Directed by Rowdy Herrington
Starring Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch and Sam Elliot
For a guy who loves movies and has watched many classics and cult classics from prior decades, I never watched this movie until recently. The best way I could describe the movie is a testosterone fueled game of chicken between a virtuous tough guy and a manipulative crime boss. The movie is an action packed popcorn flick that for my money was a mix of good and bad. The movie had fist fights, displays machismo, sex, mixed in with crime, corruption, and small town politics and power play. I had this movie sitting on my DVR on Sling from MGM+ for months and finally got around to it. I enjoyed it though it was not without its flaws.
The movie is certainly iconic and has pop culture significance. I found Swayze’s performance as Dalton to be a stoic lead man, rooted in philosophy and martial arts. His job was as a traveling bar clean up man who owners hire to retool the staff, re-do the bar and enhance security. Almost like John Taffer of Bar Rescue but he does not yell and actually fucks people up. He is brought in to bring order to a chaotic rock and roll bar in a town ran by a crime boss who controls the town like a gangster protection racket. Ben Gazzara who played Jackie Treehorn in Big Lebowski places an excellent villain in Brad Wesley. I feel in many ways Gazzara may have stole the show as a calm but brutal antagonist. The plot did remind me much of the 1970’s film Walking Tall that involved a similar power dynamic and villain. Sam Elliot played a great mentor to Dalton with his performance as Wade Garret the aging version of Dalton who comes in as support.
I tried to not take the movie too seriously and let it get in the way of the fun but there are some criticisms that I have. Dalton was Miyagi like figure who was a man of few words and got his point across mostly through action. When he spoke he made it count and could have a serious but sarcastic charm. However, at other times his delivery was a little wooden and one dimensional. I also found the martial arts and fist fighting mixed with the guns and explosives to create an odd scenario where you have to suspend your disbelief to make it work. Wesley had the Sheriff and police bought off and used intimidation to silence anyone who crossed him. He blew up businesses and homes of rivals and it felt like he could have blew up or shot Dalton at anytime and had zero consequences coming his way. This didn’t totally ruin the movie but it made everything seem a little silly. Wade’s death also felt incredibly predictable and preventable at the same time. Wade was in rough shape following a fight with Wesley’s guys and Dalton left him alone in the bar to save his girl. When he returned Wade had been killed by the posse which had me yell “how did he not see this coming!?” and like the door in Titanic that seemed capable of sharing, why didn’t Dalton take Wade with him.
Overall I am glad I finally got around to this flick and the positive outweighed the negative. The movie is made all the more relevant by the most recent adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhall and a major role for MMA fighter Conor McGregor. I heard mostly negative things regarding the remake and if given the opportunity to watch it I may give it a shot. This movie was a fun and I think that was the point here, a do over might provide some easy to digest entertainment.
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