The best bouncer in the business

Last night, my wife and I watched "Road House" one of the best bad movies ever made. It is deliciously bad. We started watching as a joke, but then we just had to see it through to the end. I had seen it before, years ago, but Maggi was a "Road House" virgin.

For those unfamiliar with this piece of cinematic excrement, Patrick Swayze plays a zen bar bouncer named Dalton who comes to a Texas town to clean up a nasty bar called the Double Deuce. He quickly finds the town is run by wealthy crime boss played by Ben Gazzara. At least I think he's a crime boss. It's not entirely clear how he has amassed his fortune, except through a 10 percent business district improvement tax that he somehow has the power to extort from all the local merchants. (Perhaps the film was an allegory on the state of modern retail development.) I'd tell you how it turns out, but I'd hate to rob of you the pleasure of viewing it for yourself. Believe me, it's worth it.

This film was made in 1989, and Swayze was, if memory serves, riding high from "Dirty Dancing." His career climax the following year in "Ghost." Given how abysmal his acting was in "Road House", I have to conclude that he was cast in "Ghost" before the former film was released.