Patrick Swayze's Legacy: 'Road House' Never Closes

The tributes and obituaries to Patrick Swayze -- who died Monday at age 57 -- will doubtless focus on more memorable films like "Ghost" and "Dirty Dancing."

My first thought, though, was of a Swayze vehicle I didn't think much of at the time that's so deliciously awful, such a wonderfully guilty pleasure, that it plays (and plays, and plays) on what occasionally feels like a continuous loop on cable television.

That would be "Road House," the 1989 action movie that features Swayze as a super-tough bar bouncer who tries to bring order to a rough tavern, only to run afoul of the bad guy who runs the town (Ben Gazzara) and thus wind up having to take on not only him but all of his assorted minions. It's a movie where the ER doctor who treats Swayze's wound is played by Kelly Lynch, who winds up rolling around with him in short order: and where a brutal fight with the bad guy's chief enforcer includes the villain spouting the unforgettable mid-brawl taunt, "I used to fuck guys like you in prison."

Variety didn't have much nice to say about "Road House" in its initial review, and I can't really argue with any of those conclusions. Still, that appraisal didn't anticipate the way people use cable TV, where certain movies that otherwise might not have been appreciated based on their initial theatrical run (from the silly "The Beastmaster" to the brilliant "The Shawshank Redemption") can find new lives and audiences -- in part, especially with a movie like "Road House," because you can start watching pretty much anywhere along the way and figure out the plot (such as it is) in about 30 seconds.

"Road House's" neanderthalic charms haven't been lost on other purveyors of pop culture, with Entertainment Weekly also paying tribute to the movie several years ago and Coed magazine (whatever the hell that is) earlier this year proclaiming it "The Best Movie Ever." (Seriously, it's amazing the kind of crap that a simple Google search occasionally unearths.) 

 So while Swayze will be better remembered for other roles, I suspect you'll see as much of "Road House" in the next few days -- and just as significantly, the years to come -- as any one of them.