Welcome to Day 22, my friends.
And please allow me to officially welcome you to week #2 of our adventure. (We’ll be there, compadres. Just get Zen and do what you have to do.)
And hey, speaking of Zen, you may recall that I joked on last night’s post that today – T-minus 22 – could also be called “Double Deuce” day.
I know we’ve still got plenty of quality time together, but I figure we’re maybe a bit overdue to talk through some movies. Don’t ‘ya think?
OK, try this one on for size?
What do you get when you cross a less-than-typical academic (yeah, one with a PhD in Philosophy) with the potential need for a new sheriff? (Yeah, one that’s needed in a no-name town in the middle of Missouri?)
How about Dalton? (Yeah, no first name. Just Dalton.)
I suspect that the above is at least vaguely familiar to some of you, but for our younger readers, if you’re not familiar with the relevance of the Double Deuce, here’s the quick 411.
Roadhouse (1989)
We never do learn the full name/true identity of the NYU graduate, turned top-dog bouncer, but we do know that Dalton (Patrick Swayze) is one bad dude.
Recruited as the “cooler” (an industry term for bartender captain, AKA good-guy-king of the bad asses) to help turn around the problem-ridden, yet still promising, Double-Deuce bar, Dalton fast becomes a valuable wild card – protecting the owner (Kevin Tighe) and his staff from trouble. And in the rural Missouri town where the story is set, “Trouble” is named Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara), a hateful and dangerous sociopath who threatens the locals at every turn.
Dalton, helped along by his former mentor Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) and a beautiful ER doctor, known simply as “Doc,” (Kelly Lynch), readies himself for a showdown with Wesley. And it’s winner take all.
As above, if you haven’t already seen it, be sure to catch it.
Nothing like a tough guy with heart, right?
See you tomorrow,
JFish