Roadhouse 66 Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1984

Starring Willem Dafoe and Judge Reinhold, Roadhouse 66 is a cheesy and slightly surreal 80's action flick that features small-town bullies, car destruction, bar room brawls, rock and roll singers, drag races and more. In fact this is the macho guy-movie stuff that cable stations like TNT or Spike TV are made from. Sure, high art this is not, but if you're in the mood for some mindless action then Roadhouse 66 may be right up your alley.

Beckman Hallsgood Jr. (Judge Reinhold) is the son of a fast-food tycoon, and before he dives into the family business he's taking a leisurely cross-country trip under the guise of researching the competition. One afternoon on a virtually deserted highway in the Arizona desert a trio of bullies lead by Hoot (Alan Autry) cuts him off and begins some dangerous road games. The episode is concluded when one of the bullies fires a round into Hallsgood's 1955 Thunderbird's radiator before racing off.

Hallsgood manages to coax his ailing car to a service station, where a wandering hitchhiker, Johnny Harte (Willem Dafoe), agrees to jury-rig a fix to the radiator if Hallsgood will provide him a ride to the nearest town. Despite Hallsgood being an unconfident and sheltered rich boy and Harte being an experienced and street-smart traveler, the two strike up an odd and unlikely friendship on the way to the town.

Upon arriving to town they find the auto repair shop is closed, so a new radiator will have to wait until the next day. To burn the evening away the twosome heads to a rowdy roadside dive called the 66, where it seems all the town residents hang out for beer and carousing day in and day out.

Not surprisingly, Hallsgood stumbles across the three bullies that shot out his car in the Roadhouse 66, leading to an escalated confrontation throughout the rest of the film that includes pool hustling, fist fights, fireworks and street races. Oh yeah… and some sexy nude women. It seems like director John Mark Robinson threw in everything but the kitchen sink in an effort to create a guys' movie.

How cheesy is Roadhouse 66? After a rock 'em, sock 'em fight in the bar, the customers begin streaming out of the bar. The proprietor growls at Harte for the loss of her customers and income, so what does our fist-fighting hitchhiker do? He picks up a guitar, heads to a small corner stage and starts belting out some 60's style rock and roll. In the blink of an eye, all the people that left re-enter the bar!

The acting isn't particularly relevant for a movie of this nature. I've always enjoyed Alan Autry, Willem Dafoe and Judge Reinhold, and while the three of them splash plenty of testosterone on the big screen (well, at least the first two do), they are certainly not career-defining roles. They are perfectly fun to watch, but each of them moved on to far better projects. Reinhold went on to star in Beverly Hills Cop, while Willem Dafoe gave a career-defining performance in To Live And Die In L.A.

Roadhouse 66 is not a good movie, but it can offer up a good time. Those looking for a guilty pleasure will find some action-packed nuttiness in this obscure film.

Movie rating: 6 stars

If you enjoyed Roadhouse 66 you may also find the following films to be of interest:

• Action Jackson
• Invasion U.S.A.
• Shakedown

Enjoy the Roadhouse 66 experience in the comfort of your own home with these products!

DVD

Other Resources:

• Roadhouse 66 IMDb Page

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