American male who was around for its heyday in the early nineties must have some measure of respect for this film.

If you don't know the magic of Road House, then here's a quick overview: Patrick Swayze plays Dalton, a professional bouncer hired to clean up an unruly southern bar. Along the way he defends the locals from the evil crime lord who wants to take over the town. I don't remember exactly why he wanted to take over the town, but he was just plain bad, and only Patrick Swayze could stand up to him.

In my humble opinion, this 1989 movie captures Swayze in the absolute height of his Swayze-ness. Dirty Dancing put him on the map, but Road House took him straight to the top of the heap. Sure, he would star in Ghost in 1990 with Demi Moore, but he didn't kick ass in that movie like he did in Road House. Not only does he beat up drunks and bad guys in this movie, but he also was a kind, spiritual soul with a "no one ever wins a fight" philosophy. So true.

So what does this new special edition DVD have? Deleted scenes? An alternate ending? You got me. All I know is that there is a Kevin Smith audio commentary included, which is well worth the price of the disc.

If that wasn't enough for you, then check this out: Road House 2 will be released on the same day. That's right, they finally made a sequel to the classic. You have to wonder why that waited so long. I guess the public demanded it, so they had to deliver.

When I first saw the preview ad for this DVD, this was the cover art:


First of all, who is this shmuck? Jonathan Schaech? Why does he look like such a dork? Most importantly, what's up with those jeans that he's wearing? My fiance has been getting me to wear more appropriately-colored jeans for going out, and brother, what this guy is wearing ain't it. Road House or not, those are not jeans that you should wear out in the evening.

I saw another preview of the cover art today, and I think the producers saw the same things I was seeing and made some changes. Here's the second version:


Oh yeah, that's much better. Those acid-washed jeans are a huge improvement.