Road House

Rowdy Herrington’s film is set in Jasper, Missouri but shot mainly in California; the refitted Double Deuce used the Cowboy Boogie club in Anaheim, and the opening and monster truck sequence were filmed at Reedley. That truck, Bigfoot 7, was built in May 1988 for this picture; on screen it wrecks a showroom and flattens four new cars. Annette Bening was cast first as Dr. Elizabeth Clay, and the part went to Kelly Lynch. Scott Glenn turned down Jimmy Reno, the role went to Marshall Teague, and Teague broke Patrick Swayze’s ribs while they shot the fight. Swayze did many of his own stunts, wrote one song for the soundtrack and sang two. The house band is Jeff Healey’s; the Cruzados play over the opening credits and three of their songs never reached the album. It cost 15 million dollars and took 61.6 million worldwide. At the 10th Golden Raspberry Awards it drew 5 nominations and won none; Swayze’s Worst Actor nomination covered Next of Kin alongside this film. A good fit if you want a close where the hero stops short of the last blow, the townspeople finish it, and everyone tells the police they saw nothing. Not for anyone who would rather not meet the throat-tearing kill twice, once as backstory and once on screen.